Skip to main content

Markers of Excellence (Level 3) - ACS Guidelines

  • "Students are given the opportunity to assess chemical products and processes and design greener alternatives when appropriate."
  • "Students understand and can evaluate the environmental, social, and health impacts of a chemical product over the life cycle of the product, from synthesis to disposal."


At the highest level of the ACS guidelines, students are expected to have a deeper understanding of and critical thinking skills around developing and designing greener chemical products and processes. This can include the various environmental, social and health aspects of a chemical product, in particular as it pertains to life cycle analysis.

GCTLC Library

Below are resources from the GCTLC library that are tagged with any of the following Green Chemistry Principles: 

 

  • #3 (Less Hazardous Chemical Syntheses)
  • #4 (Design Safer Chemicals)
  • #5 (Safer Solvents and Auxiliaries)

 

OR have been tagged with keyword "Life Cycle Assessment". 

 

The variety of resources below should provide educators with numerous options to help tailor their lectures and courses with more green and sustainable chemistry content. However, if you have additional suggestions for resources, you can always submit them for inclusion in the GCTLC library, or you can post them in the forum "Green Chemistry Resources for Addressing the ACS Guidelines" on the GCTLC.

toxicology for chemists curriculum orange cover with white text

10 - Predictive Toxicology (Toxicology for Chemists - Module 10)

Summary

This module provides an overview of computational methods to predict the toxicity of chemicals. Students will learn an updated overview of the latest methods that have been successfully applied to predict toxic effects of chemicals, in addition to understanding the outlook towards at the nexus of computational sciences and toxicology. Particular emphasis is placed on carbon-based toxicants ...

Type
Lecture or course slides/notes (e.g., PPT, Prezi, PDF), Activities/Technology (e.g., in-class activities, online games, hands-on activities/manipulatives, outreach, virtual tools, etc.), Assessments, Videos (e.g., tutorials, presentations)
toxicology for chemists curriculum orange cover with white text

11 - Structure-Activity Relationships (Toxicology for Chemists - Module 11)

Summary

This module connects the structure of molecules to their activity in biological systems. Students will be able to: identify physicochemical properties related to ADME; identify and rationalize relationships between physiochemical properties and biological activity in different species; apply pre-screening tools for acute and chronic human and ecological endpoints based on physicochemical ...

Type
Lecture or course slides/notes (e.g., PPT, Prezi, PDF)
toxicology for chemists curriculum orange cover with white text

12 - Case Studies, ChemToxTidbits, “Grab Bag” Folder (Toxicology for Chemists - Module 12)

Summary

Don’t have much time to prepare your lectures? Don’t know where to start with incorporating toxicology into existing class lectures or assignments? Not sure if you’re ready to adopt a full module? Do you just want access to the case studies, in-class assignments, homework assignments, and ChemToxTidbits slides? This folder contains all of these materials in a format easily accessible to you so ...

Type
Lecture or course slides/notes (e.g., PPT, Prezi, PDF), Lesson summaries, Case studies
Keywords
Learning Objets

12 Principles of Green Chemistry

Summary

This is a poster of the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry. The poster can be printed out in varying sizes and is designed to be used as a teaching tool in a classroom, laboratory or manufacturing setting.

Please select the file below based on your audience location. For those in North America please use the MilliporeSigma file, for those outside North America please use the international Merck ...

Type
Lecture or course slides/notes (e.g., PPT, Prezi, PDF), Other
logo with green flask with green gem superimposed on part of flask

A Green Alternative to Aluminum Chloride Alkylation of Xylene

Summary

The alkylation of aromatic compounds is a very important industrial process. Typically these alkylations are performed using strong Lewis acids like aluminum trichloride as catalysts. However, the use of these catalysts often requires an aqueous work-up to remove the aluminum and also leads to mixtures of products due to carbocation rearrangement.

By using graphite this greener alkylation ...

Type
Laboratory experiment, Journal articles
Learning Objets

A Green Nucleophilic Aromatic Substitution Reaction

Summary

This laboratory activity focuses on the tie-dyeing process as a safer alternative to nucleophilic aromatic substitution (SNAr) reactions for an introductory organic chemistry laboratory. The simple and straightforward experiment provides students with an opportunity to gain practical experience in conducting a chemical reaction in a real-world context while applying concepts of design for ...

Type
Laboratory experiment, Journal articles
logo with green flask with green gem superimposed on part of flask

A Green, Guided-Inquiry Based Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution for the Organic Chemistry Laboratory

Summary

This exercise demonstrates the regioselectivity of substituted aromatic systems while reducing the amount and hazards of the waste produced by the class. Although typical iodinations involve either high amounts of derivatization (i.e., nitration, then reduction to aniline, formation of diazonium, then ionization) or use of hazardous/expensive reagents (iodine and mercury acetate, bis(pyridine ...

Type
Laboratory experiment, Journal articles
logo with green flask with green gem superimposed on part of flask

A Greener Approach for Measuring Colligative Properties

Summary

This experiment teaches students the concept of colligative properties using renewable, benign, and biodegradable materials. Rather than using conventional solvents with high cryoscopic constants (which are oftentimes aromatics), fatty acids are used to explore freezing-point depression. By monitoring the change in freezing points of solutions with varying solute concentrations, students will be ...

Type
Laboratory experiment, Journal articles
logo with green flask with green gem superimposed on part of flask

A Greener Chemiluminescence Demonstration

Summary

This demonstration shows students a long-lasting, chemiluminescent reaction in light sticks without the toxic solvents. The instructor must prepare the chemiluminescent reagent, divanillyl oxalate, in a one-step synthetic procedure or can have the students prepare the reagent as part of an organic chemistry experiment.

Solvents acceptable for the chemiluminescence reaction are ethyl acetate or ...

Type
Laboratory experiment, Journal articles
Logo of the Green Labs team at the University of Groningen, Netherlands.

A guidebook for sustainability in laboratories

Summary

This guidebook aims to improve lab users’ everyday practices to become more sustainable. Specifically, this guidebook provides practical suggestions on how to effectively use lab instruments and resources and how to acquire data. We provide advice to labs covering disciplines such as biology, chemistry, computational science, engineering, life sciences, materials sciences, medicine, pharmacy, and ...

Type
Assessments, Case studies, Videos (e.g., tutorials, presentations), Books