(A) Introduction
The essentials of green chemistry: definitions, adverse effects of chemicals on health and the environment, history of the development of Green Chemistry, range of effects green chemists have to design against, sustainability as it relates to GC, and ethical awareness.
Green chemistry and inherent hazards: risk as a function of hazard and exposure. The Grand Challenges for Green Chemistry: Elimination of hazardous substances and pollution, renewable feedstocks, sustainable processes, and energy. Green design: toxicity and ecotoxicity, endocrine disruption, steps to design against toxicity, and test for toxicity. The definitions of Green Chemistry: implications, strengths, the context of the chemical enterprise. The 12 Principles of Green chemistry: application of principles, examples.
The metrics of Green Chemistry: Determination of whether a process is green or not, atom economy, reaction mass efficiency, environmental (E) factor, use of 12 principles to measure the sustainability of the process, full life cycle, cradle to cradle, toxicity determination for new chemicals. Designing sustainable solutions: general approaches, reducing stoichiometric waste, using catalysts, reducing energy consumption, better alternative solvents, new forms of biomass.
Real-world Green Chemistry solutions: selected examples, e.g.
• Synthesis of Ibuprofen (atom economy and other metrics, green synthesis, application of catalysts, etc)
• Designing an environmentally safe marine antifoulant (problems with fouling, replacement for tin compounds, bioavailability, and accumulation)
• New insecticides that are relatively non-toxic; (mode of action of traditional insecticides, toxic to all species, molting hormone mimics give species selectivity, much less toxic)
(B) Sustainable Synthesis
New Green and sustainable synthetic methods. An entry-level overview of green synthetic methods, including waste reduction processes explained through the use of synthetic reactions commonly performed in industrial settings; amide bond formation, alkene reduction, and deoxychlorination.
Solvent use and alternatives to toxic solvents; mechanochemistry, ionic liquids, water, supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2), and biorenewable solvents – applications to industrial settings. Solvent selection guides.
Atom economy, principles, and examplesRaw materials from nature: Introduction, basic “biorefinery” concepts, lignin and cellulose as potential raw materials, new chemistry required for using new feedstocks (contrast with oil/alkanes)Real-world examples of the use of renewable feedstocks:
Society-reliant chemicals – commodity and fine chemicals. Reliance on their production from fossil fuels and possible alternative sources such as biorenewable lignocellulosic biomass
Use of biorenewable platform chemicals in chemical synthesis, with case studies. Lignin and its potential.
(C) Sustainability/Real world Green Chemistry
Real-world case study: the clothing industry
• General introduction: True cost
• Introduction to the Textile Industry and the Chemical Industry
• Impacts of the global textile industry
• Sustainability challenges in the clothing industry
• Why is the clothing industry unsustainable?
• Sustainability issues in the clothing industry
• Certification and industry schemes
• Ethical and fair trade fashion
• Sustainable clothing: the dream
• Stain and water-resistant materials
• Alternative chemicals in the clothing industry
• Jean genie
(D) Biocatalysis
Introduction: enzymes as whole-cell biocatalysts, use of microbes as environmentally benign synthetic catalysts.
Real-world examples:
• Genetically altered e-coli to synthesize adipic acid,
• detergent proteases,
• healthier fats and oils by enzymatic interesterification for production oils and fats with no “trans-fats”.
(F) Pure water and Green Pharmacy
Introduction: Looming world crisis, human population, global warming, need to recycle water. Active pharmaceutical ingredients and compounds of emerging concern in water, general properties of AIPs and CECs, current methods of removal, advanced oxidation processes, and pros and cons of all these processes from a Green Chemistry perspective.