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CHEMRAWN XIV
Follows Up With Green Chemistry Activities

> link to project

by R. Pariser

In May 2002 in Bangkok, Thailand, there were two green chemistry activities. First, from 27-28 May, the U.S. team conducted a green chemistry training workshop at Chulalongkorn University. This workshop, organized by the Thai Chemical Society, was designed to expose students and faculty from across Southeast Asia to the concepts, principles, and methodologies of green chemistry. There were 90 registrants for the meeting, a majority of whom were from Thailand, but participants also came from Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, and Malaysia.

The workshop was supported by the IUPAC Chemistry Research Applied to World Needs (CHEMRAWN) XIV program. The sessions provided the necessary foundations for ongoing development and initiatives in regional/country green chemistry education.

  • Among the subjects covered were the following:
  • how to create national green chemistry programs
  • current environmental and human health issues that pose a challenge for sustainability
  • history of world approaches to dealing with threats to the environment, ecosystems, and biosphere l
  • definitions and 12 principles of green chemistry

Workshop instructors included Dennis L. Hjeresen, director of the Green Chemistry Institute (GCI); Paul T. Anastas, director of environmental programs at the White House Office of Science and Technology; Mary M. Kirchhoff, assistant director of GCI and international workshop coordinator; and John Warner, chairman of the chemistry department at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. The coordinator in Thailand was M. L. Siripastr Jayanta from the chemistry department of Chulalongkorn University.

Immediately following the workshop, the instructors attended the International Conference and Exhibition on Pure and Applied Chemistry (PACCON 2002)–a regional chemistry conference for Southeast Asia. All delivered invited speeches on different aspects of green chemistry and sustainable development. Dr. Hjeresen received a plaque from the Thai Minister of Science, Technology, and Environment recognizing the contribution of the ACS Green Chemistry Institute to environmental chemistry in Southeast Asia.

While in Bangkok, Dr. Hjeresen also signed an agreement creating a Thai chapter of the GCI. The chapter, located at Chulalongkorn University, will coordinate green chemistry education and research and development efforts with other universities in Thailand and across Southeast Asia. The chapter was created in association with the Thai Chemical Society and is the 23rd international GCI Chapter. The chapter contact will be Dr. Supawan Tuntayanont, vice president of the Thai Chemical Society and a professor at the university. After the workshop, CHEMRAWN coordinators received follow-up information and programming requests from Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. The meeting has also stirred discussion in Australia and a grant application to IUPAC to fund a Southeast Asia Green Chemistry network.

Rudolph Pariser is coordinator for CHEMRAWN XIV on Green Chemistry, and an IUPAC Fellow.

 

www.iupac.org/standing/chemrawn.html

 

> Published in Chem. Int. 24(6), 2002


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