The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable

THE PERIODIC TABLE OF THE ELEMENTS

GREEN AND SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY

Paul T. Anastas

Julie B. Zimmerman

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Paul T. Anastas and Julie B. Zimmerman

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Published by Press Zero, Madison, Connecticut USA 06443

Cover Design by Paul T. Anastas

ISBN: 978-1-7345463-0-9

First Edition: January 2020

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The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

To Kennedy and Aquinnah

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the entirety of the international green chemistry community for their

efforts in creating a sustainable tomorrow.

The authors would also like to thank Dr. Evan Beach for his thoughtful and constructive

contributions during the editing of this volume, Ms. Kimberly Chapman for her work on the

graphics for the table. In addition, the authors would like to thank the Royal Society of Chemistry

for their continued support for the ﬁeld of green chemistry.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Table of Contents

Preface ............................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................................9

Humanitarian Elements .............................................................................................................................................. 10

Green Chemistry and Green Engineering ..............................................................................................................24

Prevent Waste .............................................................................................................................................................. 26

Atom Economy ............................................................................................................................................................... 31

Less Hazardous Synthesis ....................................................................................................................................... 36

Molecular Design ..........................................................................................................................................................41

Solvents/Auxiliary Chemicals .................................................................................................................................. 46

Energy ............................................................................................................................................................................... 51

Renewable Feedstocks .............................................................................................................................................. 56

Catalysis .......................................................................................................................................................................... 61

Degradation ...................................................................................................................................................................66

Measurement and Awareness ...................................................................................................................................71

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Enabling Systems Conditions ...................................................................................................................................76

Conceptual Frameworks .............................................................................................................................................78

Economics and Market Forces ................................................................................................................................. 85

Metrics ............................................................................................................................................................................ 92

Policies and Regulations ...........................................................................................................................................99

Tools............................................................................................................................................................................... 106

Noble Elements ............................................................................................................................................................ 113

Valency ..........................................................................................................................................................................122

Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................................................123

Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................................. 124

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Preface

The ﬁeld of Green Chemistry emerged in the early 1990s as an approach to using the power

and potential of chemistry to design the next generation of products and processes such that

they are good for humans, the environment, society, and the economy. Its innovations are felt

around the world in improving the products of our daily lives, the way we make our medicines

and grow our food, and how we generate and store our energy. In recent years, sustainable

chemistry has been introduced to describe those important aspects beyond the science that

are necessary for green chemistry to make a positive impact on the world at the scale and

timeframe necessary to advance sustainability.

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Periodic Table of the Elements, a new metaphorical

construct has been assembled to illustrate the “elements” that will be crucial on the path to

a sustainable future. This is the basis of “The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and

Sustainable Chemistry.”

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Introduction

When thinking about the brilliance of how creative chemistry has transformed civilizations in

terms of volume and efﬁciency of food production, access to energy, invention of new medicines,

ability to travel far distances, and the insights gained through its role in the information revolution,

one soon recognizes why chemistry is often referred to as “the central science”. But certainly,

it is not merely central to various industrial sectors or central to enabling a range of academic

disciplines. It must be central to more than just that.

What it is central to is perhaps the most important question of our time. Because when recognizing

the fundamental nature and the power of chemistry, we recognize that it is central to whether

we will meet the greatest challenges of current and future generations. When considering the

great urgent goals of sustainability, chemistry is central to the difference between success and

failure, survival and extinction. It is that fundamental.

In recent decades, the ﬁeld of green chemistry has emerged with all of its technological and

commercial achievements, with all of the new perspectives that green chemistry brings, all of

the new inventions and innovations, new reactions and transformations of forms of matter, and

the motivation and impetus behind all of this activity becomes clear. We ﬁnd the answer to the

question: “Why do we do what we do?”

And at the foundation of everything we do are the humanitarian issues, the humanitarian goals,

the human species and the ecosystems, biosphere, and geosphere upon which the human

species relies.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Humanitarian Elements

The following elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry emphasize

core humanitarian aims and principles. Since chemistry has existed as a

discipline, it has played a central role in meeting fundamental human needs.

As we continue to press against the limits of natural systems, it will remain

a challenge to ensure basic needs such as food, water, security, and shelter

for future generations. Green and Sustainable Chemistry should also strive

to ensure that risks and beneﬁts are equally shared among populations.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Appropriate Technologies for the Developing World

The invention and deployment of chemical technologies over the past

two centuries has transformed modern life for a segment of the global

population. However, many of the technologies developed in the past and

still being developed today are not beneﬁting or improving the well-being

of a large percentage of the world’s population. This is due to factors that

include particular resource ﬂows, capital ﬂows, infrastructure requirements,

human capital, and more.

Developing appropriate technologies means understanding the context in

which a technology will be deployed to ensure that it can bring beneﬁt.

Designing a technology to be viable in the industrialized world or the

developing world, a major metropolis or a tribal village, requires systems

thinking and thoughtful design. Designing technologies for the appropriate

context is a challenge that needs to be met if beneﬁt is to be equitable.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Chemistry for Wellness

Chemistry has been at the forefront of modern Western medicines with

the vast majority of effort focused on treating disease. However, treating

disease is not the same as preserving wellness. Chemistry has been at

the forefront of increased food production. However, increased food supply

and production of caloric content is not the same as the realization of

access to nutritional health. Chemistry has been at the forefront of imaging,

diagnostics, and sensors but measuring and monitoring a problem is not the

same as solving it or preventing it. Chemistry can play a role in signiﬁcant

and timely efforts to rigorously understand and deliver nutraceuticals,

probiotics, and other beneﬁcial supplements. Chemists also need to work

toward elucidating and enhancing positive mechanistic pathways toward

proactive health.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Access to Safe and Reliable Water

One of the essential materials of life is water. Access to suitable water for

drinking, sanitation, and hygiene is necessary for life, health, and well-being.

Chemistry has been critical in historical approaches to water disinfection

and improving water quality from removal of harmful contaminants to

addressing odor and taste concerns. Chemistry will be required to realize the

future methods, process, and materials that enable healthful drinking water

without the unintended consequences of harmful disinfection by-products.

Sanitation is an equally important imperative to avoid the spread of disease

by exposure to pathogens. These services must be supplied in ways that

are mindful of equity, safety, and dignity. The enabling infrastructure and

processes for supply and treatment of potable and non-potable water will

all depend on chemical innovations to ensure appropriate quantity and

quality for drinking, sanitation, hygiene, or any other intended use.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Chemistry for Benign Food Production and Nutrition

While the great increases in the efﬁciency of food production have been

astounding and life-saving, there have been unintended consequences

from the over-use of fertilizers and the use of pesticides and herbicides that

harm beneﬁcial insects and plants and damage ecosystems.

Chemical and non-chemical alternatives are being developed and need to

be implemented at larger scale. These range from targeted bio-pesticides

to herbicides that focus on speciﬁc pests and plants to pesticides designed

to degrade rapidly into non-toxic degradation products. Integrated pest

management systems have been shown to be efﬁcacious and economically

practical without the environmental damage.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Ensure Environmental Justice, Security, and Equitable

Opportunities

Proximity to chemical manufacturing, processing, and use has historically

come with disproportionate risk to the surrounding communities and

ecosystems; this includes the exportation of banned chemicals and

hazardous waste to communities with few other economic opportunities.

Individuals should have the right to live in homes and communities that are

not placed at increased risk due to transportation or production of chemicals

or inadequate protection of facilities. Use of highly hazardous chemicals

increases vulnerability to accidents, natural disasters, or intentional acts of

violence and terror. Adopting chemistries that are inherently benign is the

most effective means of ensuring that communities are not placed at undue

risk from the chemical enterprise. Case studies have shown that there are

safer alternatives to toxic gases, VOCs, pesticides, and cleaning chemicals

implicated in previous incidents.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Chemistry to Preserve Natural Carbon and Other

Biogeochemical Cycles

Integrated systems are the basis of the planet’s natural biogeochemical

cycles. From carbon to nitrogen to water and beyond, these chemical cycles

and chemical processes are adversely impacted by the human interferences

and interactions with these cycles. Human chemistry must be designed

such that there will be no perturbation of the natural biogeochemical cycles

and their interlinkages. Through thoughtful consideration of human material

and energy utilization, we can protect the critical natural cycles essential to

the preservation of life and all of its diversity on the planet.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

No Chemicals of War or Oppression

The history of the intentional use of weaponized chemicals is recognized

as uncivilized and the continuation of the universal rejection of this practice

is essential to a civilized society. Likewise, the use of chemicals for carrying

out the death penalty or for the oppression of individuals through chemical

lobotomies or chemical castration must not happen. Designing, making,

and utilizing chemicals for the purpose of mental or physical control over

individuals is inconsistent with the peaceful uses of chemistry.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Design to Avoid Dependency

Some molecules can be addictive to humans. They can cause physical

and neurological changes that result in dependency, and its subsequent

impairment. Chemists have the duty to establish knowledge and awareness

of the mechanisms of dependency in order to ensure that the molecules

that are created do not result in human dependency and addiction.

Economic dependency is a separate yet important issue. Molecules should

not be designed to be essential and inseparable to livelihood and wellness

and embedded in systems that provide critical items like food, clean water,

and medicine.

