Nobel scientist brings 'green chemistry' insights to MU

Swing a baseball bat, and there is a chance that you are rooting for Robert Grubbs. Research by Grubbs, who won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2005, has help create a type of liquid plastic used to strengthen the ash wood in baseball bats.

What’s different about Grubbs’ plastic is that it doesn’t rely on petrochemicals. The scientist is among those in labs around the country involved in “green chemistry,” a movement towards cleaner, cheaper and faster methods of industrial production.

Grubbs spoke to a full house on Friday in Conservation Hall on the MU campus for the 12th annual Llyod B. Thomas Chemistry Scholars lecture. Describing his lecture as a multi-level story, he took the audience through the history of his research, the people who have been involved and the practical applications of his work.

“It was a series of observations and a series of lucky breaks,” Grubbs said, in describing how he developed the environmentally friendly production process.

While the discovery may have been accidental, its applications are not. His research into alternatives to using petroleum for the industrial production of plastics has been picked up by the military because it’s hard enough to stop bullets.

Grubbs’ work also has agricultural potential. A pheromone that prevents bug from breeding by their ability to sniff out a mate could offer an effective alternative to traditional insecticides. From pharmaceuticals to sporting goods, Grubbs’ innovation -- and its seemingly endless commercial potential -- has allowed for efficient production without the environmental side-effects of other methods.