technology that’s going to bail us out of the huge environmental problems that we face in
terms of climate change, energy generally, clean water, and on and on, so really significant problems and nanotechnology is being looked at, as this is going to solve the big
problems for us. It’s particularly important in those cases, where again the technology is
going to be widely distributed, that we don’t screw things up while trying to fix these big
problems — replacing one problem with another is not going to be a good move.”
Fortunately, long-time advocates of sustainability, such as Dr. Hutchison and Dr. DeSimone, are applying their green chemistry skills to the development of new nanomaterials. Both Dr. DeSimone and Dr. Hutchison have developed methods for crafting precisely
defined nanoparticles of a wide variety of sizes and shapes. These libraries of nanoparticles
can then be studied in a systematic manner for toxicity. Dr. Hutchison’s goal is to develop
a set of rules that relate any given nanoparticle’s size and other physical properties to their
behavior in the environment or in the human body.
“The approach we’ve been taking is to look and figure out early on what’s harmful and
what’s not harmful, but the most important thing is let’s start developing the alternatives now, let’s start developing the design rules now so that instead of this being viewed
as, Oh my God, I have to put my technology up to this scrutiny, you should be able to
say, there are alternatives that are being developed, and should something bad happen,
I have options.”
Nanotechnology and green chemistry. One new field, the other nearly two decades old.
Just where nanotechnology will take us in terms of sustainability has yet to play out. But as
Dr. Anastas reflects on the field he helped start, it’s clear that the impact of green chemistry
is already being felt.
“The biggest example today of green chemistry that I think is most striking is not an indi-
vidual product or a process or an individual company. The example is more a reflection
of the breadth of the applicability of green chemistry. When I take a look, for instance,
at the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards, and I look at the winning tech-
nologies having spanned everything from aerospace to
cosmetics to pharmaceuticals to agriculture to energy
to automotive to electronics, I recognize that in the
same way that we’ve always known that chemistry
touches every part of our daily lives, green chemistry
has the potential to impact all parts of our daily lives
and our society.”
But Dr. Anastas also adds:
“I have to say that all of the joy that I get from seeing
what the green chemistry community has accomplished
so far, I just have to recognize that it pales by comparison to the power and the potential of what it can do in
the future, and what it needs to do in the future if we’re
going to be a truly sustainable civilization.”
Conclusion
Smart chemists. Innovative thinking. That’s the key to
solving global challenges of the 21st century. Please join
us at ACS for the next chapter in this ongoing saga of
chemistry for life. In our next special Global Challenges
podcast, we’ll examine how chemists are addressing the
twin problems of how to ensure our personal safety and
our national security in the 21st century.
