Green Chemistry in Environmental Sustainability and Chemical Education (eBook)

Chemistry is considered to be one of the prime causes of environmental pollution and degradation. The United Nations General Assembly also addressed the environmental challenges in its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which have been adopted in 2015. A closer look shows that to meet these goals chemistry will play an important role. Green chemistry encompasses design and synthesis of environmentally benign chemical processes, green approaches to minimize and/or remediate environmental pollution, the development of biomaterials, biofuel, and bioenergy production, biocatalysis, and policies and ethics in green chemistry. When products in use today become waste, we need to treat that waste so that hazardous substances are not re-circulated into new products. In this context, circular economy is also an important point of discussion, which focuses on recycling, reuse and use of renewable sources.

The theme of the International Conference on 'Green Chemistry in Environmental Sustainability & Chemical Education (ICGC-2016) held in Delhi from 17-18 November 2016 was to discuss the emerging green trends in the direction of sustainability and environmental safety. ICGC-2016 consisted of keynote, plenary and invited lectures, panel discussion, contributed oral papers and poster presentations. The conference provided a platform for high school students, undergraduate and postgraduate students, teaching fraternity and young researchers to interact with eminent scientists and academicians from all over the world who shared their valuable views, experience and research on the harmonious methods in chemistry for a sustainable environment.

This volume of proceedings from the conference provides an opportunity for readers to engage with a selection of refereed papers that were presented during the ICGC-2016 conference. The overarching goal of this book is to discuss most recent innovations and concerns in green chemistry as well as practical challenges encountered and solutions adopted to remediate a scathed environment into a pristine one. It includes an extensive variety of contributions from participants of ICGC-2016 that demonstrate the importance of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach to problem solving within green chemistry and environmental management. The proceedings is thus a green chemistry monograph resulting from the fruitful deliberations in the conference, which will deeply enhance awareness about our responsibility towards the environment. 

Virinder S. Parmar obtained his BSc Honors, MSc and PhD from the University of Delhi, and did his postdoctoral research at Cornell University, Harvard University, the University of Basel and Imperial College. He has been a faculty member at the University of Delhi for 44 years and has served as Head of the Department of Chemistry and Chairman of Board of Research Studies. He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Massachusetts, University of Southern Denmark, Institute of Advanced Sciences and the Central University of Haryana. His research interests include nanoscience, synthetic organic chemistry, biocatalysis, polymer chemistry, nucleic acid chemistry, green chemistry, advanced materials and chemistry of natural products. He has mentored 85 PhD and Postdoctoral Scientists, and has published 476 research papers in addition to being co-inventor on 11 patents. He is a member of the IUPAC Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry Division's Subcommittees on Biomolecular Chemistry and Green Chemistry.

Priti Malhotra obtained her PhD from the University of Delhi and is a senior chemistry faculty at Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi from the last 23 years. She has a vast experience of teaching Inorganic Chemistry to undergraduate students and has also organized various workshops, seminars and lectures. Her research interests include green chemistry, nanobiotechnology and material science. She has mentored 40 undergraduate and 5 PhD students, and has published 30 research papers in prestigious scientific journals and various national and international conference proceedings. She has also authored a book on 'Analytical Chemistry'.

Divya Mathur received her BSc (2006), MSc (2008) and PhD (2013) in Chemistry from the University of Delhi (India), and did her postdoctoral research at Ghent University, Belgium. She has worked as a visiting research scholar at the Acadia University, Canada. She is a recipient of Erasmus Mundus Postdoctoral Scholarship by European Union, Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship by Government of Canada and National Postdoctoral Fellowship by Government of India. Presently, she is an Assistant Professor at Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi (India). She has published over 25 peer-reviewed papers in reputed international journals. Her research interests include nanoscience, synthetic organic chemistry, biocatalysis, nucleic acid chemistry and green chemistry. 

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Chemistry is considered to be one of the prime causes of environmental pollution and degradation. The United Nations General Assembly also addressed the environmental challenges in its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which have been adopted in 2015. A closer look shows that to meet these goals chemistry will play an important role. Green chemistry encompasses design and synthesis of environmentally benign chemical processes, green approaches to minimize and/or remediate environmental pollution, the development of biomaterials, biofuel, and bioenergy production, biocatalysis, and policies and ethics in green chemistry. When products in use today become waste, we need to treat that waste so that hazardous substances are not re-circulated into new products. In this context, circular economy is also an important point of discussion, which focuses on recycling, reuse and use of renewable sources.The theme of the International Conference on "e;Green Chemistry in Environmental Sustainability & Chemical Education (ICGC-2016) held in Delhi from 17-18 November 2016 was to discuss the emerging green trends in the direction of sustainability and environmental safety. ICGC-2016 consisted of keynote, plenary and invited lectures, panel discussion, contributed oral papers and poster presentations. The conference provided a platform for high school students, undergraduate and postgraduate students, teaching fraternity and young researchers to interact with eminent scientists and academicians from all over the world who shared their valuable views, experience and research on the harmonious methods in chemistry for a sustainable environment. This volume of proceedings from the conference provides an opportunity for readers to engage with a selection of refereed papers that were presented during the ICGC-2016 conference. The overarching goal of this book is to discuss most recent innovations and concerns in green chemistry as well as practical challenges encountered and solutions adopted to remediate a scathed environment into a pristine one. It includes an extensive variety of contributions from participants of ICGC-2016 that demonstrate the importance of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach to problem solving within green chemistry and environmental management. The proceedings is thus a green chemistry monograph resulting from the fruitful deliberations in the conference, which will deeply enhance awareness about our responsibility towards the environment.