Introduction to Green Chemistry and Metrics

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the history of environmental regulation, the 12 principles of green chemistry and engineering, and quantitative metrics for evaluating chemical processes.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Established in July 1970 to protect human health and the environment, research environmental science, and coordinate the attack on pollutants.

Clean Air Act (1970)

Legislation that regulates air emissions.

National Environmental Policy Act (1972)

Requires the EPA to review environmental impact statements of proposed major federal projects.

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide & Rodenticide Act (1972)

Governs the distribution, sale, and use of pesticide products, requiring all pesticides to be registered by the EPA.

Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (1976)

Regulates solid and hazardous waste from "cradle to grave."

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act (Superfund)

Passed in 1980 to provide federal funds to clean up abandoned hazardous waste sites, accidental spills, and emergency releases.

Pollution Prevention Act (1990)

Focuses on preventing pollution before it occurs by encouraging cost-effective changes in production and raw material use, marking a shift from treatment to prevention.

Green Chemistry

Also known as Environmentally Benign Chemistry; the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances.

Risk Equation

$Risk = \text{function(hazard, exposure)}$. Green chemistry aims to reduce or eliminate the hazard to make risk zero.

Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards

Established in 1995 to recognize outstanding achievements in green technology in both academia and industry.

Atom Economy (AE)

A concept developed by Professor Barry M. Trost defined by the formula $AE = 100 \times \frac{\text{MW of desired product}}{\sum \text{MW of all reactants}}$. It measures the efficiency of many atoms in the reactants ending up in the product.

Sustainable Development

Assessment of the degree to which natural resources are sufficient to supply the needs of the human population and assimilate waste for current and future generations.

Dematerialization

The relative decline in resources consumed to create a unit of economic value by finding ways to use raw materials more efficiently.

Transmaterialization

The replacement of feedstocks or energy sources with alternatives that are less environmentally damaging.

Twelve Principles of Green Engineering

A set of guidelines including concepts like "Inherent Rather Than Circumstantial," "Design for Separation," and "Durability Rather Than Immortality."

E-factor (Environmental Factor)

Calculated as $\text{total waste mass} / \text{mass of product}$. A higher value indicates more waste is created per unit of product.

Reaction Mass Efficiency (RME)

A holistic metric calculated as $RME = \text{Yield} \times AE \times \frac{1}{SF} \times MRP$, where SF is the Stoichiometric Factor and MRP is the Materials Recovery Parameter.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

Solvents that cause environmental concern due to their role in forming ozone, smog, and carcinogens.

Ionic Liquids

Salts with low melting temperatures that are non-volatile and used as green solvent alternatives.

Supercritical Fluids (scCO2)

Nontoxic fluids like carbon dioxide used as solvents which offer simple isolation via evaporation and high diffusion for increased reaction rates.

Kamlet-Taft Parameters

A set of parameters to measure solvent properties: $\alpha$ (hydrogen bond donating/acidity), $\beta$ (hydrogen bond accepting/basicity), and $\pi^*$ (polarizability).

Reichardt's Dye (Betaine 30)

A probe used to show the polarity of molecules based on solvatochromism, where the transition energy is calculated as $E_T(30) = \frac{28591}{\lambda_{\text{max}}(\text{nm})} \text{ kcal/mol}$.

BASIL Process

Biphasic Acid Scavenging utilizing Ionic Liquids; a process developed by BASF that produces an immiscible ionic liquid phase for easy byproduct separation.

Gas Expanded Liquids (GXLs)

Tunable solvent systems formed by dissolving gases (like $CO_2$) into organic solvents to alter polarity, solubility, and viscosity.

Biphasic Systems

Systems that use surfactants or phase-transfer catalysts to overcome low solubility of organics in water.

18 Electron Rule

A general rule used to determine the stability of transition metal complexes in organometallic catalysis.