9^th World Congress on Green Chemistry and Technology September 17-19, 2018 Amsterdam, Netherlands | Hyatt Place Amsterdam Airport | Rijnlanderweg 800, 2132 NN Hoofddorp

Carla Gomes has achieved her Master’s in Chemistry from the University of Coimbra, Portugal, in 2017 and since January of 2018, she has been enrolled in the CATSUS PhD program. Her research interests are in the area of sustainable synthesis, microwave-assisted organic synthesis and mechanochemistry specially related to the synthesis of heterocycles. She has presented three oral communications and three posters with two of them winning the best poster prize.

The remarkable versatility of porphyrins and their derivatives, clearly demonstrated by the large number of applications, relies in a great length on the development and improvement of synthetic strategies that, over the years, made possible the huge availability of these compounds. The synthesis of meso-substituted porphyrins from pyrrole and aldehyde involves the cyclization to obtain the porphyrinogen and the oxidation to aromatize it to porphyrin. With the awakening for the environmental issues and the establishment of green chemistry began the search for new synthetic methodologies often using new tools such as, microwave or mechanochemistry. In this communication, we report the synthesis of porphyrins using mechanochemistry. The influence of the ball milling process in the cyclization and oxidation step, the acid catalyst, the oxidant, the substitution at the aldehyde and the presence and type of solvent will be discussed.

Ihesinachi A. Kalagbor obtained a Ph.D degree in Analytical Chemistry from University of Port-Harcourt, Rivers State Nigeria in 2006. She is a Chief lecturer and Director, Research and Development Centre, Ken Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic Bori. She has carried out a lot of research on heavy metals in water, soil, fruits, vegetables and crops. She is involved with a team of researchers in her institution working on a pilot scheme for the generation of electricity using waste organic materials. She has published 26 papers in reputed journals and four more to be published this year.

The use of microbial fuel cell (MFC) for electricity generation from septic waste water was carried out for 12 weeks retention period. In this study, the microbial fuel cells were designed and loaded with a 1000 Ω external load (resistor). Electrical voltage, current, power output was measured on weekly basis. Current density and power density were calculated. Wastewater qualities such as Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and pH of the raw wastewater were determined in the laboratory on weekly basis. pH values were constant (8.2) while the BOD, COD and TSS decreased geometrically. The maximum voltage reading of 3.029V was obtained on the 6th week but gradually decreased due to the formation of biofilm and reduction of substrate (food) in the cell. The linear correlation between voltage and the other parameters (current, current density and power density) have R2 values of 0.9301, 0.9303 and 0.6274 respectively. The MFC design provides a solution for power generation from wastewater in homes. A single multistage MFC can produce 3.029V of electricity; which implies that four MFCs connected in parallel can produce up to 10.5V of electricity.

Andrea Morandini was born in Latisana (Italy) on July 21, 1990. He graduated in Chemistry and Sustainable Technologies at Ca 'Foscari University of Venice in 2017. Currently PhD student in Chemistry at the University Ca 'Foscari di Venezia, His research concerns the development of new antimicrobial agents and their use for the production of innovative polymeric materials."

The synthesis of covalent bonds for the formation of amides and esters is of great importance to produce pharmaceuticals, peptides, polymers, etc., and these reactions often require a long time and hard conditions. A wide variety of condensing reagents is known such as acyl azides, uronium salts and carbodiimides can occur by these reactions in a short time and at room temperature. In the last decade, 4-(4,6-dimethoxy-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)-4 methyl-morpholinium chloride (DMTMM) has been demonstrated to be a very efficient condensing reagent and its use is rapidly increasing due to its high activity, high solubility in water and alcoholic solvents. New alternative condensing agents are of great interest for fine chemistry synthesis to reduce costs and improve yields. Keeping this in mind, we developed a protocol for the in situ preparation of a library of 4-(4,6-dialkoxy-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)-4-alkyl-ammonium halides to be used as condensing agents for the formation of amide bonds. Our preliminary results show that these quaternary ammonium salts formulated in situ, further simplify the use of these reagents reducing their cost. Moreover, in some cases the preformed quaternary ammonium salt is unstable and decomposes quickly while the in situ formulation gives an active and efficient condensing agent. Conversions of over 80% are achieved in most cases in around 15 minutes. These activating agents have been efficiently employed for the synthesis of amides and the stabilization of collagen.

Vasilios Sakkas is an Associate Professor of Analytical Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry of University of Ioannina. He has received his PhD in Chemistry from the same University in 2002 and started his academic career as Adjunct Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering 2003-2007. His research interests are devoted to the topics of Analytical Chemistry, Chemometrics, Environmental Chemistry and Environmental Technology.

Photocatalysis has great potential to be a cost-effective water purification technology for the removal of low concentration recalcitrant organic pollutants, including emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, sweeteners etc. TiO2 photocatalytic oxidation of stevioside (STE) was investigated with the scope of determining the degree of variation of the oxidation process under a variety of conditions such as initial stevioside concentration, and water matrix. As a tool of investigating the effect of the above factors on the variation of the photocatalytic efficiency, a fully nested experimental design was employed. A significant impact on the degradation rate of the sweetener was observed: degradation rate decreases in the order distilled water > river water > lake water, attributed to the increased natural organic matter content of the respective natural water samples. Moreover, the investigation has involved the identification of intermediate compounds, as well as the assessment of mineralization and toxicity evaluation. More than one hundred unknown transformation products, most of them in the form of several isobaric species, were identified. By employing accurate mass determination, we were able to attribute an empirical formula to each species and through MSn analysis we were capable to distinguish several isobaric species. The overall transformation mechanism was assessed and involved the hydroxylation/oxidation of the molecule and the subsequent loss of the glucose units bound to the parent compound.

Amara Dar has completed her PhD in Feb 2018 from Institute of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Lahore. She has completed her MS in Analytical Chemistry and BS in Chemistry (hons) from the same institution. She has served at Center for Undergraduate Studies, University of the Punjab as a Lecturer from 2007 till Feb 2018 and at present, she is working as an Assistant Professor. She has published 19 research papers in well reputed impact factor journals. She is author of a monograph and a book.

Chromium is potential human carcinogen is major component of various industrial effluents. Removal of chromium using various methods has been reported in the literature. Using adsorption technique chromium in the form of chromate was removed in the present study. In countries like Pakistan, resources are limited, and a cost effective and environmentally benign method is needed to facilitate the community. In order to reduce the effect of chromium pollution, novel adsorbents with remarkable adsorption capacities were practiced during this study. Acid treated arjun nuts, beeri ptta capsule and multani mitti along with untreated amberlite IRA 410 were employed for the batch-wise removal of chromate ions from water. In depth, mechanism was explored by applying various isothermal model and adsorption capacity (mg/g) of amberlite and acid treated arjun nuts revealed their remarkable potential for chromate adsorption. Time dependence and temperature effect was also studied by applying kinetics and thermodynamics model.

Zhiyong Hu has completed his Master’s degree from East China University of Science and Technology in China. Currently, he is pursuing his PhD at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, supervised by Lukas J Gooßen.

A [Ru(p-cymene)Cl2]2 catalyst activates allyl alcohols and ethers for the regioselective ortho-C–H allylation of aromatic and heteroaromatic carboxylates. The reaction is orthogonal to most C–H functionalizations with allyl alcohols in that allyl arenes rather than carbonyl compounds are obtained. A wide range of substrates are thus smoothly transformed to allylarenes at 50°C in phosphate-buffered 2,2,2-trichloroethanol. The reaction concept combines the use of abundant reagents and directing groups in a sustainable, waste-minimized method for C–C bond formation.

Guodong Zhang has completed his Master’s degree from Zhengzhou University in China. Currently, he is pursuing his PhD at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, supervised by Lukas J Gooßen.

In the presence of catalytic [Ru(p-cym)Cl2]2 and using Li3PO4 as the base, benzoic acids react with olefins in water to afford the corresponding 2-alkylbenzoic acids in moderate to excellent yields. This C–H alkylation process is generally applicable to diversely substituted electron-rich and electron-deficient benzoic acids, along with -unsaturated olefins including unprotected acrylic acid. The widely available carboxylate directing group can be removed tracelessly or utilized for further derivatization. Mechanistic investigations revealed that the transformation proceeds via a ruthenacycle intermediate.

Giulia Bertoli has studied Chemistry at the University of Parma and started her PhD studies in August 2017 at the Ruhr Universität Bochum under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Lukas J Gooßen.

Fluorine-containing molecules are abundant in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and material sciences. In this context, lots of attention has been given to the SCF3 group, which induces higher lipophilicity and membrane permeability to functionalized molecules. Despite their importance and applicability, the synthesis of these molecules through traditional pathways is usually based on waste-intensive and multistep syntheses. The Sandmeyer reaction is one of the few processes using substoichiometric amounts of copper to achieve high yields. However, for pharmaceutical applications, it is desirable to avoid the use of heavy metals. We developed a greener approach for the synthesis of trifluoromethyl thioethers starting from arenediazonium salts in which no heavy metal mediators are needed. Moreover, the reaction is completed within short times and mild conditions. Many substrates are tolerated achieving moderate to good yields. The mechanism was investigated through cyclic voltammetry studies, which highlighted a SET process from the Me4NSCF3 to the arenediazonium salt. Overall, this approach demonstrates that it is possible to perform trifluoromethylthiolation of arene electrophiles in the absence of heavy metal mediators, showing a good applicability for processes in which even ppm quantities of metals need to be avoided.

Dominik Lichte has completed his Undergraduate studies in Chemistry at the Technische Universität Dortmund. He started his PhD in January 2018 under supervision of Prof. Dr. Lukas J Goossen at the Ruhr Universität Bochum.

Decarboxylative couplings of aromatic carboxylic acids have emerged as an efficient synthetic tool in the last decade.[1-2] While redox-neutral CC bond forming reactions have attracted most of the attention of the synthetic community, their oxidative counterparts have only been scarcely studied and the vast majority of reported transformations require the presence of stoichiometric amounts of toxic silver salts.[3] The development of efficient methods for the synthesis of substituted anilines with absolute regiocontrol is a central theme in organic synthesis. In that regard, we were particularly interested in developing a general procedure for CN bond formation [4-5] via the arylation of weakly acidic amines with benzoic acids. In line with the palladium/copper co-catalyzed decarboxylative coupling rationale developed in the Goossen group, we now report silver-free conditions under which primary and secondary aliphatic amines as well as diversely substituted anilines can undergo selective mono-arylation with benzoic acids in good to excellent yields (Scheme 1). This presentation will focus on the holistic aspects of the reaction development. The choice of a suitable oxidant/solvent system proved crucial for an efficient CN bond formation to take place. An interesting feature of the transformation is that a wide range of palladium and copper salts can act as efficient catalysts. Remarkably, primary aliphatic amines and, to a lesser extent, secondary acyclic amines can undergo N-arylation using this procedure. An example of short synthesis of a complex substituted arylamine will be presented in which the CN bond formation via decarboxylative coupling is an early key step in the overall process. Mechanistic investigations pointing to transmetalation being the rate determining step will be presented. We expect that this methodology will provide new concepts upon which the development of more environmentally friendly oxidative decarboxylative couplings can build for the future.

Radu Socoteanu has completed his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry and his thesis was on structure, properties and applications of some porphyrinic compounds. He is a Senior Researcher in the Molecular Structure Department of the Physical Chemistry Institute under the Romanian Academy, Bucharest. He is specialized in the field of tetrapyrrolic type compounds unconventional synthesis, related analytical and physical chemistry and various techniques from optical spectroscopy to NMR. He has over 35 ISI articles, eight patents and two book chapters. He is the Director, Partner, Co-director or Member in 22 national and international projects (NATO, MNT-Era-Net, MEC-MCT, CNCSIS etc.).

Porphyrinic compounds represent the main class of tetrapyrrolic structures which play an important role in photodiagnosis and photodynamic therapy of malignant tumors. Therefore, the synthesis, investigation spectral properties and in vitro evaluation at the cellular level of such structures are of current interest in medicinal chemistry. Despite the complete absence of toxicity related to the porphyrinic compounds themselves, almost all stages involve classical synthesis and most of the analytical evaluation stages involve high toxicity. Unconventional microwave synthesis proved to be in this case the main factor in reducing the number of side products and toxic solvents usually used in the classical obtaining process for acetoxy and methoxy periphery A3B porphyrin type structures. Also, the evaluation by AFM microscopy for important features, such as aggregation capacity or interaction with other structures involved in pharmaceutical formulation (e.g. polyethylene glycol or several nanoparticles) prove to be an efficient eco-friendly tool for evaluation of such nano-systems.

Fengming CHEN, was born in 1984 in Fujian province, China, Dr. Fengming CHEN obtained the doctor degree in Tokyo Metropolitan University. And as postdoctoral in Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University during 2014-2017, Entering Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine in 2017 and focused his attention on the application of chromatography/mass spectrometry in food and sing-cell analysis, measurement and standard material development and other fields.

The MS/MS fragmentation pathway of the cinnamic esters additives was illustrated. There were four analytes (butyl heptanoate, ethyl cinnamate, n-propyl cinnamate and benzyl cinnamate) had m/z ratio 131 with higher abundance. By analyzing the structure of compound ethyl cinnamate, n-propyl cinnamate and benzyl cinnamate, these similar fragments were due to consecutive losses of the cinnamoyl moiety (m/z 131). The mechanisms show the common fragmentation behavior of the cinnamic esters. The fragmentation mechanism of mass spectra of these β-agonists shows that dehydration reactions occurred in the pathway of each compound. A common characteristic was observed that there was neutral loss of a water molecule for all β-agonists and for 7 β-agonists, loss of an alkyl group from the secondary amine was demonstrated. Moreover, m/z at 74 and 60 were for the butyl and propyl derivatives respectively. The fragmentation pathway of crocin, crocetin and geniposide were studied. The DP and CE values of crocin were higher than those of crocetin which may be because of the stable gentiobiosyl bond and large molecular weight of crocin. The precursor ion [M-H] − (m/z 975) of crocin had potential to loss gentiobiosyl (m/z 324) for [M-H-gen] − (m/z 651) and to loss two gentiobiosyl (m/z 648) for crocetin (m/z 327).

Valentina Bragoni has studied Chemistry at the University of Rome, Tor Vergata and started her PhD in July 2016 at the Ruhr Universität Bochum under Prof. Dr. Lukas J Gooßen.

Cashew nutshell liquid (CNSL) is an inedible waste product (1.000.000 t/a) in the cashew nut processing and is an excellent candidate for the synthesis of bio-based synthetically valuable compounds, as its production does not compete with the land use for food production. CNSL is a mixture of phenols bearing a 15-carbon side chain with different degrees of unsaturation. We have developed an eco-friendly and waste minimised concept for the synthesis of amine-based surfactants from CNSL. The key step of the procedure is a reductive amination of CNSL with molecular hydrogen in water as solvent, and palladium on charcoal as catalyst. The resulting cyclohexyl amines are successfully converted into N-oxide, betaine and quaternary ammonium tensides. Their surfactant properties (surface tension and critical micellar concentration) have been determined and resulted comparable with those of state-of the-art commercial tensides, opening up a wealth of commercial applications. In the case of the particularly valuable N-oxide surfactant, a one pot synthesis with a remarkably low E-factor of 2 was realised in water as the sole solvent, with a hydrogen peroxide oxidation and purification by simple water extraction, thus avoiding the use of waste-intensive purification techniques. Overall, the process provides a new, eco-friendly procedure for the transformation of renewable waste products into industrially valuable compounds.

Excessive Fe3+ ions in water will cause great harm to the human body, even if it is required. Therefore, the design of new fluorescence probes for Fe3+ ion is very important. Herein, Mg(HPCD) (H2O) (H3PCD=9-(2-(ethoxy(hydroxy)phosphoryl)ethyl)-9H carbazole-3,6-dicarboxylic acid) was synthesized and characterized. Adjacent {MgO6} octahedral are joined by O-P-O and O-C-O groups into 1D chain, which are linked by the HPCD2- ligands to form a 2D layer parallel then packed to form a 3D network (Fig.1). The Fe3+ ion can reduce fluorescence relative to other metal ions (Cd2+, Co2+, Cu2+, Sr2+, Al3+, Zn2+, Mn2+, Pb2+ and Fe2+) (Fig.2), so the compound may be used as a fluorescence probe for Fe3+ ion.

Rong-Xin Yuan has completed his PhD in 2002 at Nanjing University. During 2002-2004, he worked at University of Bielefeld and University of Nottingham as a Post-doctoral Fellow. Now, he is the Director of Key Lab of Advanced Functional Materials. He has published more than 80 papers in reputed journals.

T Nagiev is the Vice-President of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, the Director of Research Center of Azerbaijan National Encyclopedia and also, the Department Chief of Nagiev Institute of Catalysis and Inorganic Chemistry of ANAS. He is a Professor of the Department of the Physical and Colloid Chemistry of Baku State University.

The inducing effect of hydrogen peroxide on synchronous monooxidation reaction of hydrocarbons in the presence of biomimetic catalysts is accompanied by two interrelated and interacting-coherent reactions. The decomposition reaction of H2O2 (primary) forms a biomimetic catalytic intermediate, in the interaction of which with the substrate, its transformation occurs in a secondary reaction-coherently, synchronized with it. The mechanism of such coherent-synchronized reactions is considered in the process of heterogeneously catalyzed monooxidation of cyclohexane by hydrogen peroxide in the gas phase in the presence of a biomimetic catalyst, which is described by the following generalized scheme: It follows from this scheme that the primary H2O2 decomposition reaction forms highly active hydroperoxide active center ImtOOH, which interacts with cyclohexane by forming the desired products (secondary reactions) - C6H11OH, C6H10O, C6H10 and C6H8. As a biomimetic catalyst was used per-FTPhPFe(III)OH/Al2O3, which synthesized based on the iron-porphyrin complex, simulating the catalytic functions of the enzyme of the oxoreductase-catalase and monooxygenase group, which are distinguished by their selective and highly active action and necessary for the creation of effective biomimics. Experimental study of the monooxidation reaction of cyclohexane shows that the process of formation of cyclohexanone, cyclohexanol and cyclohexene proceeds along a sequentially parallel mechanism, which can be represented as the following scheme: Each stage indicated in this scheme proceeds according to the previously described coherently synchronized mechanism.

Marta Pineiro has achieved her PhD in Organic Chemistry in 2003 from the University of Coimbra, Portugal, and since 2002, she has been enrolled at the University of Coimbra, as Auxiliary Professor. Her research interests are in the area of sustainable synthesis, microwave-assisted organic synthesis and synthesis and biological applications of tetrapyrrolic macrocycles. She has published so far 50 articles in international peer-reviewed journals, 17 meeting proceedings and is the co-author of six books and book chapters and four patents.

About 38% of the 407 million tons of plastics produced worldwide is used in the packaging industry in a market dominated by the polyolefins (PP, LDPE, and HDPE). This means that, only by this activity, 154 million tons of waste is generated and a huge part of this will be lost from any recycling circuit finishing their brief lives in landfills. The introduction of biodegradable materials in packaging industry will reduce the pressure over the deposition in landfills but the decomposition must be in a way that safe products are generate during the process of environment friendly biodegradation to carbon dioxide. The non-edible nature of cellulose, its abundance as available material in the form of wood or agriculture residues and its renewable and biodegradable characteristics makes this natural polymer an interesting material to be used as environmental friendly packaging materials. However, cellulose lacks thermoplasticity which means that it must be blended with other polymeric materials in order to get possible to be workable in packaging industry. Polyesters are generally biodegradable polymers due to the reversibility of the ester bond by hydrolysis. The manipulation of the structure could turn the mechanical properties of the polyesters more similar to polyolefins and in a future replace them as a main thermoplastic source. Actually, polyesters are more expensive than polyolefins, but the introduction of low cost fillers could reduce costs and improve mechanical properties. In this work, we present the results of the combination of hydrolyzed pulp cellulose with Bioflex® which a mixture of two biodegradable polyesters, polylactic acid (PLA) and poly butylene succinate (PBS). The mechanical behavior of composite samples with different amounts of cellulose will be discussed.

Ljiljana Matović is the Director of Department of Material Science in "Vinča" Institute of Nuclear Sciences. She is working as a Researcher in the field of Material Science, dealing with the synthesis, characterization and modification of different kind of materials ranging from synthetic (carbon, metal hydrides) to natural (clay, zeolites) and their composites. Her main field of interest is materials for waste conversion. She has teaching experience as a Mentor of PhDs’ and Masters’ students as well as management experience as Science Project Leader and experience in production and investigation of radiopharmaceuticals.

Dyes and pigments are used by many industries to color their products. Presence of dye molecules, even at very low concentrations, is undesirable and may significantly affect photosynthetic activity in aquatic systems. A new approach that combines the use of carbon material, as an adsorbent matrix, coupled with the high energy irradiation derived from the radioactive waste sources was used for degradation of methylene blue (MB), which was taken as an example of contaminant. Synergistic effect on the degradation of the dye was investigated. Irradiated solutions of MB with carbon-based material show significantly greater decrease in absorption, then the unirradiated solutions using only carbon-based material or irradiation. Positions of all bands in spectra remain unchanged except a slight shift and changes in the relative intensities of the bands at 1100 cm-1 assigned to C-O stretching in phenolic groups (1000-1250 cm-1). High energy radiation in water medium can produce radiolysis of water i.e. several active species such as H2, H2O2, H+, OH−, eaq−, •OH and •H. As a result of formed reactive species which originate from the irradiated material and radiolysis of water, the amplitude of all absorption bands characteristic for MB disappeared completely. Joint application of those techniques, radiolysis and adsorption, using waste radioactive sources, as well as modified waste materials, has not been applied before.

Radojka Vujasin has completed her PhD at the Faculty of Physical Chemistry, University of Belgrade, Serbia. She is employed at the Department of Materials Science, "Vinča" Institute of Nuclear Sciences, Serbia. She is working as a Researcher in the field of Materials Science dealing with the synthesis, characterization and modification of carbon materials and metal hydrides. She has experience in theoretical research using different computer programs based on density functional theory.

Hazardous industrial waste is the most common source of environmental pollution. Waters originating from unregulated landfills and places of inadequate disposal of this type of waste can pollute the sources of drinking water and affect the health of the population. As a starting material for the synthesis of inorganic pigments, galvanic waste sludge from Ni/Cr plating was used. Color of the obtained inorganic pigments vary from green through brown to black, which can be attributed to the existence of Cr and Fe chromophore ions, as dominant components in the composition of sludge. Black inorganic pigment mixed Fe/Cr oxide (Cr1.3Fe0.7O3) was synthesized by adding Fe2O3 to the sludge and choosing the appropriate temperature of calcination (1000oC). Values of L*a*b* coordinates were 23.8, 1.6 and 0 were obtained respectively and are in accordance with the literature. XRD, SEM, PSD (particle size distribution) analysis was performed on the as received sludge and synthesized pigment. Black pigments can be considered as “inert”, against the water leaching, which is quite opposite to the leaching stability of the dried sludge.

Ksenija Kumrić has completed her PhD at the Faculty of Physical Chemistry, University of Belgrade, Serbia. She is employed at the Laboratory of Physics, "Vinča" Institute of Nuclear Sciences, Belgrade, Serbia and engaged in the realization of the project "Physics and Chemistry with Ion Beams" financed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of Republic Serbia. Her research work is focused in the field of separation chemistry, especially membrane based separation processes and adsorption, and its application in radiochemistry, analytical and environmental chemistry.

Pesticides released from agricultural practices are an important class of pollutants due to their widespread use, toxicity, persistance, polar nature and water solubility. Monitoring of the pesticides comprises a sample preparation step - for separation and enrichment, and high performance techniques for quantifications. Solid phase extraction (SPE) has been proved to be an effective sample pretreatment method due to high enrichment efficiency, low consumption of organic solvents, simplicity and easy operation. The choice of appropriate adsorbent is a crucial factor to obtain high recoveries and high enrichment factors in SPE procedure. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of using activated carbon (AC) derived from coconut shell as the SPE packing material for the preconcentration of five varying polarity pesticides (imidacloprid, acetamiprid, carbendazim, simazine and linuron) from aqueous solutions before determination by high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector (HPLC-DAD). The effects of the solution pH, eluent type, eluent volume and flow rate were investigated for optimization of the presented procedure. The adsorption was achieved quantitatively on AC column at the pH range 2.0 – 8.0, then the retained pesticides content was eluted with dichloromethane. Under the optimized conditions, the detection limit was found to be 29.3 - 121.4 ng/L, depending on the pesticide. The obtained results indicated that the proposed method could be used for the simultaneous determination of the varying polarity pesticides in environmental water samples at trace levels.

