What is Green Chemistry and Why is it Important?
From efficient cleaning products, to household appliances, life-saving medicines, and two million tonnes of pesticides in the world per year, chemicals can inevitably be found in nearly every facet of our everyday lives. While some chemicals have undoubtedly contributed to ameliorating our quality of life, certain circulating chemicals have adverse long-term environmental impacts that may not be immediately observed as they slowly spread through air, water, and soil.
Bioaccumulation and biomagnification are two ways that chemical contaminants build up in the environment. Bioaccumulation is the accumulation of chemical pollutants in an organism, while biomagnification is how these chemicals increase in higher levels of the food chain as smaller contaminated organisms are consumed. This accumulation of toxic chemicals can even be found in deep marine life, including toxic chemicals like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that were banned by the 2001 Stockholm Convention. In fact, a study by Dan Laffoley and colleagues specifies a growing danger to marine reproduction from chemicals containing endocrine disruptors and teratogens.
In the years leading up to and during 1990s, green chemistry was developed as an approach to reduce the environmental contamination and waste derived from a chemical’s life cycle. The 12 Principles of Green Chemistry created by Paul Anastas and John Warner are included below. By understanding the importance of green chemistry and spreading awareness of its principles, we can fuel the impetus for a chemical industry that embraces a more sustainable approach to its integral role in contemporary society.
12 Principles of Green Chemistry:
1. Prevent waste: reduce waste that requires treatment or cleaning up.
2. Maximize atom economy: ensure that the final product contains the maximum proportion of the starting materials.
3. Design less hazardous chemical syntheses: prioritize chemistry that uses and generates substances with little or no human or environmental toxicity.
4. Design safer chemicals and products: design fully effective chemistry that has either reduced or no toxicity.
5. Use safer solvents and reaction conditions: avoid using solvents, separation agents, or other auxiliary chemicals. If you must use these chemicals, use safer ones.
6. Increase energy efficiency: carry out chemical reactions room temperature and pressure (if possible).
7. Use renewable feedstocks (starting materials): renewable starting materials are sourced from agricultural products or wastes, while non-renewable starting materials often come from fossil fuels or mining processes.
8. Avoid chemical derivatives: chemical derivatives, which are compounds created from similar compounds, create additional waste.
9. Use catalysts, not stoichiometric reagents: catalysts minimize waste and can carry out chemical reaction more effectively.
10. Design chemicals and products to degrade after use: design chemicals so that they do not accumulate in the environment or break down into harmful substances.
11. Analyze in real time to prevent pollution: collect and analyze data to monitor pollutant and allow for immediate intervention if necessary.
12. Minimize the potential for accidents: design chemicals in a way that reduces potential chemical accidents (e.g. explosions, fires, etc.)
Works Cited:
Anastas, Paul, and John Warner. “12 Principles of Green Chemistry.” American Chemical Society, 1998, www.acs.org/greenchemistry/principles/12-principles-of-green-chemistry.html.
Canada, Health. “Chemicals and Our Environment - Canada.ca.” Canada.ca, 2024, www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/chemical-substances/fact-sheets/chemicals-environment.html.
Chojnacka, K, and M Mikulewicz. “Bioaccumulation - an Overview | ScienceDirect Topics.” Www.sciencedirect.com, 2014, www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/bioaccumulation.
De Marco, Bianca Aparecida, et al. “Evolution of Green Chemistry and Its Multidimensional Impacts: A Review.” Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. 27, no. 1, Jan. 2019, pp. 1–8, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsps.2018.07.011.
EPA. “Basics of Green Chemistry.” US EPA, 12 Feb. 2013, https://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/basics-green-chemistry
Laffoley, Dan, et al. “Eight Urgent, Fundamental and Simultaneous Steps Needed to Restore Ocean Health, and the Consequences for Humanity and the Planet of Inaction or Delay.” Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, vol. 30, no. 1, 23 July 2019, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/aqc.3182, https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3182.
OneOcean. “Marine Pollution.” One Ocean, 2019, www.oceanprotect.org/resources/issue-briefs/marine-pollution/.
Rajmohan, K. S., et al. “A Review on Occurrence of Pesticides in Environment and Current Technologies for Their Remediation and Management.” Indian Journal of Microbiology, vol. 60, no. 2, 14 Feb. 2020, pp. 125–138, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7105532/, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12088-019-00841-x.
Yale University. “History of Green Chemistry | Center for Green Chemistry & Green Engineering at Yale.” Yale.edu, 2012, greenchemistry.yale.edu/about/history-green-chemistry.
Image Credits:
By Joe Sullivan - Flickr, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2167690
