Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the environmental, economic and practical benefits of mechanochemistry, and what financial support they are providing for research and commercial development in that area.

UK Research and Innovation, via the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), funds a diverse portfolio of pioneering research projects that explore the frontiers of chemistry which underpin sustainable and innovative chemical processes. This includes exploring new methodologies such as mechanochemistry.

Current live projects, totalling £1.7 million, that include a substantive mechanochemistry method development include:

• a novel mechanochemical method for hydrogen isotope separation;
• a mechano-enzymatic synthesis of key pharmaceutical building blocks;
• an automated reaction screening and optimisation protocol using mechanochemical platforms.