Highlights

Gas flaring

Chemicals industry roundup 2024

Europe continues to struggle with high energy and feedstock costs, while US and Asia negotiate supply gluts

Ozempic and Wegovy

Pharmaceuticals roundup 2024

Diabetes and weight loss drugs have surged in popularity, revealing supply frailties

Serbia protest

Opposition to lithium mines hampers green technology supply chain

Europe and US seek to escape Chinese dominance in critical minerals

Bhopal disaster

Forty years on from the Bhopal disaster what lessons have been learnt?

India looks to the future as survivors fight on to receive adequate compensation and medical care

Giant plastic tap

After years of negotiations, a global agreement to tackle plastic pollution is within sight

The UN’s plastics treaty negotiations have faced many hurdles, but delegates are getting closer to a final agreement

Ken Paxton

PFAS manufacturers sued for deceptive marketing in US

Texas attorney general accuses 3M and DuPont of knowingly concealing health risks

Chemicals industry roundup 2024

Europe continues to struggle with high energy and feedstock costs, while US and Asia negotiate supply gluts

Pharmaceuticals roundup 2024

Diabetes and weight loss drugs have surged in popularity, revealing supply frailties

EPA bans two solvents used in dry cleaning and battery manufacture

US environmental agency officially bans trichloroethylene and prohibits most uses of perchloroethylene

Letters: December 2024

Readers share concerns over classifying ethanol as reprotoxic, celebrate undergraduate practical innovation, and more

US aims to reinstate chlorpyrifos insecticide ban

2021 ban on remaining food uses was overturned on appeal in 2023

Structure

Metal–organic framework captures carbon dioxide at industrially relevant temperatures

Material could improve energy efficiency of capturing carbon from industy’s exhaust gases

Fluorite

Fluorspar to fluorine chemicals without going via hazardous hydrogen fluoride

Safer way to turn calcium fluoride mineral into valuable industrial materials

Green tattoo ink

Banned pigments found in tattoo inks sold in the EU

Nine out of 10 green and blue inks analysed violate Reach regulations

Nanopore sequencing set to transform our understanding of proteins

Rapid sequencing technique can not only deal with proteins hundreds of amino acids long but can detect modifications

How F1 plans to transition to ‘100% sustainable fuel’

Rule changes intend to make Formula One more environmentally friendly from 2026. But what are the changes, and can a sport known for gas-guzzling engines really go green?

PFAS-free synthesis of fluorinated drugs and pesticides

Flow chemistry introduces trifluoromethyl group onto a range of compounds using just caesium fluoride as the fluorine source

Potential new class of antibiotics takes on flesh-eating infections

Peptide-mimicking compounds target bacterial cell walls

Innovative antibacterial strategy shows promise for treating infections

New antibiotic mechanism sees molecule infiltrate bacterial cells and destroy them from the inside 

Ken Paxton

PFAS manufacturers sued for deceptive marketing in US

Texas attorney general accuses 3M and DuPont of knowingly concealing health risks

Chemicals industry roundup 2024

Europe continues to struggle with high energy and feedstock costs, while US and Asia negotiate supply gluts

Deadly explosion at US food colouring plant

2 workers dead, 11 injured at Givaudan Sense Colour in Louisville

Adnoc to buy Covestro, continuing expansion into polymers

€15 billion deal sees Gulf oil producer looking to future growth beyond fuels

Fire at US pool chemical plant releases huge chlorine plume

Thousands of residents evacuated and kept indoors as as smoke and gas cloud persists for days

Three indicted in US for smuggling pool chemicals from China

Defendants face fines and jail for illegally importing and distributing trichloroisocyanuric acid

Doliprane Paracetamol

Sanofi spins out its consumer healthcare business

US-based investment firm takes controlling stake in Opella, while France’s government moves to ensure the company remains in the country

Covestro

Adnoc to buy Covestro, continuing expansion into polymers

€15 billion deal sees Gulf oil producer looking to future growth beyond fuels

Injection pens manufacturing

Weight-loss drugmakers bet billions on boosting supplies

Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk invest to expand in-house manufacturing of GLP-1 drugs