Chemical dependency is not limited to the human species; it can also

impact other living things both animal and plant. Dependency needs to be

understood such that design for variety and resilience is pursued preferably.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Ensure Access to Material Resources for Future Generations

The basic elements will largely not be created nor destroyed – with the

exception of radioactive decay. However, the ability to access resources

that are fundamental to the chemical and material infrastructure of our

society and economy can be greatly impacted and diminished through

irresponsible use. The combustion of valuable fossil fuels, the dissipation of

phosphorus, and the diffusion of rare earth elements will make our resource

base more difﬁcult to access for future generations.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Transparency for Chemical Communication

The potential beneﬁts and the potential harm that can be provided by

chemistry are too immense and powerful to be cloaked in the darkness

of jargon. Yet, as the evolution of chemistry proceeds, the greater the

opacity of the science to the general public. The responsibility of molecular

scientists – and scientists generally – is not merely to discover, invent, and

understand, but also to effectively convey that understanding as clearly

and transparently as possible. To be clear, this is not the same as “as

clearly and transparently as convenient.” The task of communication is

not a secondary task but rather one of equal status in the scientiﬁc pursuit.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Chemistry for Sustainable Building and Buildings

The structures that are used to house people and their activities should

be designed, constructed, and maintained to provide resilient protection

while being conducive to the health and wellness of the occupants and

the surrounding ecosystems. From the molecular basis of the materials

throughout their life cycle to the systems that provide the requisite water,

climate control, and lighting, chemistry has a signiﬁcant role to play in

efﬁciently providing safe indoor environments for humans and their activities

while considering the surrounding landscape. Further, buildings can be

designed to be modular, providing for future adaptions, deconstruction, and

reuse to avoid end of life material waste.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

An Individual’s Molecular Code Belongs to that Individual

Every individual possesses the unique molecular code that is the underlying

basis of their individuality and their identity. Further, this code has the power

and potential for understanding health and wellness in a fundamental way,

at the molecular scale. While this molecular code may contain information

and functionality that can result in value, every individual is sovereign over

their code and this sovereignty cannot be taken from them by others. As

the ability to understand, manipulate, and utilize the various levels of this

biological code increases, it will be ever more essential to guarantee that

control of this code remains with the individual.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Molecular Codes of Nature Belong to the World

No human wrote any of the genetic codes of Nature and no human or group

of humans can own it. Humans played no role in the billions of years of the

design of genomes, bio/geo material structure, natural transformations and

self-assembly. The inventions of Nature belong to Nature. The codes of

Nature belong to Nature. The act of a human recognizing its brilliance and

deeming it a discovery is not justiﬁcation to claiming ownership and control

or in any way limiting access to this brilliance by everyone.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Green Chemistry and Green Engineering

In order to address the humanitarian goals that are inextricably linked to preserving our natural

world, invention and innovation are essential. While efﬁciency will be necessary, it will be far

from sufﬁcient. Efﬁciency will help you do the thing you are doing better; it will not help you do

a better thing. Being more efﬁcient in our use of unsustainable resources, products, processes,

and systems is not going to fundamentally alter the unsustainable trajectory we are on. Doing

something that is unsustainable more efﬁciently does not make it sustainable.

The design, invention, and innovation that is required is embedded in the Principles of Green

Chemistry and Green Engineering. The scientiﬁc and technological breakthroughs using these

principles are meant to change the nature and character of the material basis of our society and

our economy – including the materials used to generate, store, and transport our energy – to

make it healthful rather than toxic, renewable rather than depleting, and restorative rather than

degrading. The manifestation of these principles are the discoveries that go from the laboratory

to making a difference in the world.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

This collection of science and technology is the manifestation of the Twelve Principles of Green

Chemistry and the Twelve Principles of Green Engineering.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Prevent Waste

Regardless of its nature, waste consumes resources, time, effort, and

money both when it is created and then when it is handled and managed

at end of life, with hazardous waste requiring even greater investments for

monitoring and control. Creating, handling, storing, and disposing of waste

is necessarily an expense and does not add value in terms of innovation

or performance. In processes of production, therefore, waste is always

undesirable in any form.

Ideally, molecules, products, processes and systems would be designed

to not create waste. We should aim to eliminate even the concept of

waste by ensuring that all outputs are feedstocks elsewhere, mimicking

natural systems. Whether the waste is material, energy, space, time, or the

derivative of all of these, money, there are design strategies that can and

are being implemented in Green Chemistry and Engineering to address the

issue at the most fundamental level: prevention.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Waste Material Utilization and Valorization

Waste is a human-centered concept. In Nature there is, for all practical

purposes, no waste. In Nature, organisms and geo-systems evolve

to utilize the “waste” of one process to nourish, sustain, and strengthen

another. While the history of human-designed chemical systems has been

linear (e.g., take-make-waste), there is a recognition that genuine elegance

requires the building of circular systems where materials and energy ﬂow

in cycles as they do in Nature. This depends on developing the tools,

techniques, and approaches for “designing waste” such that the “waste”

itself is considered an additional product of the system.

These approaches of chemical waste valorization have found large-scale

application in a variety of settings from individual product manufacturing

processes to entire mega-scale factories to urban and regional networks.

Transforming waste into a value-added product is a science in its infancy

and it will need to develop considerably in sophistication and scale in order

to displace the wasteful linear processes that have historically dominated.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

“One-Pot” Synthesis

When chemical transformations have taken place historically, they have

often required many steps, especially for complex molecules such as those

in the ﬁeld of pharmaceuticals. Each time there is a multi-step synthesis,

there is the need for separation, isolation, and puriﬁcation that results in loss

of material, increased energy usage, and time lost.

Where possible, chemists should aim to design “one-pot” synthesis, in

other words, transformations that can be carried out in a single reaction

vessel without isolation, puriﬁcation, or other wasteful steps. These more

efﬁcient processes must also avoid potential tradeoffs such as relying

on more toxic substances or generating lower quality products. When

implemented carefully, fewer steps and fewer reaction vessels can provide

signiﬁcant beneﬁts in efﬁciency and waste reduction.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Process Intensiﬁcation

Traditional methods of chemical manufacturing have intrinsic inefﬁciencies

that result in wastes of materials, energy, time, and space. Through

thoughtful redesign, entire manufacturing processes that had been split into

large numbers of “unit processes” of reaction, separation, puriﬁcation, etc.,

can be combined. The beneﬁt is not merely waste reduction but also lower

capital and operating costs while increasing inherent safety. The concept of

having small continuous-ﬂow “reactors” that can be increased in number,

so-called “numbering up,” can realize these advantages compared to

conventional “scaling up” of bulk processes.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Self-Separation

The chemicals and materials enterprise is one of the major consumers

of energy in industry. One very large piece of this energy consumption

comes from separation processes, encompassing isolation, puriﬁcation,

and some kinds of cleaning. In addition to the energy that is directly input

into traditional separation systems, the dependency of these processes on

large volumes of solvents also consumes signiﬁcant amounts of embedded

energy from solvent manufacturing and puriﬁcation.

Systems designed to facilitate “self-separation” can decrease energy and

material usage when developed properly. Designing a molecular product

to separate from its reaction matrix or enabling an impurity generated in

a process to self-separate due to intrinsic factors can have sustainability

advantages.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Atom Economy

The modern miracle of chemical enterprise is the ability to transform

the materials that occur naturally in the world into new materials with

new properties and performance that would not otherwise exist. History

has shown there are thoughtful and wise ways to engage in molecular

transformation and there are methods that are profoundly toxic, wasteful,

and depleting. The new emerging synthetic methods that have been

demonstrated in the ﬁeld of green chemistry come from thoughtful life-

cycle design and often use Nature and biological systems as an inspiration,

mentor, and guide. Through this type of thoughtful design, we move from a

narrow deﬁnition of mere efﬁciency to one of holistic productivity.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Molecular Self-Assembly

The process of intentional bond-making has been one of the most important

accomplishments of chemistry. Historically, this process has often been

forced through the use of energy or reactive reagents to occur at the time,

place, and rate that is desired. The more complex the molecule, the more

steps and energy that has often been employed.

Looking at natural and biological systems, there are many examples where

complex molecules with extensive stereochemistry and intricate ring

systems are realized through molecular self-assembly that takes place

upon appropriate stimulus. This can be achieved in human-designed

synthesis as well. It is, of course, always important to not simply design

a self-assembling molecule by shifting the energy and reagent inputs to

another part of the product life-cycle such as its precursors.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Integrated Processes

Long chains of unit reaction processes accumulate energy and material

waste due to the separation, isolation, and puriﬁcation steps usually

encountered after each step. These transitions are among the most

energy-intensive aspects of an overall process. There are almost always

material losses due to transfer from a reactor to another process step. By

designing processes to be integrated to the highest feasible degree, there

can be signiﬁcant advantages not only for energy and material efﬁciencies,

but also for the time saved and reduced exposures to chemical workers.

It can be valuable to integrate not only individual processes but numerous

processes as well to accomplish goals such as utilization of waste heat/

material from one process as a feedstock for another.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Additive Synthesis

The use of addition reactions can signiﬁcantly decrease intrinsic waste

generated by the synthetic method. By building up a molecule atom by

atom or fragment by fragment, chemists use only what is necessary in

constructing the target. It is essential to be thoughtful about not simply

shifting the burden of waste from one step to another step or another part

of the process, but wisely employing addition reactions has beneﬁts over

elimination and substitution reactions that inherently generate waste as

part of the nature of the reaction.

Conceptually, the addition reaction can be translated beyond the molecular

scale. For example, additive manufacturing is similarly beneﬁcial for larger

scale material assembly and applications.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Non-Covalent Derivatives / Weak Force Transformation

Chemists have pursued the mastery of bond-making with for more than

200 years with great success. However, we should note that Nature

accomplishes impressive functional modiﬁcations and performance

not only through covalent bonds but also extensively using weak-force

interactions. These weak forces engage at the time and place necessary to

impart useful properties precisely when and where they are needed. Weak

forces guide many bond-forming pathways in Nature.

