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Sustainability
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Helping Hands: The Essential Role of Analytical Chemistry in Society
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Helping Hands: The Essential Role of Analytical Chemistry in Society

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Pollution Prevention, Mitigation and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2023) | Viewed by 7782

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Fay Couceiro

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Civil Engineering and Surveying, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 3AH, UK
Interests: biogeochemistry; environmental pollution; analytical chemistry; microplastics; nutrients; heavy metals; PAHs; interventions and solutions for pollution
Dr. Angela Milne

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK
Interests: marine biogeochemistry; trace metals; nutrients; analytical chemistry

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The aim of this Special Issue is to showcase the diverse fields that analytical chemistry can be applied to. Analytical chemistry has an extremely wide field of use. As an area in its own right, it is often overshadowed by the data it produces: data that would be unattainable without the use of analytical chemistry. “Helping Hands: The Essential Role of Analytical Chemistry in Society” will include a combination of review articles and new articles discussing novel analytical techniques that aim to improve sustainability.

The reviews will discuss how existing analytical chemistry methods have contributed to different fields in areas such as environmental science, medicine, engineering, and manufacturing, amongst others. Of particular interest are articles that examine how analytical chemistry does or can:

  • Aid in the implementation and monitoring of policies (e.g., environmental, sustainability, and cultural and ethical).
  • Contribute to pollution and waste information.
  • Enable sustainable development and sustainable resources.

New articles may examine any of the above plus:

  • How existing analytical chemistry methods are being used in novel ways and new fields providing new data and promoting interdisciplinarity research.
  • Advancements in existing analytical chemistry methods.
  • Entirely novel analytical chemistry methods.

In each case, new articles will include how advancements in analytical chemistry are allowing us to detect more than we could previously and/or how it is furthering knowledge in our fields.

This issue will supplement the existing literature by showcasing the importance, novelty, and variety that is analytical chemistry, and providing a resource for those looking to evidence its critical standing in so much of what we do and how we can do it sustainably.

Dr. Fay Couceiro
Dr. Angela Milne
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • analytical chemistry
  • method development
  • interdisciplinarity
  • monitoring
  • environment
  • sustainability

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Review

23 pages, 3144 KiB  
Review
Developing Biosensors for SARS-CoV-2 Wastewater-Based Epidemiology: A Systematic Review of Trends, Limitations and Future Perspectives
by Christopher C. Azubuike, Fay Couceiro, Samuel C. Robson, Maya Z. Piccinni, Joy E. M. Watts, John B. Williams, Anastasia J. Callaghan and Thomas P. Howard
Sustainability 2022, 14(24), 16761; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142416761 - 14 Dec 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2661
Abstract
Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) permits the sustainable surveillance of pathogens in large populations and does not discriminate between symptomatic and asymptomatic groups. WBE allows health authorities and policymakers to make swift decisions to limit the impact of local and regional disease outbreaks, minimise the [...] Read more.
Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) permits the sustainable surveillance of pathogens in large populations and does not discriminate between symptomatic and asymptomatic groups. WBE allows health authorities and policymakers to make swift decisions to limit the impact of local and regional disease outbreaks, minimise the spread of infection and mitigate the effects of pathogen importation. Biosensors are an exciting addition to conventional WBE analytical approaches. Combined with sentinel surveillance programs, biosensors can be reactive to novel variants of a virus in the community. However, progress developing biosensors for wastewater surveillance is severely limited compared to advances in clinical diagnostics, with a lack of well-developed biosensors currently being available. Whilst the field of biosensors is vast, this review focuses on trends in monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater over a key period (2020–2021). We explore the complexities involved in sampling within wastewater networks, the options for target selection, and reflect on the ethical considerations and limitations of this approach by highlighting the complex transdisciplinary connections needed. The outlook for WBE biosensors is assessed to be on a positive trajectory as current technical challenges are overcome. Finally, we outline the current status and where further development is needed to have a systematic feedback mechanism which would allow wastewater biosensors to be kept current and relevant to emergent pathogens. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Helping Hands: The Essential Role of Analytical Chemistry in Society)
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25 pages, 3985 KiB  
Review
A Review of Cross-Disciplinary Approaches for the Identification of Novel Industrially Relevant Plastic-Degrading Enzymes
by Josephine Herbert, Angela H. Beckett and Samuel C. Robson
Sustainability 2022, 14(23), 15898; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142315898 - 29 Nov 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4649
Abstract
The large-scale global use of plastics has led to one of the greatest environmental issues of the 21st century. The incredible durability of these polymers, whilst beneficial for a wide range of purposes, makes them hard to break down. True recycling of plastics [...] Read more.
The large-scale global use of plastics has led to one of the greatest environmental issues of the 21st century. The incredible durability of these polymers, whilst beneficial for a wide range of purposes, makes them hard to break down. True recycling of plastics is difficult and expensive, leading to accumulation in the environment as waste. Recently, a new field of research has developed, aiming to use natural biological processes to solve this man-made problem. Incredibly, some microorganisms are able to produce enzymes with the capacity to chemically break down plastic polymers into their monomeric building blocks. At an industrial scale, this process could allow for a circular recycling economy, whereby plastics are broken down, then built back up into novel consumer plastics. As well as providing a solution for the removal of plastics from the environment, this would also eliminate the need for the creation of virgin plastics. Analytical techniques, such as those allowing quantification of depolymerisation activity and enzyme characterization, have underpinned this field and created a strong foundation for this nascent inter-disciplinary field. Recent advances in cutting-edge ‘omics approaches such as DNA and RNA sequencing, combined with machine learning strategies, provide in-depth analysis of genomic systems involved in degradation. In particular, this can provide understanding of the specific protein sequence of the enzymes involved in the process, as well as insights into the functional and mechanistic role of the enzymes within these microorganisms, allowing for potential high-throughput discovery and subsequent exploitation of novel depolymerases. Together, these cross-disciplinary analytical techniques offer a complete pipeline for the identification, validation, and upscaling of potential enzymatic solutions for industrial deployment. In this review, we provide a summary of the research within the field to date, the analytical techniques most commonly applied for enzyme discovery and industrial upscaling, and provide recommendations for a standardised approach to allow research conducted in this field to be benchmarked to ensure focus is on the discovery and characterisation of industrially relevant enzymes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Helping Hands: The Essential Role of Analytical Chemistry in Society)
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