Towards a Sustainable Future: Challenges and Opportunities for Early-Career Chemists.

The concepts of sustainability and sustainable chemistry have attracted increasing attention in recent years, being of great importance to the younger generation. In this Viewpoint Article, we share how early-career chemists can contribute to the sustainable transformation of their discipline. We identify ways in which they can engage to catalyse action for change. This article does not attempt to answer questions about the most promising or pressing areas driving research and chemical innovation in the context of sustainability. Instead, we want to inspire and engage early-career chemists in pursuing sustainable actions by showcasing opportunities in education, outreach and policymaking, research culture and publishing, while highlighting existing challenges and the complexity of the topic. We want to empower early-career chemists by providing resources and ideas for engagement for a sustainable future globally. While the article focuses on students and early-career chemists, it provides insights to further stimulate the engagement of scientists from diverse backgrounds.

Correction: Functionalized fluorescent terephthalate monomers and their attempted polyester formation.

Correction for 'Functionalized fluorescent terephthalate monomers and their attempted polyester formation' by Yvonne S. L. Choo et al., Org. Biomol. Chem., 2020, 18, 8735-8745, DOI: 10.1039/D0OB01533D.

Functionalized fluorescent terephthalate monomers and their attempted polyester formation.

The reaction of diethyl 2,5-bis(tert-butyl)phenoxy-3,6-dihydroxyterephthalate (1) with tetraethylene glycol di(p-toluenesulfonate) under high-dilution conditions afforded several isolated products. Two products were identified as macrocycles with one being the 1 + 1 crown ether derivative 3 (10% yield), and the second being the 2 + 2 crown ether compound D3 (19% yield). The X-ray structure for 3 was determined with the asymmetric unit observed to comprise half of the molecule. The small crown ether ring of 3 interacts with K+ or H+ ions in MeOH, but binding is weak and the macrocyclic cavity is too small to fully encapsulate the K+ ion. Transesterification of compounds 1, its methylated version 2 and 3 with diols such as ethylene glycol or 1,4-butandiol produced monomers (M1-M3) which were reacted with terephthaloyl chloride. Short oligomers were produced (PolyM1-PolyM3) rather than extensive polymeric materials and all displayed solid state fluorescence. The absorption and fluorescence properties of M1-M2 and their polymers can be related to subtle structural changes. The Stokes shift for M2 of 15 627 cm-1 in DCM is one of the largest observed for a simple organic chromophore in fluid solution.