Environmentally benign chemistry

CHAPTER TWELVE Environmentally benign chemistry and species... 

Illman, D. Environmentally Benign Chemistry Aims for Processes That Don t Pollute, Chemical and Engineering News, Sept. 5, 1994,... 

Hazardous Solvent Source Reduction Environmentally Benign Chemistry Aims for Processes that Don t Pollute Options For Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in die Chinese Industrial Sector... 

Environmentally Benign Chemistry—Microwave-Induced Stereocontrolled Synthesis of Beta-Lactam Synthons (Banik et al., 1997)... 

Green chemistry is also known as environmentally benign chemistry, or sustainable chemistry. Perhaps the most widely accepted definition of green chemistry is the one offered by chemists Paul Anastas and John Warner, who defined green chemistry as the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. 

The research that involves the end-of-process treatments to eliminate pollutants is termed green chemistry. As Ronald Breslow (Columbia University) pointed out, concern for the environment is as old as the biblical injunction, hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees. The following example indicates approaches to the environmentally benign chemistry. The process described is high yielding with water as the by-product. Sato et al. have developed an efficient, environmentally friendly method for oxidizing primary and secondary alcohols (Scheme 8). The Japanese... 

The chemical industry has made many positive contributions to modern life, but these improvements have come at a price. The chemical products themselves, the chemicals used to produce them, and the byproducts of their production have sometimes been harmful to our health or the environment. Concern about these dangers has lead to a movement in the chemical industry that is sometimes called Green Chemistry or Environmentally Benign Chemistry. Its goal is to produce, process, and use chemicals in new ways that pose fewer risks to humans and their environment. 

To achieve truly environmentally benign chemistry, water should be used as a sole solvent. If that is to be the case, then one big issne remains to be solved in this chemistry. How can you dissolve organic materials in water In general, most organic compounds are insoluble in water, and therefore reaction media were required. 

The symposium upon which this book is based was organized Joseph J. Breen and Allan Ford under the auspices of the Division of Environmental Chemistiy, Inc. This book is composed primarily of topics that were presented at sessions of the symposium that were chaired by the editors of this volume. In addition, presentations from another session of the same symposiiun that focused on environmentally benign chemistry research in the international arena, chaired Steven Hassur, have also been included. 

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