Adoption of green chemistry

Nameroff, T. J., Garant, R. J., Albert, M. B. Adoption of green chemistry An analysis based on US patents. Research Policy, 33 959-974, 2004. 

Similarly, the various EU directives that mandate substance bans have initiated wide scale research and development of alternative materials. Lead is a case in point. Lead has been widely used in the electronic industry in solders. Lead-free solders have existed for many years but it was the mandate in the Restriction of use of certain Flazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) to have products free of lead by July 2006 that spurred industry research, planning and adoption of the substitutes. Annex I lists examples of Green Chemistry case studies where research was stimulated in response to legislation targeting hazardous materials. 

Roundtable members published a common industry view on key areas of green chemistry research [12]. Each year the Roundtable awards a research grant to an academic to work on one of the priority research areas identified by its members. These grants are open to any academic and are awarded by a research panel comprising selected members of the Roundtable. A list of research areas funded so far is presented in Table 16.2. It should be noted that any results of these Roundtable projects are to be published, for all to adopt, free from any IP license. 

Implementation of green chemistry education at the undergraduate level is key to adopting more sustainable practices and hence a more sustainable society 4), This education should be for both science and non-science majors. While certainly those students who are science majors may have a direct route to action in applying green chemistry principles in both research and development, nonscience majors can also benefit since they become aware of the importance of sustainable practices, learn about positive every-day habits, and come to realize that the chemical industry, which in the past (and even currently) was viewed as a major contributor to environmental degradation, is also part of the solution to the problem. 

The concept of green chemistry or clean technology is now one and half decades old. Often the question is asked how green is my chemistry. Both chemistry and chemical engineering are to be taken into consideration for adopting a clean technology [10]. 

The principles of green chemistry by adopting the most efficient and environmentally friendly processes should be practiced whenever possible in the HPLC laboratory. One obvious approach is reduction of solvent consumption by using solvent recycling for isocratic analysis and narrowbore LC columns. Another area is to find ways to reduce sample size and the number of sample preparation steps without sacrificing method performance.2 A case study to illustrate this principle for a tablet assay is shown in Table 11.1. Another example is an environmental analysis of soil/sediment sample3 is shown in Table 7.7. 

In the past, students have said that they want a course book and that they want a more detailed book than Green Chemistry Theory and Practice by Anastas and Warner, hence the adoption of the Lancaster text. As a professor, especially as this is a 4th year/graduate level course, I would be Just as happy teaching from my own notes/literature. Most students enjoy the course and wish they were aware of green chemistry sooner. 

It offers the strategies below that have now become more familiar and have been adopted as part of the strategy of green chemistry (see Sections 1.1.2, 1.2.2, 1.3.4). 

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