Chemist's Actions Benign by Design

by Skip Derra 

We all remember the old days, when efficiency and pollution 
were lesser concerns. Homes built 40 years ago had little, if 
any, insulation because heating them didn't cost much. Cars 
were gas-guzzling monsters designed for luxury. Sort through 
your garbage for recyclables? Not in that period of use it 
and send it to the landfill.

The mentality also prevailed in the chemical industry, where 
products were created the easiest way possible. Everything 
from nylons to Frisbees was manufactured with little thought 
about efficiency or the environment.

George Kraus, professor of chemistry and chair of the 
department, is out to change that.

Kraus is working in the world of "green chemistry." He and 
other researchers are rethinking many of today's tried-and-
true chemical processes to stop pollution at its source.  

"It used to be you'd mix chemical A and chemical B and obtain 
compound C and a little something else," Kraus said. "Today, 
the cost of disposing of the 'something else' is so high, 
industry has to look at more efficient and environmentally 
friendly processes to make compounds."

To that end, Kraus and his students have devised a process 
that results in a compound that can be further modified for a 
variety of applications. The end product is not new, but 
Kraus' process to make it does not use toxic chemicals or 
generate pollutants. 

"It's benign by design," Kraus said. 

In one instance, the process yields a compound called a 
benzodiazepine, which is useful to pharmaceutical companies. 
A well-known benzodiazepine is the anti-anxiety drug Valium.

Kraus' process uses light to activate chemical reactions. 
While sunlight could be used on chemical mixtures to initiate 
a reaction, Kraus said he prefers the portability of a sun 
lamp. The highly efficient process results in little or no 
polluting byproducts and actually is simpler than the 
conventional method of producing benzodiazepine.

"Ours is a generic light-mediated process," Kraus said. "It 
can be used to produce many different products."

In addition to its use in pharmaceutical manufacture (Kraus 
has applied for a patent through the Iowa State University 
Research Foundation), the process also could be used in 
making a material to measure the metal content of the oceans, 
in the manufacture of antioxidants for animal feeds and even 
in the manufacture of plastic products.

Kraus sees his work as more than just a stab at better living 
through chemistry. It is a chance to change the thought 
process behind chemical processes. The irony that his 
benzodiazepine production process is based on work reported 
more than 100 years ago does not escape him.

"I was intrigued by the fact that with literally thousands of 
patents on benzodiazepene production, we did not find a 
single one on the pathway we were taking," he said. "We began 
with a very different concept and came up with a method that 
literally thousands of scientists had overlooked."

contact:  Skip Derra, News Service, (515) 294-4917
updated:  5-4-95