Current Green Chemistry - Online First

The versatility of plastics has led to their widespread use. The use of plastic has increased twentyfold in the previous half-century, and scientists anticipate that it will increase further in the subsequent two decades. Roughly 330 million metric tons of plastic is produced annually on a worldwide scale. A relatively recent and persistent issue in environmental management is the production, usage, and eventual disposal of plastics. Millions of animals perish annually, and soil fertility is diminished as a result of plastics building up in the ecosystem due to improper disposal. One solution to the environmental problems caused by polymers made from petrochemicals is the development of bioplastics, which are biodegradable and functionally equivalent to conventional plastics. Bioplastics and their derivatives have the potential to revolutionise environmental sustainability by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and facilitating their widespread application. To find a long-term solution to the problem of plastic pollution, bioplastics must be developed further. It is crucial to raise public awareness to tackle plastic pollution in a sustainable manner. Concerns about pollution and the depletion of fossil fuel resources have prompted a dramatic increase in the study and creation of sustainable alternatives. Bioplastics made from sustainable plants provide a practical answer to these problems. This review article examined existing studies on the production, use, and multidisciplinary applications of bioplastics as biodegradable and environmentally friendly alternatives to conventional plastics. Research articles were collected from databases such as ScienceDirect, Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar. The review focused on highlighting the growing significance of bioplastics by analysing their production methods, diverse applications, and potential benefits across various sectors. This review will examine the many plant-based bioplastics, their production process, and their various uses in different sectors. Along with the opportunities and threats associated with bioplastics' potential future commercialisation, this paper explains the positive side along with the limitations of these environmentally friendly materials.

Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) is a popular technique for sample preparation, known for reducing the need for solvents and integrating well with chromatography instruments. Recent advancements focus on improving extraction efficiency through new coating materials. Despite improvements in analytical instruments, sample preparation remains a challenge, especially for detecting trace substances. This review explores the latest developments in SPME, particularly new coating materials, including nanomaterials like metal oxide nanoparticles, metal nanoparticles, carbon-based nanomaterials, and silica nanoparticles. These materials improve enrichment, analyte selectivity, and resistance to interference. The review also examines how analyte properties and coating composition affect extraction performance, helping researchers design better coatings. Additionally, the manuscript discusses modern applications of SPME, such as direct coupling with mass spectrometry and in vivo sampling, highlighting its growing importance in analytical fields. By summarizing recent innovations and applications, this review aims to provide valuable insights into developing more effective SPME techniques using advanced adsorbents for detecting and analyzing a wide range of substances.

The growing demand for sustainable energy alternatives has highlighted biofuel as a promising substitute for fossil fuels. Coconut husk, a byproduct of the coconut industry, remains an underused but abundant biomass resource with significant potential in biofuel production. This review provides a comprehensive overview of current technologies, challenges, and strategic opportunities in utilizing coconut husks for biofuel generation. It looks at thermochemical processes like pyrolysis, gasification, and combustion, as well as biochemical processes like anaerobic digestion, fermentation, and transesterification, focusing on how well they work, how much they can produce, and how they affect the environment. While coconut husk offers advantages in terms of biomass availability and calorific value, various technical, economic, and regulatory barriers must be addressed to unlock its full potential. Key challenges include feedstock processing, cost-effective conversion technologies, and regulatory and market limitations. Additionally, the review compares coconut husk to other biomass feedstocks, highlighting its sustainability and yield benefits. Case studies of regional programs in major coconut-producing areas provide insights into real-world applications and outcomes. The review also identifies critical research gaps in life cycle assessment, environmental impact, and policy development. Future directions emphasize technological advancements and policy measures to enhance the viability of coconut husks as biofuel sources. Overall, this review underscores coconut husk's potential as a sustainable biofuel feedstock, advocating for coordinated efforts to address existing challenges and advance renewable energy adoption.

There is an urgent need to investigate viable alternatives to address the significant environmental concerns created by the widespread use of non-biodegradable and non-recyclable synthetic plastics. Bioresource-based polymers from natural materials such as starch, cellulose, chitosan, lignin, and agricultural waste have shown great promise. These biodegradable, cost-effective, and environmentally benign materials address major concerns about the environmental and health effects of petroleum-based polyolefin plastics, which are widely utilized in the packaging, automotive, medical, and agricultural sectors. This review focuses on recent advances in bio-based polymers, blends, and composites reinforced with natural fibers and fillers, demonstrating their potential to replace traditional plastics. It also tackles the difficulties of cost reduction, performance improvement, and processing efficiency. Bioresource-based polymers have the potential to reduce plastic pollution and promote a more sustainable future by prioritizing innovation in material selection and manufacturing techniques.

