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12 PRINCIPLES OF GREEN CHEMISTRY
PRINCIPLE 1 : PREVENTION
PRESENTED BY:
THINES MANIKAM (1103151002)
BRENNAN GERARD (110315200)
KUMUTHINI RAMANI (1103152005)
PRINCIPLE 1 : PREVENTION
■ Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or
eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances.
■ Expanding role of PCR in science and medicine highlights the need to create safe and
■ Goal of PCR is to make enough of the target DNA region that it can be analysed or
used in some other way.
■ Manufacturing the key chemicals required for PCR tests is quite wasteful, often
producing thousands of times more waste than product.
Greener Approach: Life Technologies Synthetic Process
■ Devised synthetic routes for the manufacture of dNTPs that are only three steps in a
single pot.
■ Process E-factor (the ratio of amount of waste to amount of product) is improved by about a
factor of 10. (3200 to 400)
Source : United States Environment Protection Agency Life Technologies Corporation (technology acquired by
Thermo Fisher Scientific)
INNOVATION #2
Biocatalytic process to manufacture Simvastatin
■ Simvastatin, a leading drug for treating high cholesterol, is manufactured from a natural
product. The traditional multistep synthesis was wasteful and used large amounts of
hazardous reagents.
■ Greener study engineered the synthesis using an engineered enzyme and a practical
low-cost feedstock. Further optimized was both the enzyme and the chemical process.
Traditional Procedure
• Simvastatin was a leading drug for treating high cholesterol and is manufactured from
a fungal natural product containing an additional methyl group at the C2 position of the
side chain.
• This subtle structural modification makes simvastatin more potent in the reduction of
total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) with decreased hepatoxicity and
reduced side effects.
• Existing Technology
– Two routes to manufacturing simvastatin:
1) Hydrolysis/Esterification
2) Direct Methylation ?
• The LovD enzyme was cloned and identified for biological synthesis of lovastatin
• Demonstrated that LovD can be used to synthesize simvastatin and
• Identified a simple acyl donor (DMB-SMMP) that could potentially support an economic
large scale process
GREENER BENEFITS
■ The newer method greatly reduces hazard and waste, its is cost effective
Source : Green Chemistry Case Studies: Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards 2012 Winners
(technology acquired by Codexis, Inc. & Dr. Yi Tang, UCLA)
INNOVATION #3
Enzymes Reduce the Energy and Wood Fibre Required to
Manufacture High-Quality Paper and Paperboard
■ Greener Approach introduces enzymes which modify the cellulose in wood to increase
the number of "fibrils" that bind the wood fibers to each other, thus making paper with
■ Allows papermaking with less wood fiber and higher percentages of recycled paper,
o In nature, cellulases are enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of cellulose to degrade and recycle
this organic compound
Endoclucanases disrupt the crystalline structure of cellulose and expose individual
chains
Exocellulases separate pieces of two to four sugar monomers from the exposed
chains
Cellobiases hydrolyze those fragments into glucose
Greener Approach: Enzymes with Cellulase group to
modify the Cellulose Fibers
■ Select enzymes within the cellulase group to modify cellulose fibers in order to improve paper quality and
support greener manufacturing practices.
■ Maximyze technology consists of specific enzymes that improve inter-fiber bonding in cellulose, increasing the
strength of paper.
Bonding of Refined Cellulose Fibers (500x)
No enzyme treatment Treated with Maximyze
• Use of enzymes, which are safer with regard to human health and the environment
o Made using renewable raw materials in a fermentation process
o Completely biodegradable
Source : Green Chemistry Case Studies: Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards 2012 Winners (technology
acquired by Buckman International, Inc)
REFERENCE
■ United States Environment Protection Agency Life Technologies Corporation (technology acquired
by Thermo Fisher Scientific)
• Link: https://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/presidential-green-chemistry-challenge-2013-greener-synthetic-
pathways-award
■ Green Chemistry Case Studies: Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards 2012 Winners
(technology acquired by Codexis, Inc. & Dr. Yi Tang, UCLA)
■ Green Chemistry Case Studies: Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards 2012 Winners
(technology acquired by Buckman International, Inc)
• Link: https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/201502/documents/award_recipients_1996_2014.pdf