key: cord-0840285-ojlxveym authors: Cespi, Daniele; Esposito, Ilaria; Cucciniello, Raffaele; Anastas, Paul T. title: Beyond the beaker: benign by design society date: 2020-10-12 journal: nan DOI: 10.1016/j.crgsc.2020.100028 sha: a8c9f3aa519508dfde53657a34f598388d3c6bfc doc_id: 840285 cord_uid: ojlxveym In this work we show the necessity for Green Chemistry & Green Engineering to look out of the laboratory gate considering the social aspects with greater attention to pursue peace and equality. -New perspectives for Green Chemistry & Green Engineering are showed. -The benign-by-design approach has been linked to neobiology. -GC&GE have to work in reducing conflicts and inequalities. The expression "beyond the beaker" means green chemistry and engineering (GC&GE) should start 27 look at molecules considering their origins and the interactions out of the laboratory gate following 28 the dream to pursue a benign by design (B-B-D) society. The COVID-19 pandemic, that on one side has strongly affected all the aspects of our daily-life 30 (social relation, economic sphere, health, environmental impacts of our activity, habits), on the 31 other has stimulated significant reflections favoring the development of new way of thinking to 32 guarantee a future to the Earth and its habitants. This approach is found on the necessity of union 33 between all the actors (policy, science, economy and science) to find more sustainable solutions in 34 the real world, recently defined as an integrated system of systems strictly interconnected [1] . In this context, an interesting new research field, namely neobiology, has found space and we think The willingness to intervene on biological mutations and their toxicity has always been a great 44 challenge for researchers. If we were able to apply nanotechnology to the known biology we could 45 intervene on the toxicity of some processes, which with current techniques could never be 46 improved. Therefore, neobiology could be applied on: -rare and degenerative congenital disease (i.e. CRISPR/Cas9 system, used to make a real "cut and -unknown viruses and bacteria; through their sequencing, functionalized nanoparticles could be 1 synthetized bearing surface markers specifically recognized by the virus to selectively compete with 2 their biological target and prevent the pathogenic mechanism of viral infection. In a B-B-D view 3 should be favored the access to the cure for everybody in agreement with the role of science. The B-B-D approach can favor also the development of new catalysts, especially for environmental 5 applications (i.e. Fenton process), able to promote a certain process favorably. Following the 6 GC&GE principles, a green catalyst should be prepared starting from Earth-abundant (i.e. iron, 7 aluminum, etc.) and well distributed worldwide metals in order to prevent the usage of materials 8 classified as "critical", in terms of abundancy and zone of extraction (i.e. conflict area [4]). This 9 aspect is crucial and could help the society reducing inequalities and social conflicts. Other 10 objectives should favor the use of metals salts precursors from industrial by-products (i.e. iron from 11 red mug) or metals-contaminated soils [5] . All these aspects should be considered and will be 12 integrated with societal impacts. In summary, our opinion expected the presence of GC&GE within 13 our daily life through a new function able to promote equality and to improve wellness. We hope 14 that a catalyst will be considered good not only for its efficiency and capability of respecting 15 GC&GE principles, but also it does not involve the usage of resources able to produce geopolitical 16 conflicts. By considering what wrote above, what will be the transformation of GC&GE for their first fifty 18 years? In our opinion, GC&GE should move from environmental-oriented disciplines to more 19 complex sciences able to embrace social aspects and to work in reducing conflicts and inequalities. Forward Together Benign by design chemistry Nanomaterial-based biosensors for detection of 32 pathogenic virus OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals 34 from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas: Third Edition EcoMnOx, a Biosourced Catalyst for Selective Highlights: -New perspectives for Green Chemistry & Green Engineering are showed. -The benign-by-design approach has been linked to neobiology Università di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano (SA), Italy d School of Forestry and Environmental Studies The authors received no specific funding for this work.