Antibiotics, green pharmacy, green chemistry, sustainable chemistry and sustainable pharmacy

Good news for people and nature: in 2017, researchers at Leuphana University succeeded in using sustainable chemistry methods to improve antibiotics in the fluoroquinolone drug group. The scientific team's answer to the massive environmental pollution caused by excreted antibiotics is called "Benign by Design". In this approach, new molecules are constructed in such a way that they are more environmentally friendly than previous substances - right from the start. This is because the effect of antibiotics in wastewater and the environment is particularly problematic: sewage treatment plants, surface waters and soils can become incubators for resistant bacteria.

More environmentally friendly antibiotics

The new molecules have now been patented and the research results have been published internationally. The team led by developer Dr Klaus Kümmerer, Professor of Sustainable Chemistry and Material Resources, has shown that more environmentally friendly antibiotics can be developed.

Getting there was not easy: Klaus Kümmerer's team submitted the application for research funding to various programmes five times alone - until the German Federal Environmental Foundation took over the funding with around 460,000 euros in 2014. Just three years later, Klaus Kümmerer's scientific team delivered results. So what could be more obvious than applying Benign by Design to chemicals? This has also been successful in the meantime. But simply improving the degradability of substances in the environment is not yet fully sustainable pharmacy or chemistry, only green.

The chemist wants to share his findings not only within the scientific community. For him, sustainable chemistry and green pharmacy belong in politics, business and education in order to make a difference in society. Klaus Kümmerer was a member of the Managing Board of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) Global Chemical Outlook II from 2016 to 2019. The Global Chemical Outlook is a committee of the UNEP, the environmental branch of the UN. The committee deals with issues such as the challenges of chemical production and management. Since 2021, it has been a member of the EU High Level Round Table on the Safe and Sustainable by Design strategy.

In September 2017, the Federal Ministry for the Environment founded the ISC3. The acronym stands for International Sustainable Chemistry Collaborative Centre. Klaus Kümmerer and Leuphana are part of the international competence centre, which aims to promote sustainable chemistry worldwide. "It's not just about Germany, Europe or the western world, but about all countries, because products from the chemical industry are used everywhere and can lead to problems everywhere - not just in the environment.

Advancing sustainable chemistry worldwide

Social and ethical aspects must also be taken into account in order to better understand why which substances are used where. Service and function must be the starting points for system thinking that encompasses the entire life cycle of products. Only then will chemistry be able to contribute to sustainability in a sustainable way. Green chemistry is not enough. "We don't want to impose something there, but rather work together with the interested people there, with all stakeholders, NGOs, authorities and politicians - not just science and industry. The ISC3 wants to be a forum for advancing sustainable chemistry worldwide," explains Klaus Kümmerer.

He and his team have therefore developed the part-time "Sustainable Chemistry M.Sc." course and a certificate programme. The English-language online programmes are aimed at professionals worldwide with a degree in chemistry or related disciplines: "There is a huge demand for sustainable chemists everywhere. We deliberately focus on vocational training because the problems are urgent," explains Klaus Kümmerer. Ghana, for example, is home to one of the largest and most toxic landfill sites: Agbogbloshie. Although there is no major chemical industry in this West African country, the people are still struggling with the pollution.

The joint programme offered by ISC3 and Leuphana therefore includes the annual international summer school, which addresses sustainable chemical solutions to environmental problems. The part-time "MBA Sustainable Chemistry Management" programme at the Leuphana Professional School is aimed at international specialists from all disciplines who wish to contribute knowledge in the field of sustainability and chemistry to economic decision-making processes. However, in order to reach other target groups, it has been organising the international Green and Sustainable Chemistry Conference every year since 2016.

Like the Summerschool for Sustainable Chemistry, which has been held annually since 2014, it has an interdisciplinary focus. Both were the first of their kind. Kümmerer is particularly pleased that not only chemists from Western countries take part, but that a disproportionate number of participants come from the Global South, which may be due to the interdisciplinary nature of the two events. Professor Kümmerer is always a scientist too. As there was no truly interdisciplinary journal for his concerns, he founded the journal "Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy" together with the Elsevier publishing house in 2014, and a review journal in 2016 due to the great dynamism in the subject area. Both are very successful.

Benign by design finds its way into the industry

Another path leads Kümmerer into industry. Until now, the biodegradability of medicines was considered an environmental issue. Together with leading pharmaceutical companies, Leuphana was a partner in the EU project "Priorisation and Risk Evaluation of Medicines in the Environment" (PREMIER). "Benign by Design has finally found its way into industry," says Professor Dr Klaus Kümmerer from the Institute of Sustainable Chemistry. Further improvements, including greener synthesis, are being worked on in the EU project Transpharm. The EU project IRISS focuses on the targeted design of more sustainable and safer products using the example of important value chains such as plastics, fragrances, electronics, mobility and textiles. In a project funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, which is being carried out together with the University of Hanover, the aim is to find out how plastic waste from car recycling can be recycled in a greener and better way.

Among other awards, Klaus Kümmerer was honoured with the Wöhler Prize for Sustainable Chemistry by the German Chemical Society. In 2024, he was presented with the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany - the only general award of merit in Germany and thus the highest recognition that the Federal Republic of Germany awards for services to the common good. With the award of the Order, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier honoured the scientist for his many years of pioneering commitment to sustainable chemistry.