Global sustainable chemistry

Prevention It is better to prevent waste than to treat or clean up waste after it has been created. 

Atom Economy Synthetic methods should be designed to maximise the incorporation of all materials used in the process into the final product. 

Less Hazardous Chemical Syntheses Wherever practicable, synthetic methods should be designed to use and generate substances that possess little or no toxicity to human health and the environment. 

Designing Safer Chemicals Chemical products should be designed to affect their desired function while minimizing their toxicity. 

Safer Solvents and Auxiliaries The use of auxiliary substances (e. g. solvents, separation agents, etc.) should be made unnecessary wherever possible and innocuous when used. 

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It is remarkable that basically all sub-global air pollution problems (dust and smoke, sulfur and nitrogen pollution) in connection with fossil fuel combustion have been (or can be) solved by end-of-pipe technologies. Hence, the last and apparently insoluble problem remains CO2 emissions and the subsequent increase in the greenhouse effect. CCS technology is another end-of-pipe approach and far from any sustainable chemistry. But it seems the only practical way to start the abatement of CO2 emissions. 

J.-C. Charpentier, Modem chemical engineering in the framework of globalization, sustainability, and technical innovation, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research 2007, 46(11), 3465-3485. 

The principles defined in Table 1 include chemical activities such as chemical design, manufacture, use, and disposal. Hazardous substances should not be used or generated to avoid problems before they happen. These principles provide a very simple but global view of how those who work in the areas of chemistry and chemical technology should show suitable answers toward the society. Of course, to achieve green sustainable chemistry, a sound relationship between the chemical community and society should be established. 

They have created Nike s RSL and Sustainable Chemistry Guidance to drive innovation as they strive to eliminate restricted substances and make products that comply with the strictest global legislation. They hold themselves and their suppliers to the highest standards, expecting every supplier to understand their chemical impact and to join in their effort to find more sustainable ways to make their products. 

Archey et al. (Chapter 6) outline a pedagogieal approaeh whieh introduces general chemistry concepts through consideration of environmental issues such as carbon dioxide uptake by the Amazon jungle. Application of concepts such as stoichiometry, molarity, solubility, and graph interpretation to the carbon footprint discussion of global sustainability exemplifies the utility of context-based pedagogy. 

In July 2011, the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) published a call entitled Sustainable Chemistry—Delivering Medicines For The 21st Century . IMI is a partnership between the European Union (represented by the European Commission) and the European pharmaceutical industry (represented by EFPIA, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations), including the big pharma global corporations as well as small... 

The quality demands for product performance constitute a significant hurdle to market adoption of these new raw materials. The market has so far demonstrated that interest in adoption of cost-effective products with renewable content is sustainable as long as product performance is not compromised. The different chemistries that have been harnessed to pursue this opportunity are stiU in an evolutionary stage, as polyol producers respond to market pressures for the high quality and low price that has previously fuelled the success of the petrochemical progenitors. Time will tell which, if any, of the approaches to replacement of petroleum with renewable hydrocarbons will sustain a market presence, and will succeed at impacting the consumption of global petrochemical stocks. 

An important force in the development of this new approach to chemistry was the "sustainable development" movement that arose in the early 1980s. The goal of this movement was to find ways for nations to improve the well-being of humans around the world without threatening local and global environments, thus the term... 

Following the report on The Chemistry of the Atmosphere, it appears urgent to intensify sustained observational work in order to establish facts about any eventual evolution of our global environment. Such facts need to be gathered not only for physical parameters (temperature, albedo, variations of the solar ultraviolet irradiance below 3200 A, diffusion coefficients, aerosols, etc.) but also for a growing number of chemical species whose telluric concentrations are ultimately controlling the state of that environment. In 1960, a dozen molecules were known to exist in our atmosphere by 1980, 25 more species have been added to these and experimenters are asked now to look for another 40 molecules likely to play a role in the complex aeronomical scheme outlined by Professor M. Nicolet. 

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