Volume 96, Issue 9 - Special Issue: Activities and Actions Towards a Sustainable Future; Guest Editors: Juliana L. Vidal and João Borges

Many of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be addressed through chemistry. Researchers at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, have been sharing their stories on September 25 for the past two years through the Global Conversation on Sustainability. This article describes the details of one of these stories. As the global population increases, food production including aquaculture is increasing to provide for this. At the same time, this means more waste is produced. Waste from aquaculture is often overlooked as a source of valuable chemicals. By-products from farming blue mussels ( Mytilus edulis ) is dominated by shells rich in calcite. A ‘soft’ calcite material prepared from waste mussels, via a combination of heat and acetic acid treatment, was investigated for its adsorptive properties and its possible use in wastewater remediation. The adsorption of two cationic dyes, methylene blue and safranin-O, on this material were evaluated through isothermal and kinetic modelling. The adsorption systems for both methylene blue and safranin-O can best be described using Langmuir isotherms and the respective adsorption capacities were 1.81 and 1.51 mg/g. The adsorption process was dominated by pseudo-second order rate kinetics. Comparisons are made with other mollusc-derived materials reported to date.

This article reviews the use of natural resources in analytical chemistry throughout history. Plant extracts were employed as indicators in chemistry for identifying the acidity or alkalinity of liquids as early as the 1650s. Later, as the industrial revolution altered people’s lives, synthetic chemicals were used instead. Modern techniques of analysis have replaced conventional ones as a result of advancements in physics and technology. The industrial revolution was an era of excitement until the toxic pollutants released from industries severely damaged people and the environment. The concepts of green chemistry and green analytical chemistry were proposed as potential solutions to the problems. The use of natural extracts as chemical analysis reagents has been reconsidered recently as a sustainable alternative. While new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) will influence future trends in analytical chemistry development, the primary goal is to move toward sustainable analytical chemistry, which includes using natural reagents and reducing the amount of chemicals consumed and waste produced.

Currently, we find ourselves with the urgent need for chemistry to exert a substantial positive influence on environmental impact, by means of products and chemical processes. To achieve these objectives, we must pay special attention in terms of resource sustainability, considering factors such as life cycle assessments and minimizing carbon footprints. Biomass obtained from organic matter found in plants as well as agricultural and industrial waste, represents the most abundant reserve of renewable materials on our planet. In this perspective we highlight the research and innovation possibilities provided by renewable raw materials obtained from biomass within the domain of organic synthesis toward sustainable development. We focus our discussion on different reactions in the field of organic chemistry, primarily employing furanic platforms as renewable compounds derived from cellulosic biomass. The main aim is to generate high-value products, with a special emphasis on potential development of new pharmaceuticals.

This manuscript aims to bring reflections and inspiration towards how the university can act as a vector for tackling the 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) of the 2030 Agenda from the UN (United Nations) and the role of its community (undergraduate and graduate students, staff, and faculty members). In this regard, the Institute of Chemistry from Sao Paulo State University – UNESP combines efforts with the university’s central administration and non-governmental organizations to implement and stimulate activities to spread green chemistry and sustainable practices in each of the four fundamental pillars of the university: teaching, research, outreach, and administrative sectors.

Global Conversation on Sustainability (GCS) 2023 was enthusiastically welcomed by researchers of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR). Highly committed to international organizations such as IUPAC and ISC, the promoters participated to the 2023 edition of the Global Conversation on Sustainability hosting a local in person event held in one of the major CNR institute for chemistry research. The format was a round-table discussion involving colleagues of different age, gender, experience, and area of expertise, who participated to an informal dialogue with the aim of reflecting and sharing aspects of the respective research activities contributing to sustainable development goals. From many chemistry research areas, it emerged a wide range of subjects, which stimulated an interesting and purpose-oriented discussion. Therefore, GCS 2023 at CNR prompted a reflection on how improving chemists’ impact on sustainability including laboratories’ practises and on considering communication becoming part of scientific process. Transformation requires continuous investment in research and innovation and evolving scientific activities, but also requires synergies, collaborations and policy making on cross-cutting issues that can make this successful. Global initiatives as GCS, in the framework of international scientific organizations, represent a key global vehicle for enhancing the big area of science communication. Overcoming time and spatial limitations, these initiatives enable to link global and locally tailored in person events.

The three principles of Inclusive Green and Sustainable Chemistry Education (IGSCE) are presented to guide the reflection, design, and implementation of potentially inclusive materials and approaches. These principles refer to (i) embracing student-centered learning, (ii) promoting teaching in the five levels of representation in chemistry, and (iii) adapting the curriculum to empower students to apply their academic skills effectively to real-life situations through supportive teaching and social guidance. Educational elements conducive to potentially inclusive classrooms and their interconnections are identified and discussed. These include using the Triangular Bipyramid Metaphor (TBM) to facilitate academic inclusivity for individuals with and without disabilities, such as those who are deaf and blind. Further, the importance of ensuring that all students, regardless of their abilities, can fully participate in the educational experience is highlighted, aligning with Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG #4) to achieve inclusive education and lifelong learning opportunities. Green chemistry should be available to everyone, not just a few. It promotes sustainable development and deserves global recognition and support. The change agents targeted by these three principles of IGSCE include, but are not limited to, educators, researchers, teachers, and students in secondary and university education.

Energy dissipation through physical downscaling towards more complex types of memory and logic devices, loss of ultrapure water and consumption of large amounts of (toxic) chemicals for wafer cleaning processes, as well as high thermal budget of solid-state synthesis and thin film growth of standard semiconductors including the use of rare earth elements – all this poses great challenges for semiconductor materials science and technology. Therefore, research and development of alternative methods for micro- and nanofabrication and chemical functionalization of a new type of resource- and energy-efficient semiconductors as the core component of every computer chip is crucial. One of the promising opportunities is the transformation of today’s complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) electronics into ecofriendly and neuroinspired electronics driven by molecular design and multi-level switching mechanisms at room temperature. The sustainable chemical technology of electron transport and switching materials in semiconductor manufacturing and the development of devices with new unconventional nanophysics, improved performance, and augmented functionalities (beyond-CMOS and More-than-Moore) is becoming increasingly important in the context of a gradual transition to a future-oriented concept of Internet of Everything (IoE). In this article, we focus on the technological significance of semiconductor preparation from single-source (molecular) precursors and the prospect of functionalizing semiconductors using DNA origami nanotechnology and stimuli-responsive metal–oxygen cluster ions such as polyoxometalates (POMs). We also describe the advanced characterization of these qualified molecular systems by soft X-rays. We emphasize the technical relevance of using solution-based methods for the bottom-up preparation of novel and hybrid semiconductors as well as their challenging scalability and the compatibility of methods of molecular technology with lithography-based mass production. Our article aims to contribute to the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure).