slow and steady
September 9, 2015 9:41 AM Subscribe
The slow-chemistry movement
The Friščić Group at McGill University is reasearching low or no-solvent reactions, like Accelerated Aging Chem. Sci., 2012,3, 2495-2500:
see also Dominik Cinčić's work: New insight into solid-state molecular dynamics: mechanochemical synthesis of azobenzene/triphenylphosphine palladacycles Chem. Commun., 2011,47, 11543-11545
Solvent-Free Polymorphism Control in a Covalent Mechanochemical Reaction Cryst. Growth Des., 2012, 12 (1), pp 44–48
a kind of Lazy Man's Chemistry.
The Friščić Group at McGill University is reasearching low or no-solvent reactions, like Accelerated Aging Chem. Sci., 2012,3, 2495-2500:
We describe a conceptually novel “accelerated aging” approach for the synthesis of metal–organic materials. This approach, inspired by natural mineral weathering processes, enables the synthesis of metal–organic structures from simple and inexpensive solid reactants upon exposure to catalytic amounts of an ammonium salt under conditions of high humidity and mild temperatures (up to 45 °C).and Environmentally-Friendly Designs and Syntheses of Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs)
see also Dominik Cinčić's work: New insight into solid-state molecular dynamics: mechanochemical synthesis of azobenzene/triphenylphosphine palladacycles Chem. Commun., 2011,47, 11543-11545
Solvent-Free Polymorphism Control in a Covalent Mechanochemical Reaction Cryst. Growth Des., 2012, 12 (1), pp 44–48
a kind of Lazy Man's Chemistry.
This is super cool, thanks for posting!
posted by en forme de poire at 9:59 AM on September 9, 2015
posted by en forme de poire at 9:59 AM on September 9, 2015
'The Edison bulbs in the new restaurant were hand-blown, but clearly by inexpert hands. The paint on the walls, however, was obviously a well-crafted mixture of artisanal slow-chem pigments, including, she thought, the technically illegal Greenpoint Verdant. She'd take some spectra later to properly appreciate it. Much better than the former occupant's demi-exposed brick treatment...'
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 10:15 AM on September 9, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 10:15 AM on September 9, 2015 [5 favorites]
I want to mix cheap substances, leave them for four days, and come away with a substance worth 100x as much! Teach me, hivemind!
posted by Navelgazer at 10:19 AM on September 9, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Navelgazer at 10:19 AM on September 9, 2015 [2 favorites]
Victorian cosplayers are laughable, but eschewing centuries of advances in chemistry isn't?
posted by mikewebkist at 10:34 AM on September 9, 2015
posted by mikewebkist at 10:34 AM on September 9, 2015
The point here, in case anyone missed it: “The ultimate goal,” [Friščić] says, “is really to clean up the chemical manufacturing industry.
This is about reducing energy inputs and waste outputs, ultimately. It's very much targeted at industrial users. Consider mine operators. Anything that gets us away from the lakes of highly contaminated water used for processing and storing mine tailings, which periodically break free and poison whole watersheds is a good idea worth chasing, in my book.
posted by bonehead at 10:40 AM on September 9, 2015 [10 favorites]
This is about reducing energy inputs and waste outputs, ultimately. It's very much targeted at industrial users. Consider mine operators. Anything that gets us away from the lakes of highly contaminated water used for processing and storing mine tailings, which periodically break free and poison whole watersheds is a good idea worth chasing, in my book.
posted by bonehead at 10:40 AM on September 9, 2015 [10 favorites]
The word "artisanal" needs to be used in this comment thread, please.
Oh my God, this sodium chloride is organic?!
posted by leotrotsky at 10:44 AM on September 9, 2015 [5 favorites]
Oh my God, this sodium chloride is organic?!
posted by leotrotsky at 10:44 AM on September 9, 2015 [5 favorites]
Anyway I've always said that the whole slow chem movement is just so elitist. Not everyone has the time to for shopping for hand-blown Erlenmeyer flasks and fresh local solvents, the gratification of preparing compounds from scratch, and the communal satisfaction of lingering over a bench with family and friends.
Some of us need to work for a living.
posted by leotrotsky at 10:51 AM on September 9, 2015 [6 favorites]
Some of us need to work for a living.
posted by leotrotsky at 10:51 AM on September 9, 2015 [6 favorites]
I'd wager most of us need to work for a living.
Certainly all of us need a habitable planet to do that on (or not do that on as the case may be).
Any effort towards making that possible seems an improvement over not making that effort.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 10:57 AM on September 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
Certainly all of us need a habitable planet to do that on (or not do that on as the case may be).
Any effort towards making that possible seems an improvement over not making that effort.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 10:57 AM on September 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
The point here, in case anyone missed it: “The ultimate goal,” [Friščić] says, “is really to clean up the chemical manufacturing industry.
It's an admirable idea, but the problem is that time (and inventory) is money in industry. Getting rid of solvents represents a substantial cost savings in terms of engineering controls, capital equipment, hazardous waste management, and so on. But if you need to let a reaction proceed for days, you better have excellent planning and scheduling, and you'll probably need to invest in more capital equipment. Lean and "just-in-time" manufacturing (oh so in vogue these days) also mandates minimum inventory on hand to meet demand.
Greener alternatives to solvent-based chemistry also include supercritical CO2, high energy milling, microwave synthesis, sonochemistry, and more.
posted by Existential Dread at 10:58 AM on September 9, 2015 [2 favorites]
It's an admirable idea, but the problem is that time (and inventory) is money in industry. Getting rid of solvents represents a substantial cost savings in terms of engineering controls, capital equipment, hazardous waste management, and so on. But if you need to let a reaction proceed for days, you better have excellent planning and scheduling, and you'll probably need to invest in more capital equipment. Lean and "just-in-time" manufacturing (oh so in vogue these days) also mandates minimum inventory on hand to meet demand.
Greener alternatives to solvent-based chemistry also include supercritical CO2, high energy milling, microwave synthesis, sonochemistry, and more.
posted by Existential Dread at 10:58 AM on September 9, 2015 [2 favorites]
So this is in response to the so-called "molecular chemistry" popular in recent years?
Just kidding, this is actually pretty interesting. It just so happens my daughter has a chemistry project for homework over the weekend so I'll share this with her too.
posted by TedW at 11:08 AM on September 9, 2015
Just kidding, this is actually pretty interesting. It just so happens my daughter has a chemistry project for homework over the weekend so I'll share this with her too.
posted by TedW at 11:08 AM on September 9, 2015
Greener alternatives to solvent-based chemistry also include...
As well as "Nature's one-pot reaction," enzymatic catalysis
posted by en forme de poire at 4:00 PM on September 9, 2015
As well as "Nature's one-pot reaction," enzymatic catalysis
posted by en forme de poire at 4:00 PM on September 9, 2015
Oh my God, this sodium chloride is organic?!
For the record, and many of you know this already, all sodium chloride is inorganic.
posted by amtho at 5:36 PM on September 9, 2015
For the record, and many of you know this already, all sodium chloride is inorganic.
posted by amtho at 5:36 PM on September 9, 2015
Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves by George M. Church & Ed Regis
posted by bukvich at 6:56 AM on September 10, 2015
posted by bukvich at 6:56 AM on September 10, 2015
INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT & TECHNOLOGY
Learning at Mother Nature's Knee
Designs fine-tuned by billions of years of evolution inspire 21st-century
inventions through the science of biomimicry.
By John Greenwald
posted by bukvich at 8:04 AM on September 10, 2015
Learning at Mother Nature's Knee
Designs fine-tuned by billions of years of evolution inspire 21st-century
inventions through the science of biomimicry.
By John Greenwald
posted by bukvich at 8:04 AM on September 10, 2015
Greener alternatives to solvent-based chemistry also include...
Very true, but particularly in the case of tailing pods, as well as some other sorts of ponds, those are all very high energy, very intensive and ultimately uneconomic for the large scale of wastes involved. You can see some of them from orbit, after all.
That's the place these techniques show the most promise, imo. Bioremediation is the other usual alternative, whether through microbes or higher plants or both. There are lots of situations where bio-options are limited or impossible though.
posted by bonehead at 9:28 AM on September 10, 2015
Very true, but particularly in the case of tailing pods, as well as some other sorts of ponds, those are all very high energy, very intensive and ultimately uneconomic for the large scale of wastes involved. You can see some of them from orbit, after all.
That's the place these techniques show the most promise, imo. Bioremediation is the other usual alternative, whether through microbes or higher plants or both. There are lots of situations where bio-options are limited or impossible though.
posted by bonehead at 9:28 AM on September 10, 2015
The reason why solvents are so useful for chemists is they allow reactions to come to equilibrium via homogenization (the reaction is essentially the "same" everywhere in the solution, rather than in lumps that are bumping into each other at vastly different concentrations when solids sit together), also to minimize the kind of side-reactions that happen when things are at very high concentration (and resultant enthalpies mean there are temperature hot spots) as is inevitable in the solid-state; the solvents also allow for phase changes from solution->solid state to drive reactions and isolate byproducts - or indeed isolate products themselves.
Solid state chemistry is tremendously useful (and environmentally friendly) for some kinds of reactions; especially ones where either the crystal structures of the reagents can match by epitaxy, or the grinding/milling/sitting can lead to small enthalpy changes that can cause melt reactions that happen at interfaces. It is incredibly useful where there are no same-phase byproducts (if there are, you still have to do some form of purification, often involving solvents!).
This kind of chemistry will not replace all solution-based work, but there is a renewed interest as above articles show, and the more tools in the toolbox we have, the more problems we can solve.....
posted by lalochezia at 9:58 AM on September 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
Solid state chemistry is tremendously useful (and environmentally friendly) for some kinds of reactions; especially ones where either the crystal structures of the reagents can match by epitaxy, or the grinding/milling/sitting can lead to small enthalpy changes that can cause melt reactions that happen at interfaces. It is incredibly useful where there are no same-phase byproducts (if there are, you still have to do some form of purification, often involving solvents!).
This kind of chemistry will not replace all solution-based work, but there is a renewed interest as above articles show, and the more tools in the toolbox we have, the more problems we can solve.....
posted by lalochezia at 9:58 AM on September 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
« Older Earth has been restored to 1-day simultaneous... | #Space Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by King Sky Prawn at 9:57 AM on September 9, 2015 [3 favorites]