While humans have been increasingly aware of the essential importance

of weak forces, there is a need for greater mastery of these powerful tools

such that they can be used as design levers to achieve function and

performance with minimal harm to the environment.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Less Hazardous Synthesis

While efﬁciency has historically served as a proxy for sustainable practices

in the chemical enterprise, it is imperative that the goal of reducing

the quantity of material and energy consumed is closely coupled with

considerations related to the nature of that material and energy. Using

less may not have the beneﬁcial effects of reducing the overall hazard of

the synthetic process depending on the nature of the feedstocks, reagents,

and auxiliary chemicals. It is imperative that these inputs and outputs,

in addition to the intended product, are as inherently benign as possible.

Further, the conditions under which synthetic processes are carried out

should be considered when pursuing the goal of a more sustainable

chemical enterprise. This offers beneﬁts from environmental and human

health perspectives in addition to a reduction in vulnerability to chemical

accidents and sabotage.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Reduce Use of Hazardous Materials

It is more impactful to design for reduced hazard than for controlling

exposures. The use of hazards – physical (e.g., corrosivity, reactivity,

explosivity, ﬂammability), toxicological (carcinogenicity, reproductive and

developmental including endocrine disruption, neurological), or global (e.g.,

ozone depletion, greenhouse gases) – can be minimized or eliminated

throughout the entire life-cycle of a chemical process. The approach

applies to feedstocks, reagents, solvents, catalysts, byproducts, and the

products themselves. New or alternative chemicals should be rationally

designed for reduced hazard or, at a minimum, assessed and understood

to have reduced hazard by comparison to materials being substituted, to

minimize these negative environmental and human health consequences.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

In-Situ Generation and Consumption of Hazardous

Materials

Reactivity is an essential part of chemical transformations and is also

closely associated with the hazardous nature of many substances. One

strategy that can be employed to avoid exposure of workers or nearby

communities to toxic/reactive reagents, is to generate and consume them

in the processes without any signiﬁcant accumulation of these substances.

Through “in-situ” generation, the substance needs only to be generated in

minuscule quantities for short amounts of time as it is needed before it has

consumed that reaction.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

C-H Bond Functionalization

Organic chemistry creates new molecules by forming carbon-carbon (C-

C) bonds. Most processes use raw materials with carbon-hydrogen (C-H)

bonds and, to avoid side products, making the desirable connections often

takes an indirect, roundabout route to avoid side products. The conventional

chemistry toolbox includes substitution and elimination reactions that

generate waste at the molecular level, adding to the process complexity

as well as environmental burdens. Direct C-H activation through catalysis

enables addition or rearrangement mechanisms that are inherently efﬁcient.

Continuous improvement in this area of research gives chemists more

options for cleaner chemistry without sacriﬁcing control over the reaction or

limiting access to interesting chemical structures.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Inherent Safety and Security

Chemists and chemical engineers know the properties, structures, and

conditions that underlie explosivity, ﬂammability, and corrosivity. Designing

molecules such that they are not capable of ignition, conﬂagration,

combustion, or explosion is something that is within the skillset of chemistry

today.

While safety has been a concern of the chemical enterprise for much of

its history, this has often been accomplished through protection from the

consequences of these physical hazards when they occur rather than

through molecular design for reduction of intrinsic hazard. Upfront design

gives better protection from accidents as well as terrorism and sabotage

vulnerability.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Molecular Design

The basis of our society and economy is synthetic chemicals and materials.

While there have been signiﬁcant advances in toxicology associated with

identifying, and in some instances predicting, commercial chemicals that

are likely to cause harm to human and ecosystem health, the gains in

informing the a priori design of chemicals with reduced hazard to humans

and the environment have been elusive. To realize the goal of designing

chemicals that are safe and functionally relevant, there is a need to create

an interdisciplinary body of knowledge at the nexus of computational

chemistry, mechanistic toxicology, and big data analytics among others. It

is only when we change the inherent nature of the chemicals and materials

that are foundational to quality of life that we can truly advance toward

a sustainable future that is no longer reliant on costly regulatory and

technological controls of circumstances in which hazardous chemicals can

be used and managed.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Design Guidelines

Design is intentional. If a chemical contains a hazard that is not intended, it

is a design ﬂaw. Yet, many of our made-made chemicals contain hazards to

humans or the biosphere by accident or lack of thoughtful design.

As we understand the underlying basis of hazard to human health and

the environment at the molecular level, we can design to avoid it. As we

understand the properties which enable chemical accidents and other

adverse consequences, we can and must design to avoid these outcomes

where possible.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Computational Models

With increasingly deeper molecular-level understanding of the nature of

chemical hazard comes increased potential for the use of computational

models to assess, predict, and design out hazards from the chemicals we

use and produce. The wide range of physical/chemical properties that are

the underlying basis for toxic mechanisms of action, exposure pathways,

and transport and fate can be evaluated in-silico with greater accuracy

and the insights derived from these evaluations can be used to avoid the

adverse consequences that have marked the less-desirable aspects of the

history of the chemical enterprise.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Bioavailability / ADME

At the foundation of protecting living things from toxicological impacts is

the concept of ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion),

describing how chemicals behave in and are changed within an organism.

By understanding the molecular parameters that control the stages of

ADME, chemists can control a chemical’s bioavailability—its ability to

access a biological system. The insights from pharmaceutical research in

trying to maximize bioavailability have provided intellectual tools that can

be used in all aspects of the chemical enterprise in thoughtful design for

hazard reduction.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

High Throughput Screening (Empirical / In Vivo / In Vitro)

Empirical testing of the toxicity of a chemical is an essential part of the

deep understanding of the potential consequences of a chemical. As we

move away from animal testing due to ethical and ﬁnancial drivers, the

development of bioassays is increasingly important. Emerging bioassays

cover a large number of biological processes and toxicological endpoints

and can be done within a high throughput framework. The extensive

amounts of data generated provide insights into the concerns that may

be associated with speciﬁc chemicals, and in aggregate have potential to

inform design guidelines for safety of future chemicals.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Solvents/Auxiliary Chemicals

The cost, environmental impact, and safety of a chemical processes are

often driven by the solvents and other auxiliary chemicals. The amount

of solvent used often exceeds raw materials, reagents, and products,

particularly in the case of separation and puriﬁcation processes. Once

again, while quantity of these chemicals is an important consideration

from a perspective of material and energy efﬁciency, it is the nature of our

historic solvents that has posed the greatest challenge to the environment

and human health. Conventional solvents have generally been volatile,

increasing likely exposures; hydrophobic, serving as long-term sources of

concern in environmental systems; and toxic to ecosystems and humans,

particularly notable in terms of worker exposure. Just as we aspire to

design safer chemical products, the same effort and attention should be

brought to bear on the design of safer solvents or solvent-free processes

through both improving the inherent nature of these compounds as well as

minimizing their exposure potentials.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Aqueous and Biobased Solvents

Water is the original solvent: the solvent of life. And yet, the long history

of the chemical enterprise largely eschewed water as a solvent. As

petrochemical processes came to be dominant, it was considered logical

that organic solvents would be most compatible with hydrocarbon-based

transformations. Research launched in the 20th century but accelerating

in the 21st century has shown that water as a solvent is desirable for many

chemical processes, even those where it was once thought not possible.

Water has been shown in cases to accelerate reaction rates and enhance

selectivity. The performance gains are in addition to beneﬁts such as non-

toxicity, non-ﬂammability, cost-effectiveness, and ready availability in

most instances.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Ionic Liquids / Non-Volatile Solvents

When salts can be designed to perturb their crystal structure adequately

such that they are a liquid at room temperature, they are known as room

temperature ionic liquids (RT-IL. These liquids have been demonstrated to

be effective solvents in a wide range of applications while having negligible

vapor pressure. This is important as lack of vapor pressure avoids one of

the most concerning routes of exposure for most volatile solvents, that of

respiration. Another major concern with traditional solvents is the impact

on atmospheric chemistry and air pollution. With RT-IL, this type of

atmospheric transport is not possible.

While the lack of vapor pressure is an elegant attribute for this class of

solvents, it is also critical that these solvents are designed for low toxicity.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Sub- and Super-Critical Fluids

There are gases that, when subjected to a certain temperature and pressure

condition, known as their critical point, become materials that are neither

gas nor liquid but rather “super-critical” ﬂuids. While these ﬂuids have

been known for centuries, recent discoveries have renewed interest in

their excellent solvent properties. Carbon dioxide, both in a sub- and super-

critical state, has been demonstrated at large scale as a practical solvent for

everything from synthesis to extraction, cleaning, and analysis.

The green advantages of supercritical ﬂuids are numerous including low

toxicity (for water and carbon dioxide), lack of ﬂammability, tunability, and

the possibility of “inﬁnite recyclability” by cycling pressure. The use of

carbon dioxide as a solvent does not require the generation of new CO2

and does not necessarily contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

“Smart” Solvents (Obedient, Tunable)

The ability to make a solvent respond to stimuli and change its properties

under new conditions can be extremely consequential. Historically,

solvents were energy consuming because solubility was controlled almost

exclusively through heating and cooling. With next generation solvents

that have been demonstrated and developed, solvents can be controlled

by factors such as pressure or pH.

These new so-called obedient solvents open up possibilities for niche

and industrial uses that change the energy proﬁles for many chemical

processes.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Energy

The chemical sector consumes approximately 20% of total industrial

energy consumption in the U.S., and contributes in similar proportions to

U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Given the reliance on fossil fuel resources

and the associated greenhouse gas emissions, there is a clear indication

that, at a minimum, the chemical enterprise should strive to be as energy

efﬁcient as possible, normalizing to chemical function rather than mass in

the assessment. Gain in efﬁciency can be realized by considering both the

quantity and quality of energy inputs as well as waste energy utilization.

