Green Chemistry

I never realized how environmental unfriendly Chemistry could be until I started taking lab courses in college and when we learned about Green Chemistry in my Organic Chemistry lab classes. The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry are listed below. My source is the American Chemical Society Website.

Many chemicals used in laboratories can be very harmful to people and the environment. Green Chemistry tries to find other solvents and chemicals with similar properties to the dangerous chemicals but that are less harmful. Green Chemistry also works to use less chemicals in order to produce the same yields and focuses on the use of chemicals that can be reused many times. The principles of Green Chemistry have the main goals of reducing waste and harm through changing techniques and chemicals used.

I think improving Green Chemistry is very important. We are not going to stop producing things chemically anytime soon so focusing on improving the safety and lowering the waste produced during chemical processes is a very important goal in the scientific world if we are going to keep our planet as healthy as we can for as long as we can.

The Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry*

1. Prevention
   It is better to prevent waste than to treat or clean up waste after it has been created.
2. Atom Economy
   Synthetic methods should be designed to maximize the incorporation of all materials used in the process into the final product.
3. 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. Designing Safer Chemicals
   Chemical products should be designed to effect their desired function while minimizing their toxicity.
5. Safer Solvents and Auxiliaries
   The use of auxiliary substances (e.g., solvents, separation agents, etc.) should be made unnecessary wherever possible and innocuous when used.
6. Design for Energy Efficiency
   Energy requirements of chemical processes should be recognized for their environmental and economic impacts and should be minimized. If possible, synthetic methods should be conducted at ambient temperature and pressure.
7. Use of Renewable Feedstocks
   A raw material or feedstock should be renewable rather than depleting whenever technically and economically practicable.
8. 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. 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.

*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.