Article | REF: K1200 V1

Chemistry and sustainable development - Towards an eco-compatible organic chemistry

Authors: Max MALACRIA, Jean-Philippe GODDARD, Cyril OLLIVIER

Publication date: May 10, 2009

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ABSTRACT

Throughout the course of the next few years, chemistry and more particularly, organic chemistry will have to address environmental issues and a shortage of fossil raw materials. Over the last century, organic chemistry has become a fundamental component of the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, thus considerably improving our health and quality of life. However, the use of oil, which remains its main raw material, seriously threatens its future and gives it a bad image in terms of safety and environment. Over the last few years, the chemical industry has nonetheless deeply evolved. This sector now has the constant preoccupation of controlling most product life cycles in order to integrate the principles of a sustainable chemistry so called eco-compatible or green chemistry.

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AUTHORS

  • Max MALACRIA: Professor at Pierre-et-Marie-Curie University (Paris 06) and IUF

  • Jean-Philippe GODDARD: Senior lecturer at Pierre-et-Marie-Curie University (Paris 06)

  • Cyril OLLIVIER: CNRS research fellow - UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Paris Institute of Molecular Chemistry (UMR CNRS 7201)

 INTRODUCTION

A fundamental component of the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, organic chemistry, or the chemistry of carbon compounds, has undergone prodigious development over the past century, mainly thanks to the discovery and development of new molecules. Its impact on our society is visible, multiple and positive. Today, it is rightly an integral part of our daily lives, through a variety of products that are essential to our health (food, medicines...) or that make a major contribution to improving our quality of life (materials, cosmetics...). What's more, it plays an active part in our economic development. However, its heavy dependence on oil as a source of raw materials poses a considerable threat to its future. Already, the sector is confronted with the rapid and inexorable rise in oil prices, caused by a growing global demand for energy; but it also has to forestall the programmed short-term exhaustion of non-renewable fossil resources. On the other hand, this chemistry often conveys a negative image to society, in terms of health and safety as well as the environment, and all the more so when it is at the origin of or associated with ecological and/or human disasters. Everyone still remembers the thalidomide tragedy of 1961 (a hypnotic sedative whose (S)-enantiomer very quickly showed significant teratogenic effects in pregnant women) and the excessive use of pesticides such as DDT (a powerful insecticide whose persistence is estimated at 1 to 10 years), implicating the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries in turn. The most high-profile industrial accidents – such as those at Feyzin (France, 1966), Seveso (Italy, 1976), Bhopal (India, 1984), Basel (Switzerland, 1986), Protex (France, 1987), La Mède (France, 1992) and the explosion at the AZF plant in Toulouse (France, 2001), as well as problems linked to the management of chemical discharges and waste and the accumulation of greenhouse gases, have only served to accentuate this crisis of confidence. In recent years, however, the chemical industry has undergone profound change, controlling most of its products' life cycles (production, handling and recycling) and striving to integrate the principles of sustainable chemistry, known as eco-compatible chemistry or green chemistry –, i.e. chemistry that is more concerned with the environment and seeks to prevent pollution while remaining competitive – thus becoming a major player in sustainable development.

To learn more about the impact of chemistry in general and how it has evolved, readers are invited to consult the references at [1][2][3][4]

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