Of course, the chemical sector has a signiﬁcant role to play in changing

the nature of our energy feedstocks toward ones that are renewable, and

developing materials that can enhance energy generation, storage, and

transmission to enable the use of these renewable energy sources.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Energy and Material Efﬁcient Synthesis and Processing

Synthesizing, transforming, and manufacturing raw materials into the

desired chemical products requires the input of energy to drive the reaction.

The form of this energy, in addition to the amount, has a signiﬁcant impact

on the environmental cost of carrying out the reaction. There have been

recent advances to reduce the overall energy demand and subsequent

environmental and economic impacts of chemical production by exploring

different means of energy delivery including mechano-, electro-, photo-,

and electromagnetic chemical-driven transformations. These alternative

approaches can affect the amount of energy used in removal of contaminants

(puriﬁcation), retrieving the desired molecules (isolation), removal of

extraneous/undesirable materials (cleaning), or breaking a complex mixture

into its components, including the removal of water (separations).

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Renewable / Carbon-Free Energy Inputs

As long as the chemical enterprise is among the largest energy consumers

of the economy, there is a responsibility to ensure that the energy consumed

is renewable and carbon-free. The options are becoming plentiful with solar

and wind becoming a larger share of the energy grid. However, it must be

recognized that all current sources of energy are not created equal in terms

of ability to be applied to manufacturing processes of all chemicals. There

will be needed advances in realizing renewable energy systems that can

deliver the kind of scale and quality demanded for chemical processing,

reﬁning, and distillation.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Energy Storage and Transmission Materials

Even the most sustainable and renewable sources of energy risk going

to waste when not utilized immediately if there is not adequate ability to

store or transport this energy. Physical, mechanical, chemical, and other

methods of energy storage and transmission will require the underlying

materials to be benign and Earth abundant. Technologies such as batteries

or hydrogen storage will only be as sustainable as the materials used

throughout their life-cycles.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Waste Energy Utilization and Valorization

Waste materials are highly noticeable when they ﬁll up landﬁlls around

the world or become pollution in the ocean, but much less attention is

paid to waste energy generation. Waste energy in forms such as heat,

light, vibration, or noise has a cost due to the impacts of energy generation

for which there is no return as well as the impacts on the immediate

surroundings (e.g., warming, wear and tear, mechanical erosion). The ability

to capture this waste energy and ﬁnd value-added uses is an important part

of any design strategies for a sustainable product process or system.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Renewable Feedstocks

Fossil fuel is the basis of the chemical, material, and energy foundation of

the global economy. Fossil fuel feedstocks are used to generate electricity,

to produce transportation fuels, and to produce a wide range of consumer

goods, such as plastics, healthcare and drug products, and agrichemicals.

These reserves are ﬁnite and pose additional challenges related to

geopolitics and physical accessibility.

Given this context, there have been emerging and important efforts to

increase the use of bio-based feedstocks for energy, chemicals, and

materials production. Using renewable feedstocks from agricultural,

forestry and aquatic resources, particularly residue and waste streams

from processing these materials, will be essential to changing the material

and energy basis of our economy and society. However, this must be

implemented in a context of competition with food, land and water use, as

well as benign and efﬁcient downstream processing for recovery of the full

value of the feedstock.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Integrated Bioreﬁnery

While matter is neither created nor destroyed, the molecular conversion

of natural resources through industrialized processes has the ability to

transform these resources from beneﬁts into burdens. The conversion of

energy-dense hydrocarbons to heat-trapping greenhouse gases is a high-

proﬁle example but the concept extends to resources like water, soil and

minerals, and biodiversity. In the absence of the ability to fully renew and

restore, there can be no license for our chemical enterprise to access and

transform the parts of the geosphere and biosphere that cannot be replaced.

Perhaps the most materially efﬁcient technological process in history is

the reﬁnery. The modern petrochemical reﬁnery has lessons for the bio-

based chemical economy that has not reached the same level of efﬁciency.

Being able to retrieve value from all extractable fractions from high-volume,

low-value to low-volume, high-value in an integrated bioreﬁnery will be an

important piece of realizing the goal of a bio-based economy.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Carbon Dioxide and other C1 Feedstocks

Carbon has been lusted over in its diamond form. Carbon has driven

economies in its coal form. Carbon has emerged as a 21st century energy

source in its methane form. Carbon is deadly in its carbon monoxide form.

Carbon is essential to the biosphere and threatens climate stability in its

carbon dioxide form. Carbon is poised to play a critical role in the evolution

of sustainable chemistry. The emergence of C1 chemistry is the essential

manipulation of one-carbon building blocks to transform them from

recalcitrant to useful, from destructive to value-adding, from a challenge to

opportunity.

Learning to sustainably access the promise of carbon dioxide and other C1

molecules as feedstocks is a critical frontier in green chemistry.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Synthetic Biology

New genomes are no longer science ﬁction. The ability to design and control

biological organisms and processes is well on its way to becoming one of

the most powerful tools to beneﬁt the move toward a sustainable world.

It also has the potential to cause almost unimaginable harm. Thoughtful

development, use, and implementation of synthetic biology processes

must proceed within a sustainability construct. Long-term implication of use

and misuse must be considered and built in prior to implementation. The

impact of synthetic biology will be felt by this world in the coming decades

and it is essential that these impacts be positive and not follow the errors of

previous technological advances of realizing a speciﬁc utility coupled with

myriad unintended consequences.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Biologically-Enabled Transformation

Nature is the original chemist carrying out an inconceivable number of

chemical transformations each second with a volume that dwarfs the

combined output of every chemical company and an elegance that puts

the occupants of the best chemistry departments to shame. Capturing

and harnessing the power of biological processes to carry out chemical

transformations can be a powerful strategy for a sustainable economy.

Oriented toward renewable, bio-based feedstocks, these processes (e.g.,

fermentation) can be utilized for production of materials in a manner that is

supportive of and conducive to life.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Catalysis

There are few areas of chemistry that exemplify sustainability better than

catalysis. Catalysis allows for increasing the rate of a transformation,

increased efﬁciency, use of less feedstock, enhanced product quality,

lower waste, and lower emissions while at the same time increasing the

proﬁtability of a process or product. Virtually every major petrochemical,

specialty chemical, or pharmaceutical company would not be economically

viable without the use of catalysis. The blend of environmental beneﬁt

and economic returns via catalysis makes it among the most obvious and

powerful tools to advance sustainability through chemistry.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Enzymes

Enzymes are often viewed as the pinnacle of what catalysis strives to be.

They carry out conversion of chemicals with an elegance and selectivity

that most chemists would only dream of. Yet there is room to improve on the

current limitations such as tolerance to a wide-range of conditions including

temperature, pressure, pH, and concentration gradients. The development

of manufacturing methods that exploit the advantages of enzymes will be

an important contribution to sustainable chemistry manufacturing.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Earth Abundant Metal Catalysis

Historically, some of the most toxic and/or precious metals were often

developed and used as catalysts and targeted for research and study.

These include osmium, mercury, chromium, platinum, palladium, gold, and

iridium. The cost and sustainability impacts of this approach are signiﬁcant.

While it must be noted that there exist excellent recovery schemes, each of

these have costs and risks that should be minimized.

The exploitation of Earth-abundant metals (e.g., iron, copper) that are not

scarce nor depleting is an active area of development that will be important

to achieve the necessary advantages of metal catalysis without the same

associated historic impacts.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Heterogeneous Catalysis

Heterogeneous implies that something is not uniform in nature and contains

a few or many different components or substances that make up the whole.

In chemistry, this includes mixtures of materials in different phases (gas,

liquid, solid). Considering catalysts important in sustainable chemical

pathways, heterogeneous systems confer many advantages compared

to homogeneous catalysts including better stability, ease of handling,

separation, and simpliﬁed recycling of the catalyst.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Homogeneous Catalysis

When something is the same throughout and consists of all the same parts

it is homogeneous. In chemistry, this can refer to uniformity of composition,

but also mixtures of materials in the same state of matter (solid, liquid, or

gas). Homogeneous catalysts, in which the catalyst and reactant are in

the same phase, are at the heart of extremely important methods in green

chemistry. Due to the nature of homogeneous catalysts and the ability to

easily characterize how they function, they are relatively easy to design at

a mechanistic level for enhanced performance and can positively impact

health, leading to improved environmental outcomes.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Degradation

Persistent substances may remain in their natural and man-made

environments for an indeﬁnite time. These compounds may accumulate to

reach levels that are harmful to health, environment, and natural resources.

