2018 Green Chemistry Challenge Awards announced

Abstract

On Oct. 15, chemists dedicated to reducing their field’s environmental footprint converged on a Washington, D.C., auditorium across the street from the American Chemical Society for the 2018 Green Chemistry Challenge Awards ceremony. The prizes honored streamlined routes to HIV medications, a technology that eliminates a toxic gas from production of plastic feedstocks, a process for extracting a valuable biodegradable polymer from crustaceans, and a new herbicide designed to minimize agricultural workers’ exposure. “These groundbreaking contributions reinforce the notion that green chemistry is smart chemistry and raise the bar for all companies and innovators to strive for sustainable solutions,” says GreenCentre Canada interim executive director Lynne Manuel, who was not involved in the awards. Two winners optimized manufacturing processes for HIV drugs. For its synthesis of doravirine, which the U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved in August, Merck Research Laboratories took home the Greener Synthetic Pathways Award for the second