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December 10-12, 2012 

Sponsored by

Royal Society of Chemistry London

(North India Section)

RSC Advancing the Chemical sciences

REPORT

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Table of Contents 

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...............................................................................................(3)

2. INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................(4)

WORKSHOP ABSTRACT......................................................................................(5)

WORKSHOP OVERVIEW.....................................................................................(6)

3. WORKING SESSIONS

INAUGURATION....................................................................................................(7)

INAUGURAL SESSION..........................................................................................(8)

SESSION I.................................................................................................................(9)

SESSION II..............................................................................................................(10)

SESSION III.............................................................................................................(11)

SESSION IV.............................................................................................................(12)

SESSION V .............................................................................................................(13)

SESSION VI ............................................................................................................(14)

4. PARTICIPANTS.............................................................................................................(15)

5. CONCLUDING REMARKS..........................................................................................(15)

APPENDIX A - WORKSHOP PROGRAMME..............................................................(16)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Executive Summary

An International Workshop on “Chemistry for a Sustainable Future”

sponsored by Royal Society of Chemistry, London (North India Section) was held at

Jaipur, India from December 10-12, 2012.

The main aim of the workshop was to bring together the users, policy makers,

researchers and commercial sectors for sharing their experiences to develop and

implement the green perspective of chemistry that shapes a sustainable future and

preserve our ecosystem.

One of the founders of Green Chemistry, Dr. John C. Warner (President and

Chief Technology Officer, Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, USA) and

world leaders in Green Chemistry like Prof. James Clark (Professor of Chemistry

and Director, Green Chemistry of Excellence, University of York, UK) participated

and shared their views in the workshop. Green Chemistry Centre in York, UK and its

affiliates, the Biorenewables Development Centre and the company Starbon

Technologies have also presented an exhibition covering green chemistry research,

education, outreach and commercialization.

This event was also coincided with the Celebration of Successful Completion

of 10 years of Green Chemistry Networking in India by Green Chemistry

Network Centre.

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Introduction

An international workshop on “Chemistry for Sustainable Future” was jointly organized

by RSC North India Section, Green Chemistry Network Centre, Department of Chemistry,

University of Delhi, Delhi in collaboration with the Department of Chemistry, University of

Rajasthan, Jaipur and Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur held at Jaipur (India)

from Dec 10, 2012 to Dec. 12, 2012 with a view to bring together exceptional researchers –

all leading names in their fields for an outstanding program to provide beneficial networking

opportunities.

   

LefttoRight:Prof.AnshuDandia,Prof.M.M.Salunkhe,Prof.R.V.Singh,Dr.JohnC.Warner,Prof.JamesClark,Prof.A.Ranjan,ProfR.K.Sharma

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Workshop Abstract

Green and sustainable chemistry is a new concept and research area first articulated in

the early 1990s but gained wider prevalence only in the last few years. Green chemistry

provides a framework for a sustainable future by adopting safer practices and using less

hazardous and non-toxic chemicals. It is the design, development, and implementation of

chemical products and processes to reduce or eliminate the use and generation of substances

hazardous to human health and the environment. The principles of Green Chemistry as

described by Paul Anastas and John Warner in “Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice” teach

how to design safer chemicals and products in the first place. These principles go to the very

heart of sustainability and strengthen the economy by providing the new outlook to the

chemistry, and protecting public health and planet from toxic and hazardous materials.

This workshop was organized to provide participants an opportunity to get exposed to

cutting-edge research on the development of alternative sustainable technologies and develop

relationships for future collaborations. This also benefited the various stakeholders to broaden

their horizon and learn the use of sustainability not only in academia but also in industrial

sector.

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Workshop Overview

The workshop covered current environmental and human health issues which pose a

challenge for sustainability and chemistry solutions, especially in the context of India,

Food supply

Sustainable agriculture and integrated pest management

Metals processing

Textile processing chemicals

Tanning of animal hides

Pharmaceutical manufacturing

Natural Products and Traditional Medicines

Control of infectious diseases

Water quality

Renewable energy

Depletion of resources

Historical background on world approaches to deal with the threats to the

environment, ecosystem and biosphere

The definition and twelve principles of green chemistry

The tremendous potential of biotechnology to offer unique, efficient, eco -friendly

and economically viable options for waste treatment in situ and degradation of

hazardous toxic waste into relatively less harmful by products e.g. eco -restoration

of degraded ecosystems, mining spoil dumps, treatment of industrial effluents.

Overview of the various areas of the science and technology of green chemistry.

Case studies/ real world science in the field of green chemistry

Review of regulatory structures, enforcements systems and financial incentives

that encourage the adoption of green chemistry practice in industry.

Review of frontier science in the field of green chemistry.

