Chicago—Chemistry professionals and business leaders came together in Chicago on Aug. 26, during American Chemical Society Fall 2026, to recognize green and sustainable chemistry innovators with the ACS 2026 Green Chemistry Challenge Awards. This is the first year the award event was held during a major ACS meeting. Winners are advancing leadership in sustainability across industries.
“This year’s Green Chemistry Challenge Award winners show how chemistry is solving real problems, from recycling materials once considered impossible to reuse to removing harmful substances from the products and processes we depend on every day,” Albert G. Horvath, ACS CEO, says in a press release.
These awards, given since 1996, recognize novel technologies that are chemically safer, cut waste, and improve the sustainability of products while demonstrating economic benefits. This year’s winners include recyclable polyurethanes, cleaner pharmaceutical manufacturing, sustainable crop protection, biodegradable polymers, semiconductor cooling that is free of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and biocide-free marine coatings.
“Their work proves that safer, cleaner and more sustainable chemistry is not only possible but already making a lasting impact on society and the environment,” Horvath says.
The 2026 winners, by category, are as follows:
Academic Award
William Dichtel of Northwestern University and Alaaeddin Alsbaiee of BASF have developed a solid-state recycling platform that upcycles polyurethane foams and elastomers. These polymer materials are typically nonrecyclable because of their cross-linked thermoset structure, leading them to end up in landfills or incinerated. With a projected growth in demand of these materials over the next decade, environmental impact will worsen.
The innovative short-loop process converts polyurethane networks into covalent adaptable networks by activating carbamate exchange within the polyurethane networks. This conversion allows processing without depolymerizations, solvents, or toxic catalysts and enables direct upcycling into high-value foams, elastomers, and composites.
Dichtel spoke about the innovation and noted, “Roughly half of our team are young scientists pursuing their training in sustainable chemistry at Northwestern University.” Ultimately, their work can show that old polyurethanes can be thought of as starting materials for new polyurethanes, “and we’re excited to continue this work and to really make an impact that bridges all the way from our academic lab into industrial practice,” he said.
“Their work proves that safer, cleaner and more sustainable chemistry is not only possible but already making a lasting impact on society and the environment.”
Greener Synthetic Pathway in the Synthesis of Pharmaceuticals
NewAmsterdam Pharma and SnapdragonChemistry scaled and implemented an organocatalyzed asymmetric Povarov cyclization to manufacture the chiral tetrahydroquinoline core—a key intermediate in the synthesis of obicetrapib. Obicetrapib is an experimental oral inhibitor of cholesteryl ester transfer protein used for the treatment of dyslipidemia, a chronic condition affecting bad and good cholesterol levels and triglycerides in tens of millions of people in the US alone who don’t have success with existing therapies.
This new asymmetric manufacturing route was designed to address the root causes of waste using a readily available, recyclable, chiral Brønsted acid catalyst and commodity raw materials. The bottom-up, downstream process eliminates the need for aqueous workups and the exclusive use of International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) class 3 solvents during telescoping and direct isolation.
“We are great science intertwining with green chemistry to transform the manufacturing of our lead molecule,” said Allen Che, senior director of drug substance development and manufacturing at NewAmsterdam Pharma. “Green chemistry and commercial manufacturing . . . can go hand in hand.”
Greener Synthetic Pathway in the Manufacture of Agrochemicals
Corteva Agriscience created the novel fungicide Adavelt. The innovative chemical agent has favorable environmental and toxicological profiles and provides control of more than 20 diseases in over 30 crops. This fungicide offers farmers a solution to help combat yield loss.
In addition to the product’s improved profiles and disease control, the enhanced manufacturing process, which uses renewable feedstocks, eliminated three protecting groups, reduced processing steps and the use of precious metals, and replaced undesirable regents with greener alternatives. The fungicide received US Environmental Protection Agency registration approval in May 2025.
The product was “designed and developed for farmers,” said Nicholas Babij, principal investigator and research and development laureate of Corteva Agriscience, who explained that all the improvements resulted in a 40% reduction in the cost of goods to make the product, “which can really help get this in the hands of farmers.”
Product, Chemical, and Process Design for Circularity or Degradability
International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF) developed the Designed Enzymatic Biomaterials (DEB) platform, which produces high-performance, renewable, and biodegradable polymers. This production is done by leveraging precision enzyme catalysis to build polymer backbones from plant-derived sugars. The technology addresses the challenge of replacing fossil-based, nonbiodegradable, and microplastic-producing polymers with more-sustainable options.
Initial products have a proven performance on par with fossil-based materials, and the advanced product, chemical, and process design offers circular end-of-life pathways, ultimately reducing climate impact.
“If you ask an Olympian, what is the secret of their success, it’s probably perseverance, dedication, and time. All of those elements are represented in our journey as well, and if you look at the legacy [of DEB], it started well before my time,” said Jan Weernink, director of global business development at IFF. “It’s the perseverance, dedication, and support from the company to get this from an idea of someone all the way to a commercial plan.”
