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Principles of Green Chemistry

Originally developed in 1998 by industry leaders Paul Anastas and John C. Warner, The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry provide a framework for chemists to use when designing or improving materials, products, processes and systems. The principles focus on sustainable design and have been the backbone for a wide range of innovative solutions created over the past decade.

The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry* call on chemists to:

1. Prevent Waste Design chemical syntheses to prevent waste, leaving no waste behind to clean up or treat.
2. Maximize Atom Economy Design syntheses so that the final product incorporates the maximum amount of raw material used to create it, leaving few or no atoms behind.
3. Design Less Hazardous Chemical Syntheses Design syntheses to use and generate substances with little or no toxicity to human health or the environment whenever possible.
4. Create Safer Chemicals Design chemical products to be fully effective while minimizing or eliminating toxicity.
5. Use Safer Solvents and Auxiliaries Create processes that utilize innocuous auxiliary substances (such as water and eco-friendly materials) as solvents or separation agents. Otherwise, avoid using auxiliaries at all.
6. Design for Energy Efficiency Conduct chemical processes at ambient temperature and pressure whenever possible.
7. Use Renewable Feedstocks Utilize renewable raw materials and feedstocks whenever technically and economically practical, rather than depleting non-renewable materials.
8. Reduce Derivatives Minimize or avoid the use of blocking or protecting groups and avoid making temporary modifications when possible. Derivatives require additional reagents and generate waste.
9. Use Catalysts Instead of Reagents Minimize waste by using catalytic reactions that use small amounts of materials. Because stoichiometric reagents are inefficient and wasteful to use, they should be avoided.
10. Design for Degradation Design chemical products that break down at the end of their use and do no persist in the environment.
11. Prevent Pollution in Real Time Make real-time, in-process monitoring, analysis and control part of your process to minimize or eliminate the formation of hazardous byproducts.
12. Minimize the Potential for Accidents Design chemicals and their forms (such as liquid, solid or gas) in such a way as they minimize the potential for chemical accidents including explosions, fires and toxic releases into the environment.

Green Chemistry in Action

*Anastas, P. T. and Warner, J. C. Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice, Oxford University Press: New York, 1998.