Such contamination may be poorly reversible or even irreversible, and

could render natural resources such as soil and water unusable far into

the future. As such, there is a need to design chemicals and materials,

particularly those that are intentionally or unintentionally distributed in the

environment, that are stable during their useful life, and then degrade once

they are no longer functionally necessary. Designing for degradation is

necessary but not sufﬁcient to realize the goals of sustainable chemistry;

the subsequent degradation products should, themselves, be benign to

human health and the environment.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Benign Metabolites

Metabolites are formed by degradation or transformation of chemicals in

a living organism. Metabolic processes in humans, plants, or any living

organism are relevant to sustainable chemistry. Metabolites may have

beneﬁcial functions within an organism to regulate various processes, or

they may be inert. However, some can cause toxicity or adverse health

effects. Awareness of these process is important as sustainable design

must anticipate product breakdown and not just the product itself in order to

minimize harm to humans and the environment. Benign parent compounds

can produce harmful metabolites. This is especially relevant to biologically

active chemicals such as pharmaceuticals and herbicides or pesticides that

where small changes to chemical structure during physiological processes

could lead to unintended effects.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Molecular Degradation Triggers

Molecular degradation triggers are events that strategically promote

breakdown of molecules. These could include chemical- or pH-sensitive

functional groups or UV light triggers. Today there are many stable

compounds that persist in the environment far beyond the desired lifetime

of the product. Molecules incorporating triggers could help prevent harmful

impacts that arise from chemical persistence, if designed to form benign

by-products following the intended end of life of chemicals and products.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Degradable Polymers and Other Materials

For a chemical material to endure and persist beyond intended use serves

little purpose and has been the cause of serious problems. Polymers should

not be (effectively) immortal. Yet, many materials approach that level of

persistence when compared to the human time-scale. This has resulted in

well-known concerns for plastics in landﬁlls and in the oceans. It also is of

concern for lesser-known issues such as the potential impacts of persistent

microplastics or water-soluble synthetic polymers that are being integrated

into ecosystems and the biosphere. Polymers can be designed such that

their entire lifetime is approximately the same as their useful lifetime.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Prediction and Design Tools

Designing next generation chemicals and materials will require next

generation prediction and design tools. Analytical understanding and

computational models continue to be more powerful, allowing increased

insights to go beyond simply predicting potential adverse impacts toward

informing design. This is critical because predicting that something may

be harmful without a mechanistic basis for that model outcome does not

provide sufﬁcient and necessary guidance to a chemist on how to redesign

the molecule to preserve function while minimizing or eliminating the

hazards.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Measurement and Awareness

To know whether an action or invention is positive or negative for the world,

there needs to be some kind of feedback from the system. In the absence of

this feedback, there is little more than insufﬁcient guesses and suppositions.

However, the way that we choose to measure the performance and impact

of our products, processes, and systems will often have a profound impact

on the understanding that we take away from these measurements.

(Even the compass is only two-dimensional.) If we are operating in multi-

dimensional systems like those involved with sustainability, we will need

measurement systems that are as multi-dimensional if we wish to gain

insight from them. Traditional, limited measurements such as efﬁciency

measures will be insufﬁcient for this complex system. Additionally, our

measurement systems have often been retrospective tools that would give

us reports on what happened in the past, sometimes with long enough

lag times that the information itself is irrelevant. We now have tools and

computational abilities that can provide real-time insights and awareness

that allow for relevant action.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Sensors

Chemical and chemo-electronic sensors can now provide a level of

detection and real-time awareness of factors and dynamics that were once

thought unknowable. With applications ranging from air and water quality

to health indicators to environmental ecosystems shift, the development

of ubiquitous, integrated sensors can provide data that inform insights into

planetary and human health. These same sensors can inform and empower

more efﬁcient use of materials and energy in manufacturing and consumer

use. These approaches will be critical to maintaining a sustainable society.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

In-Process Control and Optimization

In manufacturing processes and operations, the way to verify smooth

operation was conventionally through periodic analysis, requiring extractive

testing and analysis of the product, often destructively. This approach

was time- and labor-intensive and led to waste materials and energy.

Often, product that did not meet speciﬁcations (so-called off-spec) would

need to be discarded as waste, frequently in large quantities. It is now

possible and important that future processes and even operations beyond

manufacturing utilize in-process control and optimization through the use

of real-time sensors and analysis. In this way, there is the ability to sense

off-spec material before it is formed in signiﬁcant quantities and to make

the appropriate corrections in-situ. This becomes especially vital when

pursuing the goal of process integration.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Exposome

The exposome refers to everything an individual is exposed to beginning

in utero through end of life. Each of these exposures can accumulate,

compound, and interact with each other and affect one’s health. Exposures

include anything from one’s environment, diet, workplace, and lifestyle. An

individual’s unique physiological characteristics and genetics can play a

major role in determining the effects of exposure. In terms of sustainability,

it becomes important to consider the potential exposures in the design

stage for any product or chemical. By better understanding the exposome

we can make design choices that improve safety and minimize harmful

exposures.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Green Analytical Chemistry

Analysis of the air, water, and land to detect pollution was historically

conducted with ﬁeld sampling protocols required and extensive effort

to transfer materials to specialized laboratories where extensive work-

up generated large volumes of solvents and waste. The processes of

measurement and analysis of an environmental problem often contributed

to other environmental problems. With the use of real-time, in-ﬁeld

analysis, the necessary measurements can be taken without the wasted

time, material, and energy. This “green analytical chemistry” has been

extended to a wide range of analytical techniques beyond environment

analysis, reducing the quantity of materials needed and waste generated.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Enabling Systems Conditions

Certainly, chemistry must not simply be a puzzle to be solved. Certainly, it’s not simply an

academic curiosity. It always has had the thread of purpose and impact to it. And because of the

understanding that when we introduce new things into the universe that the universe has never

seen, we need to anticipate the consequences. All of green chemistry and green engineering

has been focused on those parts of the endeavor. But in order to make that endeavor real, in

order to make those discoveries, those insights, those inventions, real, discoveries need to go

beyond the realm of science or technology.

The science and the technology may be essential. Without the science, advancement may not

be possible. But even with the discoveries, the inventions, and the innovations, advancement

is not going to happen alone with only science and technology. We recognize its that chemical

molecular transformations depend on different conditions: heat, pressure, light, stirring, mixing,

whatever it is. We need to think even more broadly about the system conditions that are

necessary in order to bring about the positive impact at societal scale, and what is the urgency

that is going to empower a sustainable transition, a transition to a sustainable world.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Enabling Systems Conditions

In order to turn invention and innovation into implementation and impact, the wide range of

system conditions needs to be aligned

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Conceptual Frameworks

Conceptual frameworks provide a basis for considering the role of the

chemical enterprise in advancing sustainability and the associated

complexities.

Such frameworks provide a means to understand the relevant concepts as

well as their relationships to one another.

Frameworks of this nature help to inform the overarching design of the role

of chemicals and chemistry in contributing to the goals of a sustainable

future.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Biomimcry

Nature has had a 3.5 billion-year head start on designing products,

processes, and systems and it shows. Nature is indescribably brilliant in

its ability to produce the widest range of chemicals and materials using

locally-available starting materials, usually at ambient temperatures and

pressures, completely eliminating the concept of waste, and doing it in a

way that is conducive to life. In the face of this ingenuity, the only wise

and sustainable strategy is to take Nature as a mentor and a guide in

designing human-made products and systems. The lessons to be learned

are limitless and the beneﬁts to be had, essential.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Circular Economy

Circular Economy refers to closing the material loop. This means working

to keep resources in use for as long as possible and requires both the

producer and consumer to be aware of how they are utilizing resources.

It can help to ensure waste and resources, at any point from production

to end of life of a ﬁnal product, are reused, repaired, or recycled in some

capacity. This helps to decrease waste and becomes especially important

in sustainability efforts, helping companies to reduce waste, save money,

and work to ensure there is not depletion of ﬁnite resources. The concept

of circular economy should be considered in all phases of the product

life cycle and can not only help to save resources, but also decrease the

amount of toxic waste output.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Benign by Design

“Performance” of a product, process, or system has been a concept that

has been narrowly deﬁned in terms of how well something achieves a

very speciﬁc goal. Perhaps it’s a dye being a particular shade of blue or a

lubricant’s ability to reduce friction. While performance has been focused

on the desirable qualities, this has often come with undesirable or adverse

unintended consequences.

Benign-by-design builds all factors into the deﬁnition of performance such

that inherent safety is also included along with function.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Industrial Ecology

Industrial ecology aspires to manage material and energy ﬂows in the same

way that an ecosystem performs, with the aims of ultimately decreasing

environmental stress and improving resource efﬁciency. This can be done

by considering industrial processes as a closed loop as much as possible,

creating the opportunity to decrease inputs through the reuse of outputs

either within a facility or between different organization. By viewing waste

as a resource – by closing these material and energy loops – waste and

resource depletion caused by industry can be minimized. Industrial ecology

helps to ﬁnd solutions to environmental problems by identifying problem

areas in business and industry and can aid in improved sustainability

practices.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Trans-Generational Design

It has been shown that exposure to a chemical by one generation can have

deleterious effects on future generations, even without direct exposure

themselves. This is especially relevant to chemicals that interfere with the

body’s hormonal systems, leading to a variety of adverse health effects

including reductions in sperm counts as well as tumors, birth defects, and

other developmental disorders. In this way, the chemistry we practice and

the chemicals we produce today can have lasting and debilitating effects

on future generations. This emerging knowledge carries an enormous

burden of responsibility to be accountable not only to today’s population

but to those not yet born.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Bio-Based Economy

Bio-Based Economy refers to the innovation in utilization of biomass to

sustainably make bio-based products such as chemicals, materials, fuel,

and energy. It is an attempt to move away from reliance on depleting

resources and rely on renewable, bio-based feedstocks. Traditionally,

chemicals have been made from petroleum feedstocks. Although chemical

production only accounts for 5%–7% of petroleum consumption, petroleum

sources represent over 98% of chemical feedstocks. The advantages for

moving to renewable feedstocks include an opportunity for innovation and a

chance to take advantage of nature’s ability to perform exquisitely selective

chemistry. Petrochemical feedstocks provide very simple hydrocarbons,

which chemists have learned to make more complex. Natural feedstocks

are inherently different. They are complex molecules, and chemists are still

developing elegant ways to efﬁciently transform them into useful products.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Economics and Market Forces

Current global economic systems and market forces tend to drive perverse

incentives that have resulted in the design and evolution of our existing

chemical infrastructure.

