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12 Principles of Green Chemistry
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1. Minimize waste. It is better to prevent waste than to treat or clean up waste after it is formed.
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2. Maximize incorporation. Synthetic methods should be designed to maximize the incorporation of all materials used in the process into the final product.
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3. Keep it safe. Wherever practicable, synthetic methodologies should be designed to use and generate substances that possess little or no toxicity to human health and the environment.
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4. Keep it effective. Chemical products should be designed to preserve efficacy of function while reducing toxicity.
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5. Cut the clutter. 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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6. Mind the energy bill. Energy requirements should be recognized for their environmental and economic impacts and should be minimized. Synthetic methods should be conducted at ambient temperature and pressure.
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7. Choose renewables. A raw material of feedstock should be renewable rather than depleting wherever technically and economically practicable.
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8. Use naked chemicals. Unnecessary derivatization (blocking group, protection/deprotection, temporary modification of physical/chemical processes) should be avoided whenever possible.
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9. Turn up the turnovers. Catalytic reagents (as selective as possible) are superior to stoichiometric reagents.
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10. Engineer obsolescence. Chemical products should be designed so that at the end of their function they do not persist in the environment and break down into innocuous degradation products.
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11. Monitor your progress. Analytical methodologies need to be further developed to allow for real-time, in-process monitoring and control prior to the formation of hazardous substances.
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12. Check your form. Substances and the form of a substance used in a chemical process should be chosen so as to minimize the potential for chemical accidents, including releases, explosions, and fires.
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Reprinted from Figure 4.1 (p. 30): 12 Principles of Green Chemistry from Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice (1998) by Anastas P. & Warner J. By permission of Oxford University Press.
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