Starch is an essential component of the human diet worldwide and is also an important energy source. Along with its calorie count, starch accounts for a few health hazards as well. However, resistant starch (RS) has been receiving a lot of attention in food research and development sectors for its functional food properties and its related health benefits. Apart from the health benefits it has been found to improve the quality of processed food as well. Resistant starch has better swelling capacity, water-binding capacity, and rheology which improves the texture and quality of the finished products. Resistant starch can be obtained from conventional sources like corn, potato, yam, sago, rice, and wheat but there are several unconventional sources as well. This review aims to discuss the types of resistant starches, unconventional sources, the health benefits they confer, and their food applications.

The increasing manufacture and use of medications has created a huge environmental challenge: water pollution with) These toxins endanger aquatic ecosystems and human health, necessitating the implementation of effective and long-term wastewater treatment technologies. Traditional treatment procedures, such as chemical oxidation and adsorption, frequently fail to remove APIs while emitting secondary contaminants entirely. Biotechnological breakthroughs have emerged as a possible alternative, enabling environmentally friendly and effective API elimination solutions. This study focuses on current advances in biotechnological techniques, such as enzymatic degradation, microbial bioreactors, and genetically modified microbes designed to remove API. The potential of improved biofilms and immobilized enzyme systems for improving the breakdown efficiency of resistant medicines is highlighted. Additionally, combining biotechnological technologies with conventional treatment procedures, such as membrane bioreactors (MBRs) and hybrid systems, is being investigated for synergistic results. Furthermore, this study underlines the importance of omics technologies, such as genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, in understanding microbial pathways and improving bioprocesses for targeted API breakdown. Operational scalability, legal restrictions, and the environmental effect of biotechnology treatments are all addressed. This study seeks to educate academics, policymakers, and industry stakeholders on cutting-edge solutions that are consistent with environmental sustainability goals by giving a thorough overview of sustainable biotechnological technologies for API removal. The findings provided herein highlight biotechnology's potential to transform pharmaceutical wastewater treatment while reducing its environmental impact.

Ionic fluids, known as magnetic ionic liquids, are paramagnetic at room temperature and do not require the addition of magnetic particles. Magnetic ionic liquids (MILs) exhibit unique and configurable physicochemical properties of ionic liquids as well as a significant response to external magnetic fields. MILs, as opposed to ferrofluids, are transparent, particle-free magnetic liquids. Since their discovery, major work has been done on finding the perfect applications of MILs, and since the last decade, it has been established that MILs could replace conventional, toxic solvents and become the suitable green solvents that can be used for a wide range of analytical experiments. MILs have been used extensively in analytical procedures like catalytic reactions and sample preparation, and a large amount of discoveries have been made in their applications for a variety of extraction procedures. Along with these, MILs have been used not only in analytical procedures but also in bioanalytical and biomedical procedures. MILs are being used in biological/biomedical applications because of their non-toxicity, ability to mould themselves according to the usage and generally easy-to-handle properties. This review aims to share these biomedical applications of MILs along with describing how the synthesis of MILs occurs and the important characteristics that these MILs should have.

Late-stage functionalization of pyrido[1,2-a]pyrimidin-4-one at pyrimidine ring structure is crucial to design pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and materials for sustainable development. 4H-pyrido[1,2-a]pyrimidin-4-ones skeleton, a potent privileged scaffold, ubiquitously exists in numerous bioactive natural and pharmacologic products. Scope of different synthetic methods including their synthetic application to design new materials and biological activity of differently substituted 4H-pyrido[1,2-a]pyrimidin-4-ones are of main interest. Researchers are relentlessly working to develop more efficient and ecofriendly methods for their synthesis. This review provides, a comprehensive discussion of the recent advancements in the field of synthesis and application of 3-hetero-substituted 4H-pyrido[1,2-a]pyrimidin-4-one for sustainable development.