These economic and market systems are critical and will either catalyze or

retard the implementation of our science and our technology. It is important

to recognize that in addition to traditional approaches of cost beneﬁt

analysis, full cost accounting, risk analysis, or traditional metrics, we also

are going to need to understand factors including where investment models

are made, what kind of business models and business frameworks will be

either speeding up the adoption of Green Chemistry and Green Engineering

or rejecting it no matter how transformative it may be, and how do we

integrate these economic and market forces in order to accelerate and have

our technologies adopted.

These powerful drivers can be harnessed to encourage behavior and

decision-making that is aligned with the goals of a sustainable future.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Life Cycle Cost-Beneﬁt Analysis

Cost-Beneﬁt Analysis is a decision-making process that helps to identify

and quantify the costs and beneﬁts associated with all potential scenarios

or options. It is a systematic approach to estimating the strengths and

weaknesses of alternatives used to make decisions between alternatives.

Opportunity cost, the beneﬁt missed by choosing one option over the

other, is often also factored into the analysis. It can be used to compare

intangible items, such as ecosystems services or the beneﬁt of choosing

an option that confers less environmental and negative health impact over

a more detrimental option. In sustainability practices, cost-beneﬁt analysis

can help to identify options that may confer more favorable environmental

conditions, while also minimizing costs over the entire life cycle. It is

important to consider the full life cycle in this type of analysis as costs may

be higher upfront for greater beneﬁts later on.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Full Cost Accounting

Full cost accounting allows for the implementation of environmental, health,

and social assets to be considered in the economic costs and beneﬁts

of decision making. It allows for complete end-to-end cost analysis of

producing products or services. The goal is not necessarily to monetize their

value, but rather to better understand their impact on an ecosystem and

society, and potential ability to create value. Full cost accounting can help

in sustainability by identifying areas where reducing environment impact

could create value and confer monetary and non-monetary beneﬁts that

can be translated into economic terms. It allows for better management of

the natural and social resources in our world today and a way to achieve

more sustainable outcomes.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Harm Charge / Carbon Tax

Carbon tax is a tax placed on the burning of fossil fuels, or carbon-based fuels,

and corresponds to greenhouse gas emissions. The fee is either placed on

the producers or passed along to the consumers for the carbon emissions

produced from the burning of fuel. It can be implemented in a number

of different facets such as through costs associated with home heating,

ﬂights, and shipping capacities. A harm charge is a similar concept only

less speciﬁc. It places a charge on any practice harmful to the environment

or human health such as a chemical spill, using non-sustainable products,

or water pollution. The charges or taxes are utilized in order to serve as

a disincentive to practices harmful to the climate, the environment, and

human health, helping to shift thinking toward more sustainable practices.

Further, the revenue generated from these charges can be used to invest in

sustainability practices elsewhere in the system.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Depletion Charge

Similar to harm charge, depletion charge presents an opportunity to

internalize an externality. In this case, the externality is the consumption of

ﬁnite resources. Depletion charge presents an opportunity to incrementally

increase the economic cost associated with the use of a ﬁnite resource by

factoring in scarcity. That is, using the next amount of a ﬁnite resource

would be increasingly expensive to disincentivize its ongoing use. This

incremental charge does not need to be linear, and could itself increase

with ongoing use of the ﬁnite resource, rapidly leading to a price that is cost

prohibitive, rendering that ﬁnite resource economically infeasible.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Sustained Research Funding

Scientiﬁc investigations, studies, and breakthroughs will be necessary

to move away from the unsustainable trajectory that we are on. These

investigations, in many cases, may require sustained efforts either due to

the difﬁculty of the challenge or the inherent nature of longitudinal insights.

These research efforts are particularly fragile to disruptions caused by

the unpredictable modalities of research funding schemes whether in the

public or private sector. The imperative of sustained, predictable funding

support will be an essential element of achieving the kinds of insights and

inventions necessary for sustainable prosperity.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Capital Investment

The chemicals and material manufacturing infrastructure that makes

everything from building materials to wind turbines is very capital intensive.

Current schemes for capital investment (e.g., venture, private equity), have

the common goal of achieving targeted returns while minimizing risk.

This model signiﬁcantly favors incrementalism which makes it far easier

to understand and analyze the risk proﬁle for technological investments.

It also favors low capital-intensive projects such as software and “app”

projects and disfavors projects such as large-scale infrastructure and

manufacturing. Achieving sustainability goals necessitates transformative

technologies and dramatically reconstituted sustainable infrastructure

at unprecedented scale requiring wise, patient capital at a signiﬁcantly

increased level.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Metrics

For metrics to be useful in sustainability, they must have attributes that

reﬂect sustainability itself. They must be both quantitative and qualitative.

Looking at the historical metrics, and the way that professions often

“worship at the altar” of efﬁciency metrics, it often seems that society has

outsourced our decision making to quantiﬁable reductionist metrics. When

thinking about achieving sustainability goals, we need to far exceed those

simplistic metrics, and couple them with a more qualitative, and often,

uncomfortable new generation of metrics. These metrics will move beyond

mere quantities and instead provide insights into the character and inherent

nature of our energy sources, of our stored energy storage systems, of our

materials, and our basic chemicals. Sustainable metrics must be applicable

and relevant across time and space, systems-based, and able to combine

both reductionism and integrative systems thinking.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Atom Economy

Measuring the efﬁciency of chemical reactions is necessary to compare

alternative synthetic routes to products in terms of environmental and

economic costs. Percentage yield has historically served this function, as it

compares the (predicted) theoretical and actual product quantity. However,

a high yield is not sufﬁcient to identify environmentally-preferable synthetic

routes because there can be signiﬁcant waste generated in a reaction that

produces close to the predicted amount of product. As such, we need an

additional metric, atom economy, to measure how much of the reactant

atoms actually form the ﬁnal product whereby:

This is effectively guiding a chemist to pursue pollution prevention at the

molecular scale. The higher the atom economy, the lower the amount of

waste product formed. Both the yield and the atom economy should be

taken into account when designing a green chemical process.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

E-Factor

The amount of waste produced in the manufacture of a chemical product

or a product of any kind should be minimized. While one would intuit that

this measure was always part of manufacturing efﬁciency, it was not. The

introduction of the calculation of the E-Factor took the original form of:

and can be adjusted to include a variety of aspects of the manufacturing

process. E-factor provides information that was historically neglected but

is critical to moving toward more efﬁcient and effective chemical production.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

F-Factor

No one ever bought a chemical. They bought function or performance.

They wanted the service the chemical provided. With that realization, a

metric, F-Factor, has been developed to recognize and quantify the desire

to achieve maximum function with the minimal amount of chemical used.

This approach has been expanded in the discussions of the chemical

equivalent of Moore’s Law.

The desire is for the value of F to be as large as possible by increasing

the functional performance and/or decreasing the amount used to achieve

some functional performance. This drives the system toward ideality where

you get all of the function of a chemical or product without the existence of

a chemical or a product; the chemical analogy of getting the function of the

telephone without the need for telephone wires on every street.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Qualitative Metrics

While most of traditional assessment is based around quantitative metrics,

qualitative metrics may be equally necessary in providing understanding

related to sustainability. The nature and the character of aspects of sustainable

chemistry are not always reductionist exercises. The renewability of a

feedstock, the toxicity of a molecule, the environmental justice implications

of siting a factory, market acceptance of an energy technology etc., may

all have qualitative aspects that are critically important. While qualitative

metrics may be less rigorous and involve integrative systems thinking that

is outside traditional analytical frameworks, it is possible that they are more

closely linked to the interconnected nature of sustainability systems and

goals as outlined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Quantitative Metrics

One of the most active areas in analytical tools related to green chemistry

and engineering is that of quantiﬁable metrics. There are important

measures of (process) mass intensity ((P)MI), reaction mass efﬁciency

(RME), carbon efﬁciency (CE), innovative green aspiration level (iGAL),

and others. These quantiﬁable metrics can be useful and informative in

answering speciﬁc questions of efﬁciency and environmental impact

when a reductionist analysis is necessary to inform improvement. It is as

important to know what data or information the quantiﬁable metrics are

providing as it is to understand what questions they aren’t addressing. The

strengths of quantiﬁable metrics are essential and their weaknesses must

be equally respected.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Chemical Body Burden

Chemical Body Burden refers to the measurement or load of chemicals in the

body. This load can be detected through blood, urine, breastmilk sampling

or any number of biomonitoring activities. Chemicals in the body could

have numerous harmful effects and could weaken the immune system,

making the body more susceptible to disease. The burden may be due to

bioaccumulation through various mechanisms of exposure. Understanding

the amount and types of chemicals in the body can help us know what

chemicals are mobile in the environment. Chemical Body Burden is

important to sustainability because it can make known the chemicals with

the greatest bioaccumulation in nature and greatest exposures to humans,

helping to inform future design of chemicals and products that avoid these

unintentional impacts.

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Policies and Regulations

The landscape of technologies in the chemical enterprise is not merely

shaped by scientiﬁc and engineering solutions alone but rather in

combination with the environment of regulation, policies, and laws that

construct the social context in which they operate.

Policies and regulations can accelerate or retard sustainability solutions and

they can protect or help displace entrenched unsustainable technologies.

The development of regulations and policy that will empower and enable

green chemistry and green engineering to succeed in society will be

necessary to remove the obstacles and inertia that keep the status quo in

place.

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The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Extended Producer Responsibility

Extended Producer Responsibility refers to the responsibility a producer

holds to design their product in a way that reduces negative environmental

and health impact. It also places end-of-life management on the producer

and not the consumer. This is especially important to sustainability. If the

producers, who are responsible for what the environment and the population

is exposed to, are not held responsible for ensuring their products are healthy

and environmentally friendly, it becomes a problem of remedy rather than

stopping it at the source. Extended producer responsibility helps to manage

and mitigate end-of-life waste and all pollution generated from products at

all stages of its life cycle.

