Professorship for Sustainable Chemistry and Material Resources

Organisational unit: Professoship

Organisation profile

We focus on sustainability in the context of the life cycle of chemical substances, covering also issues of raw materials, their synthesis, their application as well as their fate after use. We teach and do research in the field of sustainable chemistry and pharmacy. In particular, we are interested in finding out how chemistry and pharmacy may contribute to sustainability in a sustainable manner.

Apart from chemical substances and products as such, the associated material flows are of high importance to us, especially when it comes to so-called strategic resources (phosphates, rare earth elements).

We focus on:

developing a better understanding of sustainable chemistry and sustainable pharmacy
the sustainable design of chemical and pharmaceutical products (molecules, materials)
developing concepts like benign by design and the dissipation of materials
the experimental and practical implementation of such concepts
protecting water resources from contamination by pharmaceuticals and chemicals

Our research and teaching is based on intra- and transdisciplinary studies within the Faculty of Sustainability as well as on national and international co-operations. As Research & Education Hub we are an important part of the International Sustainable Chemistry Collaborative Centre (ISC₃). Based on international co-operations with states of the Global South, we are elaborating and offering studies on sustainable chemistry (Education). In the field of Research we are identifying and evaluating the latest trends of research with regard to sustainable chemistry.

Main research areas

We are interested in environmental affairs and all questions concerning the sustainability within the context of the life cycle of chemicals, starting with the raw material itself and going on to the synthesis and the use to end up with the environmental fate of chemical substances and products after their usage. Beyond the chemical substances and products themselves, we are also interested in the associated material flows, especially when it comes to the so-called strategic resources (e. g. phosphate, rare earth metals).

We investigate the fate (e. g. identification of relevant sources) in the environment as well as the spread and the behavior of chemicals (e. g. spread, biological and photochemical degradation) in the aquatic environment in the sense of a sustainable water management. This is why we want to record their effects (e. g. genotoxicity, mutagenity, and bacteria toxicity). At present we are focusing on

pesticides,
pharmaceuticals,
textile auxiliary agents and
nanoparticles.

In this respect we also focus on problems which may result from an incomplete degradation of the mentioned substances (non-degradable transformation products) in the water and wastewater treatment as well as in the aquatic environment.

One main issue is then to come to a conclusion how to reduce the environmental impact of chemicals, pharmaceuticals and products right at the beginning of their life cycle. Therefore a comprehensive understanding of the functionality including the environmental properties of chemical substances and products is important. Our main focus is the concept of Benign by Design which is the development of a specific design of new chemicals and pharmaceuticals prior to their first synthesis in order to achieve a sustainable functionality.

For all investigations of the behavior and effects of chemical substances in the aquatic environment as well as for the Benign by Design concept, our work in the following research fields is based on experiments, but also on computer models (chemical informatics and hydrologic modeling):

trace analysis
modelling of material properties and behaviour toxicology and
ecotoxicology degradation tests

Teaching

Examination of (bio)-degradability of chemicals and pharmaceuticals
according to OECD/DIN/ISO and others:

•   Closed Bottle-Test (OECD 301 D)
•   Manometric Respirometry (OECD 301 F)
•   Zahn-Wellens-Test (OECD 302 B)
•   Waste water treatment plant simulation (OECD 303 A)
•   Water Sediment Test
•   Photochemical degradation
•   Photocatalytic degradation
•   Electro coalugation
•   and other

Toxicity
Acute and chronic toxicity in bacteria:
•   Luminescent bacteria test with Vibrio fischeri (30 minutes and 20h)
•   Growth-inhibition test with Pseudomonas putida (16h) and Vibrio fischeri (20h)
•   Growth-inhibition test with Enteroccus faecalis

Genotoxicity:
•   Ames-Test with Salmonella typhimurium TA 98/TA 100
•   Umu-Test with Salmonella typhimurium TA 1535/ psK 1002
•   Mikronucleus-Test with CHO-Cells by FACS-Analysis
•   Green Screen-Assay with TK6-cells

Chemical informatics
Structure property relationships
•   Calculation of physicochemical properties of molecules
•   Calculation of quantum chemical parameters of molecules
•   Calculation of toxicity and mutagenicity
•   Calculation of the biological degradation
•   Calculation of metabolites (mammalia bacteria)
•   Targeted design of chemicals and pharmaceuticals
•   Support in purchasing decisions
•   Product optimization
•   REACH

Water flux based reactive mass transport modelling and assessment
•   Spatio-temporal analysis of discharge and water quality (R-Statistics, SigmaPlot, ArcGIS)
•   Assessment of water quality by combined water quality and quantity indices (WQI, WQQI, WAI)
•   Water quality modelling in lakes and reservoirs in 1D, 2D and 3D (LAC, MOHID Water, Ce-qual)
•   Catchment modelling of hydrology, erosion and sedimenttransport, phosphorus discharge, pesticides and transformation product discharge (ZIN-Sed, MOHID Land, reservoir models)
•   River channel modelling of water, sediment, phosphorus, pesticide and transformation product discharge (ZIN-Sed, MOHID Stream)
•   Scenario modelling and assessment
•   System analysis and management assessment
•   Integrated water ressources management

Analytics
•   Liquid chromatography coupled to ion trap mass spectrometry
•   HPLC with UV and fluorescence detection
•   Gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry
•   Ion chromatography