Ga Hee Kim has completed Master’s degree in Biomolecular and Chemical Engineering from the Catalyst & Material Laboratory of Hankyong National University in South Koreain 2015. In 2016, Kim was chosen as a Ph.D course in Biomolecular and Chemical Engineering from Hankyong National University. Kim studies continusly on energy conversion from lignocellulosic biomass.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of extraction conditions on the molecular structure of alkaline and organosolv lignins extracted from Korea native herbaceous(Miscanthus and Kenaf). The lignin fractions obtained were then characterized by EA, ICP-AES, TGA, GPC, FT-IR, NMR, Py-GC/MS, and sugar analysis. The structural characterization of lignin will be improving the understanding of complex lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment which is vital for the production of biofuels and phenolic compounds. Comparing the two pretreatment methods, it was found that Mn, Mw and polydispersity of the lignin extracted with ethanol solutions was lower than lignin extracted with alkaline solutions. Elemental composition of Lignins increased in carbon content, and the oxygen content, as expected, decreased. FTIR analysis of pretreated solid residues revealed reduction in p-hydroxyphenyl (H), guaiacyl (G) and syringyl (S) lignin, FTIR and p-NMR of these lignins showed S, H and G units. The lignin’s physical and chemical behavior was seen different with respect to the extraction method used.

Lili Zhen has obtained her Master's degree in Textile Chemistry, Dyeing and Finishing Engineering from the National Key Laboratory of Eco-Textile of the Jiangnan University in China in 2016, with an experimental thesis entitled ‘Thermoplastic modification research of rice straw through graft copolymerization with PEG’. Prior to this, in 2013, she has obtained her Bachelor's degree from Jiangnan University working on Light Chemistry Engineering. In 2016, she was chosen as a PhD student within the H2020 program BIOCLEAN under the supervision of Professor C Crestini at the University of Roma 'Tor Vergata', Italy.

Tannins are a major source of polyphenolic components after lignin, with 160,000 tons potentially biosynthesized each year. Due to their excellent protein complexing ability, tannins have different metabolic and biological roles, such as cell wall construction, against worms, fungi, bacterial and UV protection that made tannins perfect natural biofilm control agents in human daily life. Tannins possess multiple structure units featured on aromatic oligomer or macromolecular with free phenolic groups and usually classified into hydrolysable tannins that consist of esters of gallic acid with a core sugar, and condensed tannins that are oligomers or polymers of flavan-3-ol units. The aim of our work has focused on the tailoring of hydrophobic/hydrophilic properties of different tannins. A general chemical process for specific tannin functionalization has been developed and a library of specifically functionalized tannins carrying additional functional groups in specific loading factors has been created. More specifically ammonium groups, carboxylic groups and PEG have been successfully linked to an array of five different tannins possessing different chemical structures. The products were fully characterized by quantitative 31P NMR, 1H NMR, HSQC, MALDI.

Seong Ju Kim has completed Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Renewable & Bioproducts Energy Laboratory of Hankyong National University in South Koreain 2015. In 2016, he has chosen as a Ph.D course in Biomolecular and Chemical Engineering from Hankyong National University. He studies continously focussed on energy conversion from lignocellulosic biomass.

Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is a promising technology for producing high density liquid fuels from kenaf, a herbaceous biomass. Also, high density liquid fuels through HTL can be used to conbustion fuels as heavy oil in power plant. HTL was used to process Korean native kenaf as energy crops to produce bio crude oil, bio char, gas and aquous phase products. In this study, in order to determine the optimal condition of HTL process, the kenaf was treated using 1-7% (w/w) NaOH at 250-350 °C for 120 min. Subsequently, the mixed products (bio crude oil, bio char, and aqueous phase) were extracted by dichloromethan to only obtain bio crude oil. As a results, bio crude oil yield was approximately 20 % and bio char was produced approximately 10%. And, gas phase was mainly composed carbon dioxide and methane. After HTL process, kenaf convert to liquid fuels as conbustion fuels with high density, high calroie value, and high carbon content. The HTL process are effective procedures to produce the high quality bio crude oil.

Kasitnun Chayavanich is now pursuing his PhD under the supervision of Associate Professor Imyim. His research focuses on bio-based films loaded with plant extract for food and environment applications. This work was funded by Center of Excellence on Petrochemical and Materials Technology, Chulalongkorn University.

The pH-sensitive films were developed using starch/gelatin loaded with red radish anthocyanin for meat spoilage observation. This work combined several benefits which can possibly utilize in food samples, including bio-compatible material and natural dye based, low cost, fast response, and ease of use. The colors of films could be differentiated by naked eye changing from orange to grey-purple at pH 2-12 and captured by smartphone in the studio light box. The color parameters were evaluated by image J software. To confirm that red radish anthocyanin could incorporate to polymers, films were characterized by FTIR, SEM and AFM. Regarding the color stability trial, the results showed the preferable storage temperature of films was refrigeration temperature. Furthermore, the pH-sensitive films were applied to food samples for real-time meat spoilage observation, the results suggested that films could be used as intelligent food packaging.