Design and Manufacture of Materials for Energy Applications
Standard H2 created the Sulfur Magnet, a nonhazardous media filter made with complex mixed oxides, including copper. It can eliminate certain pollutants, such as noxious sulfur compounds and nitrogen oxides.
These compounds, when found in diesel and gasoline, contribute to air pollution, and those found in water and air systems produce the commonly described rotten-egg odor, corrode pipes and tanks, and clog systems. This new technology can treat air, water, hydrogen, and other bottled gases.
“We’re very pleased that we’ve created something that will save the industry and the world a great deal of energy and open the doors to a very plentiful society,” said James Wasas, chief science officer at Standard H2. “Our technology is quite unique because it basically makes obsolete many of the things that have been relied on.”
Efficient and Impactful Valorization of Biomass
Corteva Agriscience developed Utrisha N, a biological nutrient efficiency optimizer that enhances crop nutrition. This enhancement is achieved using Methylobacterium symbioticum SB23, a gram-negative endophytic bacterium isolated from the spores of an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus. As of 2025–26, the optimizer is created using a generation 2 manufacturing process that increases biomass concentration early in fermentation, and the optimizer reduces required energy and water use.
Tens of millions of hectares of land globally are used to cultivate crops and feedstocks used for renewable bioenergy production, with an expected increase in bioenergy output yearly through 2050. This innovation will improve the yields of these crops per acre of land.
“We know that agriculture is going to face lots of challenges in the next 50 years,” said Tim Davies, bioprocess science and technology leader at Corteva Agriscience, naming land-use efficiency specifically. Utrisha’s capabilities include being applied to vegetables, corn, soy nuts, and fruit, “so it really is an application that is going to have an opportunity to change the future of farming.”
Design of Safer Chemicals
PPG Industries created Sigmaglide 2390, a biocide-free, silicone-based fouling-release coating for marine vessels. These coatings usually use biocides—including copper-based systems—that release toxic substances. The new technology uses a binder system that is 100% pure silicone, and with PPG’s HydroReset, reorganizes the coating surface at the nanoscale level.
Marine biofouling is the accumulation of organisms like algae and barnacles on a vessel’s hull, which leads to hydrodynamic drag, causing higher fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. In terms of a global fleet of vessels, that’s a big environmental impact, where the trade-off is less fuel consumption for toxic substances in the marine environment. Sigmaglide, which is commercially available, improves vessel efficiency without the release of toxic antifoulants.
“Sustainability is such a big focus for us,” said Jacki Laurich, global technical director of protective and marine coatings at PPG, who noted that their product addresses multiple pillars of sustainability, including decarbonization, environment, health and safety, and waste management.
Small Business
Algenesis developed Soleic—a fundamental shift in polyurethane chemistry. The technology offers a high-performance, bio-based, and fully biodegradable polyurethane system that does not leave behind persistent microplastics. It is already being used commercially in footwear, 3D printing, and other consumer goods.
The global production of polyurethane exceeds 25 million metric tons annually; the petroleum-derived polymers use hazardous intermediates in synthesis and are a major source of microplastic pollution. Soleic replaces fossil-fuel monomers with plant-based alternatives to create a plastic that is stable during its life but can degrade microbially at its end of life.
The story of Soleic started with straightforward funding to grow algae for biofuels, and that plan took a pivot when the company realized that the technology would need more time to be economically viable as a biofuel, explained Stephen Mayfield, CEO of Algenesis. That realization is when they pivoted to replacing plastics, because “plastics are made from petroleum,” he continued. “We have trashed this planet, right? That is all of us in this room. We all contribute to this. We contributed to climate change . . . plastic pollution . . . the 40 trillion debt we have. All of us, now, have a responsibility to start to do something about it.”
Climate Change
Micron Technology created a first-of-its-kind replacement for PFAS-based heat-transfer fluids in semiconductor dry-etch chambers, fluids that are used as a coolant in semiconductor manufacturing. The technology is a fully fluorine-free, biodegradable, and low-global-warming-potential alternative. Additionally, performance and safety are preserved through targeted engineering controls like spill containment, leak detection, and thermal safeguards. This breakthrough comes at a time of increasing international and regulatory scrutiny of PFAS compounds.
“We’re planning to strive towards a greener future,” said Safet Bosnjak, principal engineer at Micron, after emphasizing the huge reduction in greenhouse gas emissions the new technology offers.
These award winners showcase how the use of green chemistry can improve human health, environmental quality, and the business bottom line. Nominations will open in October for the 2027 awards, and there will be a special webinar for those interested. More information about the Green Chemistry Challenge Awards can be found online. For those interested in green and sustainable chemistry, the ACS Green Chemistry Institute will also be hosting their Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference in Minneapolis next year, June 7-10.
