Green Chemistry for Sustainability

What is green chemistry?

"Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances. Green chemistry applies across the life cycle of a chemical product, including its design, manufacture, use, and ultimate disposal." - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

To advance sustainability, chemists must be equipped with an approach that prioritizes the reduction of hazardous substances, waste, and energy use and eliminates potential harm to humans and the environment—from the time a product or process is designed to the impacts it has when it's no longer in use. 

The adoption of green chemistry is critical for building a safe and healthy future where scientific advancements align with responsible practices, benefiting both people and the planet.

Green Chemistry and Green Engineering

The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry

Green chemistry is defined by 12 principles which refer to the chemical or material being produced as well as the process by which the latter is produced.

1.0.Prevention: It is better to prevent waste than to treat or clean up waste after it has been created.

2.0 Atom Economy: Synthetic methods should be designed to maximize incorporation of all materials used in the process into the final product.

3.0 Less Hazardous Chemical Syntheses: Wherever practicable, synthetic methods should be designed to use and generate substances that possess little or no toxicity to human health and the environment.

4.0 Designing Safer Chemicals: Chemical products should be designed to preserve efficacy of function while reducing toxicity.

5.0.Safer Solvents & Auxiliaries: The use of auxiliary substances (e.g., solvents, separation agents, etc.) should be made unnecessary wherever possible and, innocuous when used.

6.0.Design for Energy Efficiency: Energy requirements should be recognized for their environmental and economic impacts and should be minimized. Synthetic methods should be conducted at ambient temperature and pressure.

7.0.Use of Renewable Feedstocks: A raw material or feedstock should be renewable rather than depleting whenever technically and economically practicable.

8.0 Reduce Derivatives: Unnecessary derivatization (use of blocking groups, protection/deprotection, temporary modification of physical/chemical processes) should be minimized or avoided if possible, because such steps require additional reagents and can generate waste.

9.0.Catalysis: Catalytic reagents (as selective as possible) are superior to stoichiometric reagents.

10. Design for Degradation: Chemical products should be designed so that at the end of their function they break down into innocuous degradation products and do not persist in the environment.

11. Real-Time Analysis for Pollution Prevention: Analytical methodologies need to be further developed to allow for real-time, in-process monitoring and control prior to the formation of hazardous substances.

12. Inherently Safer Chemistry for Accident Prevention: Substances and the form of a substance used in a chemical process should be chosen to minimize the potential for chemical accidents, including releases, explosions, and fires.

As outlined in: Anastas, P. T.; Warner, J. C. Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice, Oxford University Press: New York, 1998, p.30. By permission of Oxford University Press.