Implications and Green Chemistry Metrics

Chemistry Stoichiometry of B (mole%) Yield (%) Atom economy (%) Reaction mass efficiency (%) Mass intensity excluding water (kg kg ) 

Although we could end our discussion here at the point of only focusing on metrics that apply to chemistry and mass, to do so would be a mistake without due consideration of cost. The life cycle implications of material production, and energy requirements and waste treatment/disposal, undoubtedly have a cost component that frequently remains hidden. 

Before we begin to discuss this, however, we need to think about a few important points as we attempt to apply a green perspective to metrics and cost. First, most people do not really consider what lies behind the goods and services that we extract from the environment for free. For example, we do not pay significantly for the air 

It is now readily seen from the example of atom economy that reactions having poor atom economy will be more costly, because  

1) Those portions of each reactant molecule that are not incorporated into the final molecule are lost, that is materials (and energy) are not used efficiently and therefore more materials and energy need to be acquired. 

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