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The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Property-Based Regulation

The history of chemical regulation involved constructing lists of chemicals

that were considered too hazardous or too risky and imposing some types

of controls on them. Chemical-by-chemical regulation is slow, costly,

inefﬁcient, and inadequate. The nature of the concern for a chemical is

not based on its chemical name but rather on its combination of properties.

Some combinations of properties may lead a chemical to be bioavailable,

others to be persistent, still others to be reactive or explosive. Since it is the

combination of these properties that cause the concern, it is the properties

that should be the basis of regulation. In this way, the chemicals of concern

can be addressed proactively while providing certainty to the regulated

community and critical guidance to the molecular designers of future

products.

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The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Chemical Transparency

Chemical transparency refers to the disclosure of all chemicals and

ingredients in all products. This is becoming exceedingly important among

consumers. Consumers want to know what is in their chemical products

and as part of their decision to trust the brands they use. This pressure from

consumers and government can help to hold manufacturers accountable

and aid in the development of safer, more benign chemicals, and continually

move toward developing more sustainable products. Not only does this

give consumers the option to choose safer, more environmentally-friendly

products, but it also allows for easier and better exchange of practices among

different companies. There are signiﬁcant efforts underway to standardize

the reporting of chemical ingredients in a variety of products to aid in data

collection and product comparison.

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The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Chemical Leasing

There is very little value to the ownership of the vast majority of chemicals

unless they are used for their intended purpose. And yet, because of the

traditional sell/own business model, the waste that results from over-

purchasing is signiﬁcant and systemic. Further, the system is constantly

driving toward selling more chemicals to make more proﬁt, driving toward

designed obsolescence and short-term use. The chemical leasing model

is one where the “sellers” supply the service or function rather than selling

a chemical. In this model, instead of selling as much chemical as possible

(resulting in excess and waste), the motivation is to use as little of a chemical

to accomplish the desired service as the same proﬁt can be generated from

delivering much less product. Chemical leasing is a business model whose

effectiveness has been demonstrated at large scale and has extensive

potential to be expanded.

104

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Self-Enforcing Regulations

The idea that regulations and laws to protect the environment and human

health can be effectively enforced by government inspectors and ofﬁcials

has been belied by experience. This historical model has demonstrated

over the past half-century that most of the damage is not detected and

when it is detected it is at a timeframe that is inadequate to prevent the often

tragic consequences. With the advent of sensors, real-time in-process

controls, big-data analysis, and machine-learning, it is now possible to

rethink models for enforcement. Instead of sampling hazardous waste sites

for laboratory analysis to determine levels of contamination, there are now

possibilities for integrated, networked monitoring systems. New processes

can be designed such that they only can function as long as emissions are

below certain levels for various contaminants. The emerging ﬁeld of self-

enforcing regulations can also build in predictability and reduced economic

and time burden for the regulated community while ensuring enhanced

effectiveness in achieving the goals of the regulation.

105

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Innovation Ecosystem - Translation from Lab to Commerce

In order for a discovery or innovation to have an impact on the world, it

virtually always needs to be enabled by an innovation ecosystem that

incorporates the essential enabling elements. These include support for

basic research and development and that R&D needs to be commercialized

through thoughtful and risk-taking investment. These roles can be ﬁlled by

various actors ranging from public sector government agencies to private

sector investors. Appropriate and just intellectual property considerations

need to be supported by governance and returns on investment need

to be realized through adequate ﬁnancial systems. With key roles and

responsibilities assured, the innovation ecosystem can be used to bring

about the transformative innovations in the chemical enterprise that are

needed to advance sustainability.

106

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Tools

Increasing the development of tools to enable Green Chemistry and Green

Engineering has expedited the adoption of more sustainable choices in the

selection and innovation of products and processes. These resources allow

chemists, engineers, and other professionals to pursue the incorporation of

green chemistry into a wider range of products and processes with greater

conﬁdence in their decision-making and more credibility in building the

business case for implementing these innovations.

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The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Epidemiological Analysis and Ecosystem Health

Epidemiological Analysis refers to the understanding and analysis of how

different populations are affected by various risk-factors, disease, and other

health outcomes. Ecosystem Health refers to the health or condition of

the environment and all living organisms in that environment. That is, its

susceptibility/resiliency to natural disaster and ability to sustain life deﬁned

by a number of indicators unique to the ecosystem. In conjunction, these

two concepts deﬁne the health of an area and all the living organisms

within it. These concepts are key to sustainability because they deﬁne the

successfulness of sustainability practices. If something is being carried

out in an unsustainable way it will be directly reﬂected in the health of the

population and environment.

108

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Alternatives Assessment

Alternatives Assessment is a technique aimed at minimizing harm by

assessing all options and solutions and understanding the consequences

of each. It helps to characterize hazard based on health and environmental

information. It is often utilized in risk assessment and as a decision-making

approach. One common application is a chemical alternatives assessment

in order to aid in choosing the safer chemical over a more hazardous one

with the aim of avoiding regrettable substitution.

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The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Life Cycle Assessment

Life Cycle Assessment determines the total environmental impact of a

product from beginning to end of life, or cradle-to-grave. This is done

through accounting for all material and energy-related inputs and outputs

throughout the life of a product. It helps to measure all steps of production

and use, and their subsequent environmental and health implications. Life

Cycle Assessment provides a producer information for all direct and indirect

environmental impacts associated with their products and processes,

illuminating areas for improved design choices or making decisions between

one chemical product or process and another.

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The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Solvent Selection Screens

Solvents are often critical to a chemical process as a medium in which to

facilitate contact of reactants and manage energy ﬂows. They are also often

the deciding aspect in the cost and environmental impact of a chemical

process. However, when it comes to choosing the right solvent there

are often many options, all which have different properties and different

environmental impacts. A solvent selection tool identiﬁes different solvent

options using a variety of statistical, regression, and structure/property-

based strategies, and then provides comparisons through various graphical

outputs and shortlists. It allows the user to apply ﬁlters that select for certain

properties and pick the best possible solvent for the situation. It also can

aid in sustainability through improving industrial process and aiding in the

evaluation of solvents in regard to their environmental and health impact.

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The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Chemical Footprinting

Chemical Footprinting allows for comprehensive, full life cycle management

of chemicals being used by companies today. It gives companies the tools

and ability to better understand what chemicals are in their products and

a metric to better manage the safety and environmental impact of those

chemicals. This benchmarking tool is important in sustainability practices

because it helps to create a common standard for all to follow, while also

reducing chemical risk, identifying areas for improvement, and measuring

the progress being made.

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The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Education in Toxicology and Systems Thinking

In most professions, the people that create something have responsibility

for the safety of what they create. This is not true in the ﬁeld of chemistry.

All chemists need to understand the consequences to the world and

its inhabitants of what they create and study. Yet, virtually no training

programs for chemists include the requirement of a course in molecular

toxicology. The basic principles of chemical dose-response, bioavailability,

bioaccumulation, and biomagniﬁcation need to be understood by chemists

as well as the molecular level understanding of the fundamentals of acute

and chronic toxicity, carcinogenicity, and endocrine disruption, among all

relevant human health endpoints.

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The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Noble Elements

Molecular scientists have been given the gift of the ability, the knowledge, the capability, the

awareness, and the intellect to manipulate matter, to transform it from one thing to another,

to give it different properties. Most of that gift does not come from us, it’s not due to us. It is

through birth, through opportunity, through circumstance and yes, a little hard work that we are

given the gift of insight of chemistry. With that gift comes responsibility; we no longer have the

option to say, “I don’t care.” We no longer have the option to say, “I don’t know.” We no longer

have the option to say, “This is not relevant to me.” Because we do and it is. And with that level

of awareness, we have that responsibility. And these are our noble, not Nobel, our noble goals

that we need to strive toward. It is with this knowledge that we must act.

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The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Noble Goals

There are some concepts that are transcendent. These considerations

rise above the immediate economic or political concerns of the day. Noble

elements are those that are grounded in moral imperatives that are shared

across cultures and across time. These elements ﬁnd their basis in values,

justice, and trans-generational equity. Chemistry can impact all of these

issues either positively or negatively and therefore these goals must

consciously enter into our decision-making and our designs.

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The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Hippocratic Oath for Chemistry

First, do no harm. The products that are made and the processes that make

them and the resources that they come from will do no harm to the planet,

both the biosphere that occupies it and the geosphere that sustains all

living things. There will be no harm to the workers obtaining the feedstocks

and transforming them, to the consumers using them, to the communities

and populations, human and non-human alike, that may be exposed to

them. There will be as much thought and care put into the consequences of

chemistry as there is into the design and invention of the chemistry.

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The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Design for Posterity

We borrow this planet and everything that is in it from the future. We own

nothing. We owe everything. Our debt is repaid through the care exhibited

by thoughtful use and design. Perpetuating ﬂawed unsustainable systems

based on limited knowledge or short-sighted perspectives is design for the

past which simply enshrines ignorance and errors.

Constant change to reﬂect the highest levels of awareness that can lead to

a more sustainable world is the path toward being respected by the future

and ensuring that there will be a future to be respected by.

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The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Life-Compatible Products & Processes

Nature is conducive to life. We are part of Nature and must assume our role

as being conducive to life. The chemistry we discover and the chemicals we

introduce into the world must reﬂect this role. The idea of legally acceptable

toxicity and poisoning, socially acceptable degradation of ecosystems,

and tolerable rates of species extinctions are frameworks that are ﬂawed,

illogical, and incompatible with our role in Nature.

