A principled stance (original) (raw)

Nature volume 413, page 257 (2001) Cite this article

Society relies on chemicals. Like a good cook, the industrial chemist recycles waste. Yet many types of waste are dangerous, leaving no option but costly disposal. With the global population rising and standards of living increasing, current methods of chemical production are unsustainable. As production rises to meet demand, waste levels will soar and landfill sites will be exhausted. Manufacturers will be increasingly restricted by environmental legislation; enforcement agencies will become increasingly overloaded; and costs of waste treatment will stifle innovation.

Although some industrial processes are efficient, others are extremely wasteful, requiring costly handling and disposal of chemicals. The more stages a chemical process involves, the more potential it has for creating waste. So green chemistry inspires a kind of chemical 'golf match', in which fewer steps represent a better environmental 'score' — and the best result is, of course, a hole in one. For example, a new process for producing the anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen halves the number of steps, makes them all catalytic and more than doubles the atom efficiency of the process. Green chemistry not only leads to cleaner and more efficient processes, but can increase profitability by eliminating many of the traditional costs of treatment, disposal, liability and regulatory compliance.

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  1. research professor School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK
    Martyn Poliakoff
  2. special professor at the School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK
    Paul Anastas

Authors

  1. Martyn Poliakoff
  2. Paul Anastas

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Poliakoff, M., Anastas, P. A principled stance.Nature 413, 257 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35095133

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