Green Chemistry Resources
Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances.
The 12 principles of green chemistry are:
- Prevent waste: Design chemical syntheses to prevent waste, leaving no waste to treat or clean up.
- Design safer chemicals and products: Design chemical products to be fully effective, yet have little or no toxicity.
- Design less hazardous chemical syntheses: Design syntheses to use and generate substances with little or no toxicity to humans and the environment.
- Use renewable feedstocks: Use raw materials and feedstocks that are renewable rather than depleting. Renewable feedstocks are often made from agricultural products or are the wastes of other processes; depleting feedstocks are made from fossil fuels (petroleum, natural gas, or coal) or are mined.
- Use catalysts, not stoichiometric reagents: Minimize waste by using catalytic reactions. Catalysts are used in small amounts and can carry out a single reaction many times. They are preferable to stoichiometric reagents, which are used in excess and work only once.
- Avoid chemical derivatives: Avoid using blocking or protecting groups or any temporary modifications if possible. Derivatives use additional reagents and generate waste.
- Maximize atom economy: Design syntheses so that the final product contains the maximum proportion of the starting materials. There should be few, if any, wasted atoms.
- Use safer solvents and reaction conditions: Avoid using solvents, separation agents, or other auxiliary chemicals. If these chemicals are necessary, use innocuous chemicals.
- Increase energy efficiency: Run chemical reactions at ambient temperature and pressure whenever possible.
- Design chemicals and products to degrade after use: Design chemical products to break down to innocuous substances after use so that they do not accumulate in the environment.
- Analyze in real time to prevent pollution: Include in-process real-time monitoring and control during syntheses to minimize or eliminate the formation of byproducts.
- Minimize the potential for accidents: Design chemicals and their forms (solid, liquid, or gas) to minimize the potential for chemical accidents including explosions, fires, and releases to the environment.
Modified from Anastas, P. T.; Warner, J. C. Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice; Oxford University Press: New York, 1998; pp 30.
Recommended Resources on Green Chemistry
Green Chemistry: Making It Real in the World. Collaborative on Health and the Environment Partnership Call. June 19, 2006. Transcript and background resources available.
"Green Chemistry in California: A Framework for Leadership in Chemicals Policy and Innovation"
by Michael Wilson, California Policy Research Institute, UC Berkeley.
The full report, as well as shorter articles and Mike Wilson's public testimony on green chemistry, is available from the UC Berkeley web site at:
http://coeh.berkeley.edu/news/06_wilson_policy.htm
Other Green Chemistry Resources
- EPA Green Chemistry Program
- Greener Education Materials for Chemists - from the University of Oregon's Green Chemistry Program
