Introduction to Green Chemistry
Welcome to Green Chemistry at Carolina. In our continuing efforts to make your lab safer, we've created this Web page with information, resources, and product suggestions you can use. Look here first for tips on how to make your lab greener for you and your students.
What is Green Chemistry?
Green Chemistry is a set of principles to help you minimize the hazardous substances used in chemical processes or that result from chemical processes.
What are the principles?
For your convenience, we are reprinting here (with permission of Oxford University Press) the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry.
How do I start?
The principles provide a new perspective on the use of chemicals. Use the 12 principles as your guide when developing new procedures or choosing products for your classroom. In addition, reconsider your existing procedures within the context of the principles. Look for opportunities to change how you perform a procedure, or perhaps consider a different procedure to illustrate the same concept. If you can't change your procedure, think about switching to less hazardous reagents. To make your job easier, we've identified products consistent with the principles of Green Chemistry.
Our suggestions
- Buy chemicals in quantities you will use in a year.
- Choose procedures that require chemicals you often use, rather than add a chemical only for that procedure.
- Perform procedures on the smallest scale possible.
- Use the health, flammability, and reactivity data we provide in our chemical listings to select the least hazardous option.
- If the solute dissolves in water, use an aqueous solution rather than an alcohol solution.
- Use the lowest concentration of solution that works.
See the table below for direct replacements:
Direct Chemical Replacements |
||
Replace |
With |
Common Use |
Cadmium |
Copper |
Dense metal for density studies |
Chlorinated solvents |
Ethyl acetate, acetone, or ethanol |
Polar, organic solvent |
Diethyl ether |
Hexane |
Non-polar, organic solvent |
Lead |
Copper |
Dense metal for density studies |
Mercury thermometer |
Alcohol thermometer |
Lab thermometer |
Methanol |
Ethanol |
Polar, organic solvent |
Nitrate salts |
Chloride salts |
Water-soluble metal salts |
Petroleum ether |
Hexane |
Non-polar, organic solvent |
Please see the table below for a complete list of green chemical replacements by substance:
Green Chemical Replacements by Substance |
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Substance |
Replace with |
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Aluminum nitrate |
Aluminum sulfate |
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Ammonium nitrate |
Ammonium chloride
|
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Calcium nitrate
|
Calcium chloride
|
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Chloroform
|
Ethyl acetate
|
||
Cobalt nitrate
|
Cobalt chloride
|
||
Diethyl ether
|
Hexanes
|
||
Lead
|
Copper
|
||
Lithium nitrate
|
Lithium chloride
|
||
Magnesium nitrate
|
Magnesium chloride
|
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Methanol
|
Ethanol |
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Methylene chloride
|
Ethyl acetate
|
||
Naphthalene
|
Lauric acid
|
||
Potassium nitrate
|
Potassium chloride
|
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Sodium nitrate
|
Sodium chloride
|
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Strontium nitrate
|
Strontium chloride
|
||
Zinc chloride
|
Zinc acetate
|
||
Zinc nitrate
|
Zinc acetate
|
||
A special note about our furniture
Two of Carolina's manufacturers, Diversified Woodcrafts, Inc. and Shain Solutions, are launching a green initiative to further enhance the steps they are already taking in caring for our environment. Read more at New Green Initiatives.
Links
- "12 Principles of Green Chemistry" from Figure 4.1: (p.30). 12 Principles of Green Chemistry from Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice (1998) by Anastas P and Warner J. By Permission of Oxford University Press.
- American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute
- EPA Green Chemistry
- Beyond Benign