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Inauguration

The fortune of the workshop started with the traditional

and cultural lamp lighting ceremony followed by warm

hearted welcome of guests and participants.

Accompanying this, a concise yet inclusive framework of

“Green Chemistry Networking in India” was projected by

Prof. R.K. Sharma, Professor of Chemistry and

Coordinator, Green Chemistry Network Centre (GCNC),

University of Delhi. His last ten years laborious efforts

and pioneering contributions to popularize Green Chemistry via GCNC (established in the

year 2001, under the recommendation of Prof. Paul Anastas) headed the workshop towards a

constructive and motivated environment. A small section highlighting the organized trainings

and workshops for educators and researchers in India, overwhelming response of the

participants and results of his endeavour i.e. “consideration of green chemistry at senior

secondary and undergraduate level and at commercial scale” were also integrated in his

outline.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prof. R.K. Sharma

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Inaugural Session

At the very outset of the inaugural session, the

constructive and convincing views addressing the theme

were presented by one of the founders of Green

Chemistry, Dr. John C. Warner, President and Chief

Technology Officer, Warner Babcock Institute for

Green Chemistry, USA. The founder of Green

Chemistry fascinated participants by describing history

and background of Green Chemistry and discussed the need to evaluate the existing

analytical methods from green perspective. He described Green Chemistry as a philosophy

that seeks to reduce or eliminate the use of hazardous materials at the design stage of a

materials process. Also he stated that the materials and products can be designed with

negligible impact on human health and environment while still being economically

competitive and successful in the market. Along with this, he explained 12 principles of

Green Chemistry which are widely approved as the basis for future “Green Chemistry” (P. T.

Anastas and J. C. Warner, Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice, Oxford University Press,

Oxford, 1998). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. John C. Warner

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Session I

The session I started with second invited presentation of

Prof. James Clark, Professor of Chemistry and

Director Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence,

University of York, UK on “Green Chemistry and

Sustainability”. He emphasized on implementation of

Green chemistry on a global scale and elaborated that

industrial symbiosis seeks a closed loop approach to the

twin problems of resource and waste by making latter as the solution to former. Prof. Clark

also pointed out that the food wastes are especially useful as sources of organic chemicals for

a variety of processes and products. Further, he added that energy efficient conversion

technologies can convert a wide variety of waste streams into valuable chemicals include

low-temperature microwave processing and supercritical carbon dioxide extractive

fractionation.

During this session three eminent scientists from India who had developed Green

Technologies, which are being implemented by GCNC as motivational tool to

popularize Green Chemistry, were presented a Roll of Honour on behalf of GCNC by

Dr. John C. Warner.

 

 

Prof. James H. Clark

Dr. John C. Warner presenting mementos to Prof. M. K. Chaudhuri, Dr. Alok Adholeya, Dr.  

Rakeshwar Bandichhor for their outstanding contribution to furtherance of Green Chemistry 

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Prof. Mihir K. Chaudhuri, Vice-Chancellor, Tezpur

Central University, Tezpur, India, in his presentation

talked about the necessity of Green Chemistry for

Sustainable Future and some Indian initiative taken up

in this field. He said that continuous efforts were made

to popularize Green Chemistry in India since the

inception of the year 2000 which resulted into tangible

appreciation by Indian academia, practicing scientists

and students. Further, he cited some real world cases of Indian origin including atom

economical synthesis of PVC, clean production of metal acetylacetonates, a class of

commercially significant materials based on acid base and red-ox reactions, and

environmentally benign sulfoxidations reactions leading to production of Ranitidine.

Session II

Dr. Alok Adholeya, Director, Biotechnology and

Management of Bioresources Division, The Energy and

Resource Institute (TERI), Delhi, drew the attention of the

participants towards generation of pollutants by the

industrial activities and exploration of innovative

approaches to reuse waste as resources to maintain balance

between man and nature. He emphasized on the

development different reclamation technologies for the

treatment of waste like like Fly ash, Chlor-Alkali sludge and distillery effluent. He also

mentioned about the joint collaboration TERI with Delhi University (DU) which resulted in

the successful large scale online extraction of chromium from tannery waste using biological

 

 

Prof. Mihir K. Chaudhuri 

 

Dr. Alok Adholeya 

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agent (e.g plants and microorganisms) and subsequent recovery of the same using silica gel

based metal specific chelating resin.

Prof. S. Chandrasekaran, Honorary Professor and JC

Bose National Fellow, Indian Institute of Science, and

Hindustan Lever Research Professor, JNCASR,

Bangalore, gave a talk entitled “Transition metal oxide

impregnated MCM catalysts : Regioselective tail to tail

dimerization of vinylarnes”. He also presented the

studies on the scope and limitation of using transition

metal oxides impregnated MCM-1 and MCM-48 as

catalyst in dimerization of styrene to give tail to tail dimer (2,3-diphenyl-1butenes) with high

degree of regioselectivity. 

