Sooner or later every chemistry, biology and physics teacher must address a fundamental paradox of modern science pedagogy: while the technical nature of everyday life continues to increase at a great rate, making basic science relevant to students becomes more and more difficult. In a world where the application of science through technology affects almost every aspect of existence, the underlying principles are certainly important, but this belies the effort needed to properly instruct students in them. Educators

Chemical categorization (or banding) of inherent toxicity and potency linked with defined safe work environments including exposure controls has become an integral component of assuring the health and safety of research workers and manufacturing personnel in the pharmaceutical industry but is not a substitute for quantitative risk assessment in the workplace. INTRODUCTION: THE SOLUTION TO A PROBLEM In the late 1980’s at a pharmaceutical safety meeting that

The manufacture of pharmaceuticals is a far more complex endeavor than perceived by the general public. Those engaged in the production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) are charged with the task of manufacturing a high quality product while ensuring the safety of the operators and protecting the environment. Two industry trends over the last decade have added to the challenge faced by manufacturers. First, the analytical instruments used in the pharmaceutical industry have become more sensitive and therefore capable of detecting more impurities and at

Ionic liquid literature is increasingly plagued by unfounded mythologies that have arisen due to the burgeoning interest in these neoteric materials. This short polemic is designed to bring attention to some of the key problems in the current ionic liquid literature; this is an exciting new field, and we want to see it blossom in the fertile ground of academic and industrial excellence. INTRODUCTION Separating ionic liquid fact from fiction is quickly becoming one of the greatest challenges currently

This study presents an experimental verification of the biodegradation of 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BMIM][BF4]), one of the most commonly used ionic liquid. We have investigated the fate of [BMIM][BF4] when in contact with soilmicroorganisms, waste-water-microorganisms, Pseudomonas putida (P. putida) and Escherichia coli (E. coli). Our study shows that the degradation products can be identified by GC-MS after solid phase extraction

This report shows for the first time that the ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate, can be used as an effective solvent in extractive distillation, for the separation of an azeotropic hydrofluorocarbon mixture containing difluoromethane and pentafluoroethane. The feasibility of the extractive distillation process was modeled with ASPEN Plus® simulator. The difluoromethane and pentafluoroethane were efficiently separated using one main column and two flash tanks. The purity of the pentafluoroethane distillate from the top of the main column and the purity of the difluoromethane from each flash tank

Cellulose-magnetite composites have been prepared by suspension and dispersion of magnetite particles in a homogenous ionic liquid solution of cellulose, followed by regeneration into water, enabling the preparation of magnetically responsive films, flocs, fibers, or beads. The materials prepared were ferromagnetic, with a small superparamagnetic response, characteristic of the initial magnetite added. X-ray diffraction data indicated that the magnetite particles were chemically unaltered after encapsulation with an average particle si

What is the EFCG and why was it created? The EFCG groups together, the companies and associations of fine chemical manufacturers in the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC), and the committee of which I am the Chairman represents over 200 European producers of APIs (active pharmaceutical ingredients and their precursors) located in the EU. We decided to create this group as we felt we had no representative voice in Brussels and we could not keep a passive position when facing an avalanche of legislation that strongly penalizes those who produce in Europe, and favours those who manufacture outside Europe and

MicroReaction Technology has been developed as a new chemical tool for process intensification. The technology is still at its early stage but has started to succeed its implementation in R&D labs of fine & specialty chemicals companies. This technology has many advantages to drive innovation. It leads to new and high quality products. Fine and speciality chemicals represent a niche market for this technology that could reach about € 140 M in 15 to 20 years while implemented for production purpose. The improvement of the technology leading to increased technical and economical benefits will open the way to larger markets like commodity

The unique operational characteristics of microreactors are described in this article, with particular reference to their use as tools for chemical synthesis. With reference to the future automation, an example is presented to illustrate how microreactors can be readily integrated into current HPLC systems, to enable fully integrated chemical synthesis and product analysis to be performed. INTRODUCTION A microreactor is generally defined as a device consisting of a number of interconnecting micro channels in which small quantities of reagents are manipulated, mixed and allowed to react for a specified period of time. The movement of fluids within such a device can

The use of microstructured reactors with their benefits especially concerning enhanced mass and heat transfer for organic synthesis can lead for given chemical protocols to process intensification and as important additional aspect enable process chemistry with novel features not feasible so far because of limits of conventional equipment (1-7). Therefore, continuous micro-reactor rigs including conventionally interconnected micro-flow devices are versatile tools because of their simplicity, reliability, and flexibility – as opposed to tailored integrated micro-reactor concepts. This includes combinations of micromixers and heat exchangers and in particular capillary or tube sections (being rather meso- than microstructured). Various

In this contribution suitability of silicon-technology based microreactors for performing research on reactions where temperature control is essential is discussed. The versatility of silicon micromachining technology is elucidated by describing the fabrication and performance of two types of microreactors for studying Rh-catalyzed gas phase reactions. Depending on the design of the microreactor, working temperatures up to 800 °C can be obtained. INTRODUCTION Microdevices like microreactors have fundamental advantages in comparison with conventional macroscale systems due to their characteristic dimensions in the sub-micrometer to the sub-millimeter range (1, 2). These dimensions result in small internal volumes and high

Over the past 5 decades synthetic methodology has evolved with an emphasis on selectivity and yield enhancement of chemical reactions. Initially, substrates, auxiliary substituted substrates and additives were developed with the purpose of delaying and thereby discriminating against undesired reaction pathways. Also, catalyst systems were established to discriminate in favour of desired pathways. Beyond these intrinsic anchors to influence and direct the conversion of substrates, the

In consideration of current oil prices, several countries are considering bioethanol biotechnologies as a means of lessening their dependence on fossil fuels. After the definition of the problems associated of carbohydrate extraction costs from agricultural biomass, the next step involves the implementation of new plants for the production of bioethanol by yeast. This presents challenges related to the development of starters optimized for these processes, improvement of fermentation techniques, and efficient procedures

Current applied research on petroleum microbiology encompasses oil spill remediation, petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated site assessment, soil remediation and monitoring, biofiltration of volatile hydrocarbons, microbial enhanced oil recovery, oil and fuel upgrading through desulphurization and denitrogenation and fine chemical production. Significant advances have been made in the area of petroleum microbiology and biotechnology during the last decade due to knowledge acquired on cellular