GREEN CHEMISTRY.

1. What is green chemistry?

i. Green Chemistry is the utilization of a set of principles that will help reduce the
use and generation of hazardous substances during the manufacture and
application of chemical products.
ii. Green chemistry aims to protect the environment not by cleaning up, but by
inventing new chemical processes that do not pollute.
iii. It is a rapidly developing and an important area in the chemical sciences.
iv. It can help to solve large global problems such as climate change, energy
consumption of effective utilization of natural resources especially renewable
resources.
v. Green chemistry also known as clean chemistry is a sustainable approach where
problems related to toxic, by-products etc. are addressed at molecular level.

2. List and explain in detail the 12 Principle of green chemistry.

i. Prevention of waste formation:
• It is better to prevent waste than to treat or clean up waste after it is formed.
• Waste cause pollution.
• Cleaning of waste need extra costs.
• Re-designing chemical process to minimize generation of hazardous waste is
first step in pollution prevention.
ii. Atom Economy:
• Synthetic methods should be designed to maximize the incorporation of all
materials used in the process into the final product.
• It is the ratio of total mass of atoms in desired product to total mass of atoms in
the reactant.
𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡
• Atom Economy = x 100
𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠
iii. Designing of less hazardous chemical synthesis:
• Wherever practicable, synthetic methodologies should be designed to use and
generate substances that possess little or no toxicity to human health and the
environment.
• For example, Pyridine or β-naphthyl amine (intermediate for dye stuff) are
carcinogenic, should be avoided.
iv. Designing of safer chemicals and products:
• Chemical products should be designed to preserve efficacy of function while
reducing toxicity.
• Synthesized chemicals should be safe to use.
• Medicines should be first put on trials before introduced in market.
• For Example, DDT, gammaxene, aldrin, etc. are toxic pesticides. Biological
pesticide like Spinosad is in use now.
v. Use of safer solvents and auxiliaries:
• The use of auxiliary substances (e.g., solvents, separation agents, etc.) should be
made unnecessary where-ever possible and innocuous when used.
• They should not cause environmental and health hazard.
• For Example, instead of common solvents such as acetone, chloroform, benzene
etc., water and other eco-friendly solvents can be used in the development of
dry reaction techniques.
vi. Design for energy efficiency:
• Energy requirements of chemical processes should be low considering their
environmental and economic impacts.
• If possible, synthetic methods should be conducted at ambient temperature and
pressure.
• Energy efficiency can be improved by: Use of catalyst, Fermentation process,
Minimizing use of fossil and gaseous fuels, Use of microwave radiations,
ultrasound for energy, Waste minimization.
vii. Use of renewable feedstock:
• A raw material or feedstock should be renewable rather than depleting
whenever technically and economically possible.
• For Example, Synthesis of Adipic acid as it is a dicarboxylic acid used to produce
nylon with hexamethylene di amine.
viii. Reduce Chemical Derivatives:
• Unnecessary derivatives (protecting groups, intermediates) should be avoided.
• Derivatization is common in chemical synthesis of fine chemicals,
pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and certain dyes.
• Development of more selective reactions, will eliminate the need to use
protecting group. These make reaction happen at only the desired reactive site.
• Reactions can be made more efficient by reducing the number of steps required
and the amount of waste produced
ix. Use catalysis, not stoichiometric reagents:
• Catalytic reagents (as selective as possible) are superior to stoichiometric
reagents.

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 • They are used in small amounts and as they do not participate in the reaction,
they can be used many times.
• Stoichiometric reagents are used in large amounts, they can be used only once
in a reaction and later add to waste.
• Catalytic reactions are faster and require less energy.
x. Design for Degradation:
• Chemical products should be designed so that at the end of their function they
break down into innocuous degradation products and do not persist in the
environment.
• For Example, DDT when used as pesticide, its residue remains in soil for many
years causing pollution. Biopesticides should be used.
xi. Real-time analysis for pollution prevention:
• It is always important to monitor progress of any reaction to know when it is
complete, to check emergence of any unwanted byproduct/ hazardous
substances etc.
• This may prevent any accident which may occur in chemical plant.
xii. Inherently safer chemistry for accident prevention:
• Substances and the form of a substance used in a chemical process should be
chosen to minimize potential for chemical accidents, including releases,
explosions, and fires.
• Use of safer chemicals, minimizing temperature, pressure, using catalysts helps
in minimizing the potential of accidents which is desirable.

3. Explain Conventional and green route for manufacturing of adipic acid.

i. It is a dicarboxylic acid used to produce nylon with hexamethylene di amine.
ii. Green Principle: Use of Renewable feedstock – A raw material or feedstock should be
renewable rather than depleting whenever technically and economically possible.
iii. Traditional Pathway: Uses benzene which is a fossil fuel based and carcinogenic
feedstock.

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 iv. Green Pathway: Uses Glucose, which is renewable feedstock and absolutely safe.

4. Explain Conventional and green route for manufacturing of indigo.

i. Indigo dye is a blue-coloured dye used for cotton yarn which is used for the
production of denim clothes.
ii. Green Principle: Design less hazardous chemical synthesis.
iii. Traditional Pathway: Presently, indigo is synthesized by aniline as the starting
material. This Produces large amount of waste of salts, which causes disposal
problem.

iv. Green Pathway: Tryptophan is used which is amino acid from protein source.

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5. Explain Conventional and green route for manufacturing of carbaryl.
i. Carbaryl is chiefly used as an insecticide. This was prepared by traditional
method using 1-naphthol and methyl isocyanate as reactants. But alternative
pathway is suggested to minimize the use of hazardous materials.
ii. Green Principle: Design of less hazardous chemical synthesis - Wherever
practicable, synthetic methodologies should be designed to use and generate
substances that possess little or no toxicity to human health and the
environment.
iii. Traditional Pathway:

iv. Green Pathway: In this new method the formation of methyl isocyanate is
prevented. In this method 1-naphthol is reacted with phosgene.

v. Phosgene and methyl amine (toxic and flammable) are still used in green method
which are toxic substances.

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6. Explain Conventional and green route for manufacturing of Acryl Amide.
i. Green Principle: Use of catalyst, not a stochiometric reagents - Stoichiometric reagents
are used in large amounts, they can be used only once in a reaction and later add to
waste.
ii. Traditional Pathway:
Reactants: Acrylonitrile (Toxic, corrosive, flammable, carcinogenic, environment
hazard) and H2SO4 (toxic, corrosive), NH3(corrosive, environmental hazard, toxic).

iii. Green Pathway:

Reactants: Acrylonitrile, Nitril hydratase.