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The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Zero Waste

Waste is a man-made concept. In Nature outside of man, there is no

waste. Evolutionary brilliance ensures that the waste from one organism

will be utilized at high value to another organism. Waste in our chemical

and material world is simply a material or energy for which a valuable

use has not been discovered or implemented. While we will never defeat

thermodynamics in attaining perfect cycles and entropy will always win,

the cycles and systems that can be constructed can strive to continuously

move toward the perfect goal of zero waste.

119

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Chemistry is Equitable and Fully Inclusive

The natural laws of chemistry have no predisposition to any gender, race,

creed, religion, nationality, ability, nor orientation. Yet the participation

within the chemical enterprise has historically been dominated by a small

demographic sliver of the population. The science and application of

chemistry can only beneﬁt by a maximum breadth of perspectives, skills,

experiences, cognitive approaches, and values of a diverse community with

a culture of inclusion. No endeavor, scientiﬁc or otherwise, can be 100%

effective if it excludes so much of its talent. It would be as absurd to limit

participants of a scientiﬁc ﬁeld to individuals of a certain height or weight as

it would be to limit them by their gender or ethnic background.

Full inclusion of all groups in the chemical enterprise should be pursued

as a pathway to genuine excellence and not merely the narrow historical

deﬁnitions of excellence as posited by those who have historically

dominated the ﬁeld.

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The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Beneﬁts Distributed Equitably

The beneﬁts of chemistry are immense and have revolutionized the quality

and length of human life. But not for everyone. The beneﬁts of chemistry and

chemicals are not distributed equally. Large percentages of the population

have borne the burdens of a chemical-intensive society where the smallest

percentage of the population has received beneﬁts with virtually no burden.

Through thoughtful green and sustainable chemistry, new products will

be agile, accessible, and adaptable and thus able to beneﬁt people in the

widest possible range of demographics, geographies, socio-economic, and

logistical circumstances

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The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Extraordinary Chemical Knowledge Comes with

Extraordinary Responsibility

A diminishingly small percentage of the population has the knowledge and

understanding of how to manipulate matter at the molecular level. Those

possessing this knowledge came to it through a conﬂuence of the gift of

sufﬁcient intellectual capacity and the good fortune of having access to

some type of educational framework not of their making. The power of

chemistry is daunting and world-changing. It impacts societies, oceans,

and atmospheres.

With these two gifts comes a responsibility to use the power of molecular

manipulation for good and not ill. To build and not destroy. To heal and not

to harm.

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The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Valency

Every chemist knows about “valency.” Valency – electronic structures that make the forming

of bonds possible –– is critical to making molecules. But valency has another deﬁnition: “the

capacity of one person or thing to react with or affect another in some special way as attraction

or the facilitation of a function or an activity.” As we reﬂect on the elements of the Periodic

Table of Green and Sustainable Chemistry, how can we make the elements react? Professional

communities and social structures are often oriented around individual elements, from catalytic

chemists to policy makers. In what ways are we going to facilitate the reaction with other

elements? In what ways are we going to form these new bonds? In chemistry, covalency and

covalent bonding is the essence of sharing; a sharing of each to form a better, stronger whole.

What are these new molecules that will be formed? What are the new molecules that are being

formed by these bonds?

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The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Conclusion

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Sustainable and Green Chemistry is not complete, and

perhaps never will be. Just as Mendeleev’s table had many gaps when it was introduced in

1869, this table, too, has unknown elements yet to be discovered. Every element is and will be

critically important as we strive to realize the noble goals.

To attain the full power and potential of chemistry to improve the world, we need to begin with

the fundamental science of green chemistry and green engineering and implement all of the

tools, frameworks and perspectives contained in the elements of sustainable chemistry. You

cannot achieve sustainable chemistry without green chemistry. Green chemistry will not be

implemented at scale without the other elements of sustainable chemistry. Like all human

endeavors and actions, all of these efforts in chemistry need to take place within an ethical,

humanitarian, and moral framework. Just like the countless possible substances of the known

universe are comprised of the known elements of the Periodic Table, there are countless

possible paths to a sustainable future when employing the elements of green and sustainable

chemistry.

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The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

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Anastas, P. T. and Zimmerman, J. B.; Design through the 12 principles of green engineering,

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Anastas, P. T. and Zimmerman, J. B.; The periodic table of the elements of green and sustainable

chemistry. Green Chemistry. 2019;21(24):6545-66.

Benyus, J. M.; Biomimicry: Innovation inspired by nature, Morrow, New York, 1997.

United States Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention; Fourth Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, 2009.

MacArthur Foundation; Towards the Circular Economy volumes 1-3, 2012-2014.

National Research Council; A framework to guide selection of chemical alternatives. National

Academies Press, 2014.

Poliakoff, M., Licence, P. and George, M. W.; A New Approach to Sustainability: A Moore’s Law

for Chemistry, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 2018, 57, 12590–12591.

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Sheldon, R. A.; The E factor 25 years on: the rise of green chemistry and sustainability, Green

Chem., 2017, 19, 18–43

Trost, B. M.; The atom economy–a search for synthetic efﬁciency, Science, 1991, 254, 1471–

1477

United National International Development Organization; Chemical Leasing: Global Promotion

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United Nations General Assembly; Transforming our world : the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable

Development, A/RES/70/1, 2015.

126

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Access to Safe and Reliable Water, 13

Additive Synthesis, 35

Alternatives Assessment, 110

An Individual’s Molecular Code Belongs to that Individual,

Appropriate Technologies for the Developing World, 11

Aqueous and Biobased Solvents, 48

Atom Economy, 32, 95

Beneﬁts Distributed Equitably, 123

Benign by Design, 83

Benign Metabolites, 68

Bioavailability / ADME, 45

Bio-Based Economy, 86

Biologically-Enabled Transformation, 61

Biomimcry, 81

Capital Investment, 93

Carbon Dioxide and other C1 Feedstocks, 59

Catalysis, 62

C-H Bond Functionalization, 40

Chemical Body Burden, 100

Chemical Footprinting, 113

Chemical Leasing, 105

Chemical Transparency, 104

Chemistry for Benign Food Production and Nutrition, 14

Chemistry for Sustainable Building and Buildings, 21

Chemistry for Wellness, 12

Chemistry is Equitable and Fully Inclusive, 122

Chemistry to Preserve Natural Carbon and Other

Biogeochemical Cycles, 16

Circular Economy, 82

Computational Models, 44

Conceptual Frameworks, 80

Degradable Polymers and Other Materials, 70

Degradation, 67

Depletion Charge, 91

Design for Posterity, 119

Index

127

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Design Guidelines, 43

Design to Avoid Dependency, 18

Earth Abundant Metal Catalysis, 64

Economics and Market Forces, 87

Education in Toxicology and Systems Thinking, 114

E-Factor, 96

Enabling Systems Conditions, 78

Energy, 52

Energy and Material Efﬁcient

Synthesis and Processing, 53

Energy Storage and Transmission Materials, 55

Ensure Access to Material Resources for Future

Generations, 19

Ensure Environmental Justice, Security,

and Equitable Opportunities, 15

Enzymes, 63

Epidemiological Analysis and Ecosystem Health, 109

Exposome, 76

Extended Producer Responsibility, 102

Extraordinary Chemical Knowledge Comes

with Extraordinary Responsibility, 124

F-Factor, 97

Full Cost Accounting, 89

Green Analytical Chemistry, 77

Green Chemistry and Green Engineering, 25

Harm Charge / Carbon Tax, 90

Heterogeneous Catalysis, 65

High Throughput Screening

(Empirical / In Vivo / In Vitro), 46

Hippocratic Oath for Chemistry, 118

Homogeneous Catalysis, 66

Humanitarian Elements, 10

Industrial Ecology, 84

Inherent Safety and Security, 41

Innovation Ecosystem, 107

In-Process Control and Optimization, 74

In-Situ Generation and Consumption of Hazardous

Materials, 39

Integrated Bioreﬁnery, 58

Integrated Processes, 34

Ionic Liquids / Non-Volatile Solvents, 49

Less Hazardous Synthesis, 37

Life Cycle Assessment, 111

128

The Periodic Table of the Elements of Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Life Cycle Cost-Beneﬁt Analysis, 88

Life-Compatible Products & Processes, 120

Measurement and Awareness, 72

Metrics, 94

Molecular Codes of Nature Belong to the World, 23

Molecular Degradation Triggers, 69

Molecular Design, 42

Molecular Self-Assembly, 33

No Chemicals of War or Oppression, 17

Noble Elements, 116

Non-Covalent Derivatives /

Weak Force Transformation, 36

One-Pot Synthesis, 29

Policies and Regulations, 101

Prediction and Design Tools, 71

Prevent Waste, 27

Process Intensiﬁcation, 30

Property-Based Regulation, 103

Qualitative Metrics, 98

Quantitative Metrics, 99

Reduce Use of Hazardous Materials, 38

Renewable / Carbon-Free Energy Inputs, 54

Renewable Feedstocks, 57

Self-Enforcing Regulations, 106

Self-Separation, 31

Sensors, 73

Smart Solvents (Obedient, Tunable), 51

Solvent Selection Screens, 112

Solvents/Auxiliary Chemicals, 47

Sub- and Super-Critical Fluids, 50

Sustained Research Funding, 92

Synthetic Biology, 60

Tools, 108

Trans-Generational Design, 85

Transparency for Chemical Communication, 20

Valency, 126

Waste Energy Utilization and Valorization, 56

Waste Material Utilization and Valorization, 28

Zero Waste, 121