Sustainable chemistry, often referred to as green chemistry, is an area of chemistry focused on designing products and processes that minimize the use and generation of hazardous substances. The goal is to create more environmentally friendly chemicals while enhancing efficiency and sustainability. Here are some key principles and aspects of green chemistry:
1. Prevention: It’s 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: Whenever possible, synthetic methods should involve substances that are less toxic to human health and the environment.
4. Designing Safer Chemicals: Chemical products should be designed to achieve their desired function while being as non-toxic as possible.
5. Safer Solvents and Auxiliaries: Use of auxiliary substances (e.g., solvents, separation agents) should be made unnecessary whenever possible and, when used, innocuous.
6. Design for Energy Efficiency: Energy requirements of chemical processes should be minimized. If possible, synthetic methods should be conducted at ambient temperature and pressure.
7. Use of Renewable Feedstocks: Raw materials should be renewable rather than depleting whenever technically and economically practicable.
8. Reduce Derivatives: Unnecessary derivatization (blocking group, protection/deprotection, temporary modification) 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 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.
Green chemistry aims to reduce or eliminate the negative environmental impacts of chemical production and processes while also promoting the safe and efficient use of resources. It plays a critical role in fostering innovation and development in sustainable technologies and products across various industries.
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