For more information please visit the ACS webpage 12 Principle of Green Chemistry

1. Prevention
   It is better to prevent waste than to treat or clean up waste after it has been created.


2. Atom Economy
   Synthetic methods should be designed to maximize the incorporation of all materials used in the process into the final product.
   
   
3. Less Hazardous Chemical Syntheses
   Wherever practicable, synthetic methods should be designed to use and generate substances that possess little or no toxicity to human health and the environment.


4. Designing Safer Chemicals
   Chemical products should be designed to affect their desired function while minimizing their toxicity.


5. Safer Solvents and Auxiliaries
   The use of auxiliary substances (e.g., solvents, separation agents, etc.) should be made unnecessary wherever possible and innocuous when used.
   
   
6. Design for Energy Efficiency
   Energy requirements of chemical processes should be recognized for their environmental and economic impacts and should be minimized. If possible, synthetic methods should be conducted at ambient temperature and pressure.


7. Use of Renewable Feedstocks
   A raw material or feedstock should be renewable rather than depleting whenever technically and economically practicable.


8. Reduce Derivatives
   Unnecessary derivatization (use of blocking groups, protection/ deprotection, temporary modification of physical/chemical processes) should be minimized or avoided if possible, because such steps require additional reagents and can generate waste.


9. Catalysis
   Catalytic reagents (as selective as possible) are superior to stoichiometric reagents.


10. 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.


11. Real-time analysis for Pollution Prevention
    Analytical methodologies need to be further developed to allow for real-time, in-process monitoring and control prior to the formation of hazardous substances.


12. Inherently Safer Chemistry for Accident Prevention
    Substances and the form of a substance used in a chemical process should be chosen to minimize the potential for chemical accidents, including releases, explosions, and fires.

Download the PDF here.

Pfizer Solvent Selection Guide
Read the full paper.

GlaxoSmithKline
Reagent Guide
Solvent Selection Guide

Green chemistry tools to influence a medicinal chemistry and research chemistry based organization

Kim Alfonsi, Juan Colberg, Peter J. Dunn, Thomas Fevig, Sandra Jennings, Timothy A. Johnson, H. Peter Kleine, Craig Knight, Mark A. Nagy, David A. Perry and Mark Stefaniak.

Green Chem., 2008,10, 31-36

This is the same paper that you will find Pfizer's Solvent Selection Guide. In the second half of the paper the author's describe how they try to choose reagents for various organic transformations and suggest strategies for other researchers to do the same.

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A Convenient Guide To Help Select Replacement Solvents For Dichloromethane In Chromatography

Joshua P. Taygerly, Larry M. Miller, Alicia Yee and Emily A. Peterson

Green Chem., 2012,14, 3020-3025

Abstract:

One of the largest contributors to chlorinated solvent waste in medicinal chemistry is chromatography. A set of "drug-like" compounds was employed to compare the relative eluting strengths of greener solvent systems. Disclosed herein is an experimentally-derived solvent selection guide to aid chemists in choosing greener solvents for chromatographic purification, with a particular focus on reducing dichloromethane usage.

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Alternative Solvents: Shades of Green
James H. Clark and Stewart J. Tavener

Organic Process Research & Development 2007, 11, 149-155

Abstract:

The use of alternative reaction solvents is reviewed in terms of life cycle. Supercritical CO2, ionic liquids, fluorous solvents, water, and renewable organics are compared on the basis of their solvency, ease of use, reusability, health and safety, environmental impact, and economic cost.

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What is a green solvent? A comprehensive framework for the environmental assessment of solvents

Christian Capello, Ulrich Fischer and Konrad Hungerbuhler

Green Chemistry, 2007,9, 927-934.

Abstract:

Solvents define a major part of the environmental performance of processes in chemical industry and also impact on cost, safety and health issues. The idea of "green" solvents expresses the goal to minimize the environmental impact resulting from the use of solvents in chemical production. Here the question is raised of how to measure how "green" a solvent is. We propose a comprehensive framework for the environmental assessment of solvents that covers major aspects of the environmental performance of solvents in chemical production, as well as important health and safety issues. The framework combines the assessment of substance-specific hazards with the quantification of emissions and resource use over the full life-cycle of a solvent. The proposed framework is demonstrated on 26 organic solvents. Results show that simple alcohols (methanol, ethanol) or alkanes (heptane, hexane) are environmentally preferable solvents, whereas the use of dioxane, acetonitrile, acids, formaldehyde, and tetrahydrofuran is not recommendable from an environmental perspective. Additionally, a case study is presented in which the framework is applied for the assessment of various alcohol-water or pure alcohol mixtures used for solvolysis of p-methoxybenzoyl chloride. The results of this case study indicate that methanol-water or ethanol-water mixtures are environmentally favourable compared to pure alcohol or propanol-water mixtures. The two applications demonstrate that the presented framework is a useful instrument to select green solvents or environmentally sound solvent mixtures for processes in chemical industry. The same framework can also be used for a comprehensive assessment of new solvent technologies as soon as the present lack of data can be overcome.

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Searching For Green Solvents

Philip G. Jessop

Green Chem., 2011,13, 1391-1398

Abstract:

Academic research in the area of green solvents is focused on neither the industries that use solvents most nor the types of solvents that the research community believes have the best hope of reducing solvent-related environmental damage. Those of us who are primarily motivated by a desire to reduce such damage would do well to look at the major uses of solvents, to determine the problems that currently make those applications less-than-green and focus our research efforts on potential solutions to those problems. As a contribution to such efforts, I present four grand challenges in the field of green solvents: finding a sufficient range of green solvents, recognizing whether a solvent is actually green, finding an easily-removable polar aprotic solvent and eliminating distillation.

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Sanofi's Solvent Selection Guide: A Step Toward More Sustainable Processes

Denis Prat, Olivier Pardigon, Hans-Wolfram Flemming, Sylvie Letestu, Véronique Ducandas, Pascal Isnard, Eberhard Guntrum, Thomas Senac, Stéphane Ruisseau, Paul Cruciani and Patrik Hosek

Org. Process Res. Dev., 2013, 17, 1517-1525

Abstract:

Sanofi's solvent selection guide helps chemists in early development select sustainable solvents that will be accepted in all production sites. Solvents are divided into four classes, from 'recommended' to 'banned'. This ranking is derived from Safety, Health, Environmental, Quality, and Industrial constraints. Each solvent has its own ID card that indicates the overall ranking, H, S & E hazard bands, as well as its ICH limit, physical properties, cost, and substitution advice.

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ACS Process Mass Intensity Calculator

Process mass intensity = quantity of raw materials input (kg) / quantity of bulk API out (kg)

Process is all steps of a synthetic path from commonly available materials to the final bulk active pharmaceutical ingredient (API).

Raw materials input is all materials, including water, that are used directly in the process of synthesizing, isolating, and purifying the API final form.

Bulk API out is the final form of the active ingredient that was produced in the synthesis, dried to the expected specification.

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Choosing the Greenest Synthesis: A Multivariate Metric Green Chemistry Exercise
Sean M. Mercer, John Andraos, and Philip G. Jessop
J. Chem. Educ., 2012, 89 (2), pp 215-220
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Towards a holistic approach to metrics for the 21st century pharmaceutical industry
C. Robert McElroy, Andri Constantinou, Leonie C. Jones, Louise Summerton and James H. Clark
Green Chem., 2015, 17, 3111-3121
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Hazardous Chemicals Database:
http://cameochemicals.noaa.gov/

Pollution Prevention by Utilizing Green Chemistry
An online guide developed by the Ohio State Environmental Protection Agency.
A Short Summary Sheet
Full Annotated Presentation