Session III

Dr. Saurav Pal, Director, National Chemical

Laboratory and Adjunct Professor of Chemistry,

IISER, Pune, highlighted the scope of computations

and presented case studies from his recent work on

hydrogen storage materials. He introduced

Computational Chemistry as an important tool, which

is emerging as an excellent alternative to experiments

for design of functional molecules and materials.

 

 

Prof. S. Chandrasekaran 

 

Dr. Saurav Pal 

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Prof. Maria J. Ramos, Associate Director,

Chemistry Department, Faculty of Porto, Portugal

presented molecular modelling as an integral part of

green chemistry and gathered an overwhelming

response for her great contribution for designing

Computational Strategies in Drug Development. She

beautifully showed the quantum

mechanics/molecular mechanics hybrid methods to

scan the mutagenesis of protein-protein interfacial residues, which can be very important

process for drug design since protein-protein interaction form the basis for most biological

processes.

Session IV

Dr. Sudhakar G. Reddy, Coordinator - Sustainable

Labs, Office of Campus Sustainability, University of

Michigan, USA, expressed his views on application of

Green Chemistry and pollution prevention principles to

develop an ideal sustainable laboratory. Citing the

example of western hemisphere institutions, he said that

lab operations in USA use two-third of the total energy

being consumed on campus which generates leading

opportunities to find alternatives by inculcating new ideas into practice. He further added that

simply by application of stringent administrative and behavioural controls along with the

concept of green chemistry and waste reduction principles, sustainability in teaching and

research lab can be attained. This would eventually result in reducing foot print on the

environment and increasing health and safety of lab users.

 

Prof. Maria Joao Ramos

 

Dr. Sudhakar G. Reddy

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Dr. Kshipra Misra, Additional Director, DIPAS

(DRDO), Delhi, introduced water purification

technologies developed by Defence Research and

Development Organisation (DRDO) for the removal of

arsenic, iron and bacteria from ground water. Also, she

highlighted that while purification, the secondary waste

generated from filters/ plants is disposed off in the form

of standard grade impermeable concrete blocks which

complies with EPA’s TCLP (Toxicity characteristics and leaching procedure) protocol.

Moreover, it is further used in construction industry resulting in no waste generation and in

turn making the technology environmentally friendly and green.

Session V

Dr. Avtar Matharu, Dy. Director, Green Chemistry

Centre of Excellence, University of York, UK,

expressed his views on sustainable development and

said “It is a development that meets the needs of the

present without compromising the ability of future

generations to meet their own needs”. The talk also

included the examples of everyday materials (LCD TV,

carpets, and kitchen units) which may be recycled and

reused in innovative ways using the concept of Green Chemistry.

 

Dr. Kshipra Mishra

 

Dr. Avtar Matharu

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Dr. Mark Gronnow, Green Chemistry Centre of

Excellence, University of York, UK, briefed the

participants about the Biorenewables Development

Centre (BDC) at the University of York, which has

helped the industries with new processes to convert

waste into high products. His presentation included a

number of case studies and examples of processes

which were being successfully worked on by his team at

the BDC and Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence. 

Session VI

Dr. Rakeshwar Bandichhor, Associate Director, API –

R &D Innovation Plaza Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories,

Hyderabad, India, gave thrust on innovative and cost

effective development of Active pharmaceutical

ingredient (API) by practicing the recent advances in

Green Chemistry as a key pursuit. He further said

“Genericization of life saving medicines provides ample

opportunities to the pharmaceutical companies for

research and development to reduce the cost of API without adverse effect on quality and

prices”. 

 

 

 

Dr. Mark Gronnow

 

Dr. Rakeshwar Bandichhor

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Dr. J. S. Yadav, Director, CSIR – IICT, Hyderabad,

discussed the application of ionic liquid as Green

Solvent in various reactions like C-C bond formation,

halogenations, oxidation, three component coupling,

selective opening of epoxides, addition reaction, and

intramolecular domino Knoevenagel hetero-Diels-Alder

reaction.

 

Participants

The workshop was well attended by participants from Indian research laboratories,

universities, industries and R & D institutions. More than 250 participants from all over the

country participated in the workshop.

