Department of Chemistry, Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR), 81531-980, Curitiba, PR, Brazil
Elisa S. Orth is a professor at the Federal University of Paraná (Brazil) and leader of the research group “Group of Catalysis and Kinetic”. Her research is focused on organophosphorus chemistry, neutralization and detection processes of agrochemicals and chemical warfare simulants, forensic science, chemical security, disaster mitigation, catalysis, functionalization of biopolymers, nanomaterials and renewable resources; and green chemistry. She is affiliate member of the Brazilian Academy of Science and received over 30 prizes, highlighting Brazilian Women in Chemistry and Related Sciences (American Chemical Society, Brazil, 2019), IUPAC Young Chemist Periodic Table (France, 2018), PhosAgro/UNESCO/IUPAC Green Chemistry for Life (2018-Thailand), International Rising Talents (L’Oréal-UNESCO, France, 2016) and For Women in Science (ABC-L’Oréal-UNESCO, Brasil, 2015). She is member of the scientific advisory board of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW; The Hague; Nobel Peace Prize 2013). She is also engaged with gender equality and scientific dissemination activities.
How safe are we from agrochemicals? Their improper abusive use together with the problematic of threatening stockpiles (unused or prohibited) are of great concern, which require efficient neutralization and monitoring methods. Catalysts-by-design is a promising approach for neutralizing toxic organophosphates (e.g. agrochemicals and chemical warfare), since these reactions are extremely slow. Target functionalization of nucleophilic groups on biopolymeric templates allows the development of efficient and sustainable catalysts for organophosphates degradation. Our approach aims to green up the process through the rational mono- and bi-functionalization of the carboxylic acids groups with imidazoles, hydroxamates and/or amidoximates in biocompatible and renewable supports: (i) gum arabic (commercial and tannin industry byproduct), (ii) cellulosic-materials (carboxymethyl cellulose and nanocellulose-derivatives) and (iii) cellulosic-waste (rice and shrimp husk). The use of nucleophiles anchored in templates improve neutralization by catalysis and promote selective and recycle paths for detoxification. Furthermore, samples were obtained in different forms, such as solid, colloidal and gel, which showed high rate enhancements. Bifunctionalized catalysts also reveals some insights about neighboring group effects. We also developed neutralizing gels for intoxication prevention. Overall, chemical security and safety can be successfully accomplished for highly toxic compounds relying on strategically designed sustainable catalysts. These are optimized from gambling with different polymeric supports, catalytic groups, synergy of the support, mechanism and processability (gel, colloidal, solid).
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