Yukimoto H is a graduate student from the Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory of Kindai University in Wakayama. He is under supervision of Dr. Ano. He studies microbial fuel cells.

Currently, energy supply source from fossil fuels have problems such as, depletion of petroleum and greenhouse gas emissions. Under the circumstances, demand for renewable and sustainable energy is increasing and the alternative energy sources other than fossil fuels are expected. Soil microbial fuel cells (SMFCs) are devices that using microbes in the soil as biocatalysts to convert chemical energy to electricity. These are expected as an application to produce sustainable energy. But, it is still a long way to go before SMFC is practically applied. One of the problems is low power generation by SMFC operation. Here, we focused on soil ecosystems, specifically the earthworms which are known to improve soil-fertility by degrading fallen leaves or plant litter and we investigated the effect of earthworm on power generation of SMFC. Earthworms were added to SMFC and the maximum power density and the internal resistance were compared to SMFC with and without earthworms. As a result, the power density was increased by 800% and the internal resistance decreased by 91.5%. The soil structure of SMFC with and without earthworms was different and the clear soil aggregate structure was found in SMFC with earthworms, which had been made with the passage of soil through the earthworm gut. The results indicated that, adding earthworms had a significant effect on the SMFC performance, especially the power and soil structure, and it is suggested that this system would contribute to the sustainable and renewable energy source.

Minori Maeda is pursuing her graduation in Bio-control Agents from the Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory of Kindai University in Wakayama.

In recent years, the food problem has become serious as the world population increases. Consequently, further productivity improvement is required in agriculture. The control of phytopathogens which adversely affect crops is indispensable for stable crop production. Currently, chemical pesticides are the mainstream as a means to do so, but also microbial pesticides having various effects are attracting attention. As a candidate of microbial pesticide, our laboratory has isolated actinomycetes with antimicrobial activity against multiple phytopathogens. These actinomycetes produce gaseous antimicrobial substances. In order to gain insights on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) derived from actinomycetes, we focused on actinomycetes AR3, AR4 and AR10 strains which were found to be effective in the infection control experiments. First, the effects of VOCs derived from actinomycetes on growth of phytopathogens were investigated. Actinomycetes spore suspension was applied to the surface of the PDA medium and cultured for three days. After that, the petri plate with agar pieces of phytopathogen was inverted on top of the plate with actinomycetes and both plates were sealed and cultured for several days. As a result, the growth of phytopathogens was suppressed. In addition, VOCs derived from actinomycetes were subjected to GC-MS analysis. An adsorbent was placed inside a petri dish coated with actinomycetes and incubated for three days to adsorb VOCs. The adsorbent was extracted and subjected to GC-MS analysis. As a result, very similar peaks were detected in AR3 and AR4 strains. We are currently trying to identify VOCs, including analysis of AR10 strain.

Yuji Fukumoto is a graduate student of Microbiology from the Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory of Kindai University in Wakayama.

World population is now increasing, and the United Nations predicts that the world population will be 9.8 billion by 2050. As a result, higher food production is required. One of the solutions is the use of pesticides. In order to achieve higher food production, the burden on the environment has to be smaller and more sustainable. In view of this fact, microbial pesticides have attracted attention in recent years. Microbial pesticides are agents that use cells, and/or the substances produced by microorganisms and inhibit the growth of phytopathogenic fungi. Compared with chemical pesticides, microbial pesticides are less likely to remain in the environment, and it is difficult to develop drug-resistant bacteria. Therefore, we focused on Bacillus bacteria in this study. Bacillus bacteria are broadly distributed microbial microorganisms in the soil. It is reported that bacteria of the genus Bacillus form spores and biofilms and are resistant to growth inhibitory conditions. Using Bacillus subtilis strain RB14, which is known to produce iturin A, an antifungal substance. We examined the influence of medium concentration on biofilm formation and the production of antibiotic substance. The relationship between biofilm formation and antifungal substance production was clearly observed, and it was shown that antifungal substance was produced after biofilm formation. We have previously observed the biofilm formation in the medium with the agriculture residues. Using these properties, the experiment to increase the production amount of antifungal substance is under consideration.