Concluding Remarks

Green chemistry plays a key role in driving the science and technology innovations needed

for achieving a sustainable future in a complex world. Green Chemistry contributes to the

reduction of risks caused by hazardous chemicals and pollutants for the environment as well

as for human health and therefore contributes to a decrease of resource consumption. In

future, ‘Green Chemistry’ should be incorporated as a fundamental aspect within the field of

chemistry. However, it requires a conscious effort by all eminent scientists for this change to

occur.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. J. S. Yadav

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APPENDIX A - Workshop Programme

MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012 10:00 – 12:30

Registration at Rajasthan University

12:30 – 14:30

Registration at Conference Venue

15:00 -17:30

Inauguration

16:30 -17:30

Inaugural Lecture

Dr. John C. Warner President and Chief Technology Officer Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, USA

Green Chemistry: The Missing Element

17:30

Tea

19:00

Dinner

TEUSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2012 9:30 – 11:00

Session I Chairperson – Prof Anuradha Mishra Co-chairs – Prof. C. P. Bhasin

9:30 – 10:15

Prof. James Clark Director, Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence, University of York, UK

Green Chemistry and Sustainability

10:15 – 11:00

Prof. M. K. Chaudhuri Vice-Chancellor, Tezpur Central University

Green Chemistry in Teaching and Research for Sustainable Future – Some Indian Initiative

11:00 – 11:15

Tea

11:15 – 12:45

Session II Chairperson – Prof. Maria Joao Ramos Co-chairs- Prof. Anshu Dandia

11:15 – 12:00

Dr. Alok Adholeya Director, Biotechnology and Management of Bioresources Division, The Energy and Resource Institute, Delhi

Amalgamation of Biotechnology and Chemistry to Mitigate Environment Problems: A Strategy for Sustainable Future

 

 

 

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12:00 – 12:45

Prof. S. Chandrasekaran Honorary Professor and JC Bose National Fellow, Indian Institute of Science, and Hindustan Lever Research Professor, JNCASR, Bangalore

Transition Metal Oxide Impregnated MCM catalysts : Regioselectieve Tail to Tail Dimerization of Vinylarenes

12:45 – 14:15

Poster Session Chairperson – Dr. John C. Warner Co-chairs – Prof. K.R. Desai Dr. Nighat Fahmi Dr. D.K. Sharma

13:15 – 15:45

Lunch Break

14:15 – 15:45

Session III Chairperson – Prof. Kailash Daga Co-chairs – Prof. J.S. Rathore Dr. Neelima Gupta

14:15 – 15:00

Dr. Sourav Pal Director, National Chemical Laboratory and Adjunct Professor of Chemistry, IISER, Pune

Computational Chemistry as a tool for Design of Functional Materials: Case study for hydrogen storage materials

15:00 – 15:45

Prof. Maria Joao Ramos Chemistry Department, Faculty of Porto, Portugal

Greener Chemistry: Computational Strategies in Drug Development

15:45 – 16:00

Tea

16:00 – 18:15

Session IV Chairperson- Prof. R. D. Singh Co-chairs – Dr H. B. Singh Dr. Y. C. Joshi

16:00 – 16:45

Dr. Sudhakar G Reddy Coordinator - Sustainable Labs, Office of Campus Sustainability, University of Michigan, USA

Application of Green Chemistry and Pollution Prevention Principles to Develop an Ideal Sustainable Laboratory

16:45 – 17:30

Dr. Kshipra Misra Additional Director, DIPAS (DRDO), Delhi

A Green DRDO Technology for Water Purification

17:30 – 18:15

Prof. Lakshmikantam M. CSIR-IICT, Hyderabad

Metal Oxides in Green Chemistry

WEDNSEDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2012 9:15-10:45

Session V Chairperson – Prof. P. H. Parsania Co-chairs – Prof. P. K. Sharma Dr. Alka Sharma

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9:15-10:00

Dr. Avtar Matharu Dy. Director, Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence, University of York, UK

Green Chemistry from Grave to Cradle

10:00 – 10:45

Dr. Mark Gronnow Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence, University of York, UK

From Gram to Kilo, Proving Green Chemical Technologies

10:45 – 11:00

Tea

11:00 – 12:30

Session VI Chairperson – Dr. Alok Adholeya Co-chairs – Dr. Sarita Varshney Dr. Devendra Singh

11:00 – 11:45

Dr. Rakeshwar Bandichhor Associate Director, API – R and D Innovation Plaza Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Hyderabad, India

Green Chemistry Practices in Pharmaceutical Industry

11:45 – 12:30

Dr. J. S. Yadav CSIR Bhatnagar Fellow CSIR – IICT, Hyderabad

New Methodology for Green Processes

Session VII Chairperson – Prof. Rajiv JainCo-chairs – Dr Ragini Gupta Dr. Asha Jain

12:30-13:15

Prof. A. K. Chakraborti NIPER, Mohali, Punjab

Rational Approaches towards Sustainable Chemistry Development

13:15 – 14:30 Lunch 14:30 – 16:30 Valedictory Function 16:30 Tea