The sustainable management of the vast amounts of biomass and wastewater generated is a critical global challenge. Finding adapted management solutions will contribute to preserving both human health and the environment. The achievement of these complementary objectives is highly dependent on the development and application of innovative technologies that not only bring adapted technical solutions but also boost environmental sustainability and the circular economy. This special issue entitled “ Innovative Solutions for Biomass Resources and Wastewater Management ” examines the effectiveness of the most recent technologies for sustainable biomass management and reuse in a context of circular economy in various sectors and domains. The papers published in this special issue are therefore grouped into two different topics: (i) biomass conversion into tailored materials for use in effective wastewater treatment or in the construction sector and (ii) extraction of valuable biomaterials to be used in various sectors, such as medicine and energy recovery. The articles in this special issue show that biomass should no longer be considered an environmental burden, but rather a driving force toward a more sustainable world, converting waste into high value-added materials and precious by-products.
The field of dendrimers continues to evoke significant interest in the scientific community, with considerable progress made since its expansion in the 1980s. The evolution of synthetic polymer chemistry has paved the way for the development of a variety of backbones and surfaces with novel properties. This account summarizes our efforts in exploiting the potential of these hyperbranched monodisperse macromolecules. Using synthetic articulation to design the required macromolecules (dendrimers or architectural polymers), we describe our endeavors to elaborate on these functional nanomaterials for a variety of applications.
This review summarizes contributions made by the authors between 1990 and 2025 in the design, synthesis, and application of redox-active organometallic dendrimers and polymers. Emphasis is placed on the progressive evolution from fundamental synthetic studies to functional devices, highlighting how dendritic architectures based on ferrocene and related units have provided a rich and adaptable platform at the interface of inorganic, polymer, and materials chemistry.
Natural endoperoxides present a challenge in total synthesis. Over the past decade, we have focused our research on developing new methods to synthesize these heterocycles. These strategies involve the insertion of molecular oxygen into strained cycloalcohols, followed by the addition of silylated nucleophiles to peroxycarbenium species. This approach has been successful in the total synthesis of marine endoperoxides, such as mycaperoxides and ethyl plakortide Z, as well as in the synthesis of analogs of mycangimycin, a natural antifungal and antimalarial agent isolated from an insect–bacteria mutualism. Despite the effectiveness of our strategy, controlling chirality remains a formidable challenge in peroxide synthesis. Silylium-based asymmetric counteranion-directed catalysis enabled the synthesis of chiral endoperoxides and significantly improved previous results in terms of diastereoselectivity.
The global pursuit of sustainable and renewable energy sources has intensified research into biomass-derived biofuels. Among various feedstocks, discarded coconut water, primarily associated with fully developed fruits, constitutes a sustainable byproduct abundant in fermentable sugars that can be converted into bioethanol fuel. This study explored the potential of converting mature coconut water, supplemented with molasses and inoculated with Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast, into bioethanol. The fermentation process achieved an initial bioethanol concentration of 25% v/v (150 g yeast, 6 days fermentation). Subsequent distillation steps concentrated the ethanol to a high purity of 98.74% v/v, despite a decrease in distillate volume. Physicochemical analyses indicated bioethanol with a density of 0.9218 g/mL, viscosity of 1.08 cP, and turbidity within acceptable ranges. The chemical composition showed ethanol as the predominant substance, exceeding 95%, with minor amounts of acetic acid and aldehyde compounds. The presence of residual sugars in coconut water positions it as a valuable raw material for high-grade bioethanol synthesis, aiding in sustainable fuel development, although the low sugar content highlights the importance of process improvements.
