It is simple to locate significant moments in the history of science. Figuring out the breakthroughs that will eventually lead to the major chemical advances of the twenty-first century is difficult. Which of the tens of thousands of chemistry papers and patents released daily will help create a more sustainable future? The top chemical discoveries that are emerging as future remedies are as follows in this context:

Nanopesticides

The population of the planet is expanding. By 2050, there may be roughly 10 billion of us, according to some estimates. By limiting the environmental impact of land use, lowering the amount of water required, and reducing pollution by agrochemicals like fertilisers or pesticides, it will be possible to feed that many people while significantly increasing agricultural production. Unsurprisingly, nanotechnology is gaining considerable attention outside of the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. As they would eventually enable farmers to address the primary issues with conventional pesticides including environmental contamination, bioaccumulation, and the enormous rise in pest resistance, tailored nano-delivery systems could also become an excellent tool for farmers. There aren’t many papers that thoroughly compare the advantages—and disadvantages—of so-called “nanoagrochemicals” to their conventional counterparts. The increase in effectiveness is typically relatively modest. However, in laboratory conditions, researchers have occasionally seen improvement by a significant order of magnitude. The effectiveness of nano pesticides in actual field situations still requires a thorough evaluation. Because of this, some businesses continue to research its possibilities, showing that this technology still has potential. Although nanotechnology might not be the main factor in a successful new, more sustainable agriculture, it will undoubtedly result in more advanced agrochemicals with a reduced negative impact on the environment and human health.

Organocatalysis that is Enantio selective

Nature has traditionally served as an inspiration for chemists. A few years ago, scientists anticipated a brand-new category of catalyst that, like the majority of natural enzymes, wouldn’t require the utilization of pricey metals. The term “Organocatalysis” first appeared in the late 1990s and has continued to expand ever since. Chemists devised methods to produce chiral carbon-carbon bonds with just one part per million of organocatalysts when they became aware of the industrial repercussions of lowering the catalyst amount. Organocatalysis has given rise to many other disciplines, and businesses are currently scaling up asymmetric organocatalytic processes to create excellent chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

Solid-state Battery

Although solid-state batteries were first conceptualised in the 19th century, they were not developed until recently. Solid-state batteries are lighter, provide greater energy storage, and function well at high temperatures in comparison to lithium-ion batteries that power our smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Furthermore, solid-state electrolytes are not combustible, in contrast to the electrolytes used in lithium-ion technology, which may prevent spontaneous fires and explosions. Polymers may be the best and most cost-effective answer for many other applications. There are still a lot of studies to be done, particularly because the components of solid-state batteries are interconnected in such a way that it is challenging to comprehend how each one operates.

Researchers from industries and academia are collaborating closely to improve non-destructive, operand technologies like nuclear magnetic resonance and electron microscopy as well as to comprehend the operation of solid-state batteries. The technology will still require a few more years for the majority of uses.

Flow Chemistry

Some of the Sustainable Development Goals set forth by the United Nations, which are intended to create a better and more sustainable future for everybody by the year 2030, depend heavily on chemistry. For handling responsible consumption and production, flow chemistry, where reactions are done in a continuous flowing stream rather than in a batch, is particularly important. The use of flow chemistry techniques gradually reduces the dangers associated with handling dangerous materials while increasing production, minimizing the negative effects on the environment. Although some believe that flow chemistry is still only at the small-scale, laboratory level, effective industrial applications are becoming more widespread.

Reactive Extrusion

Reactive extrusion, a method that enables chemical reactions to occur completely solvent-free, is used in association with flow chemistry. This procedure is environmentally friendly because potentially hazardous solvents have been eliminated. It poses a number of engineering difficulties because the current industrial processes would have to be completely redesigned. Although extrusion technologies have been utilized and studied extensively by polymer and material experts, other chemists are only now beginning to explore their potential in the production of organic molecules. Reagents are typically broken in a ball mill in traditional extrusion techniques, however more recent extrusion technologies utilizing screws may potentially enable these solvent-free reactions to take place in flow conditions. Again, the drawback is in scaling up and efficiently adapting the systems. In their laboratories, chemists have used ball mills to create a number of desirable products, including amino acids, hydrazones, nitrones, and peptides. They have also accomplished some very traditional organic reactions, such as Suzuki coupling and click chemistry, but examples in reactive extrusion conditions outside of polymers are still surprisingly hard to come by. A cleaner and more sustainable solvent-free chemistry is now possible thanks to recent reports on the production of discrete metal complexes and metal-organic frameworks by screw extrusion.

Conclusion

In order to encourage the next generation of young scientists to bravely embrace the issues we face and enable them to find solutions through research, entrepreneurship, and innovation. The purpose is to promote and highlight the numerous contributions of Chemistry in our daily lives.