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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.

green chemistry 101 logo with white text on a green background

Principle 4: Design Safer Chemicals and Products

Summary

Learn the twelve principles of green chemistry taught during The Green Chemistry & Engineering Student Workshop on June 17, 2013 in Washington D.C. The course content was provided by ACS-GCI. These videos were produced by the Western States Pollution Prevention Network. Other sponsors included NPPR and Washington State Department of Ecology.

Type
Videos (e.g., tutorials, presentations)
green chemistry 101 logo with white text on a green background

Principle 5: Safer Solvents and Auxiliaries

Summary

Learn the twelve principles of green chemistry taught during The Green Chemistry & Engineering Student Workshop on June 17, 2013 in Washington D.C. The course content was provided by ACS-GCI. These videos were produced by the Western States Pollution Prevention Network. Other sponsors included NPPR and Washington State Department of Ecology.

Type
Videos (e.g., tutorials, presentations)
Learning Objets

Qualitative & Quantitative Gas Stoichiometry and Determination of an Unknown Alkali Carbonate

Summary

This experiment looks at two types of chemical reactions that produce hydrogen and carbon dioxide gases. It explores both qualitative observations (no measurements or numbers involved) about the reactions, as well as quantitative measurements of the volume of gas produced to explore concepts of stoichiometry and the ideal gas law. These concepts will be used to relate the stoichiometry of gas ...

Type
Laboratory experiment
Learning Objets

Re-casting traditional organic experiments into green guided-inquiry based experiments: student perceptions

Summary

This article uses Green Chemistry principles to recast traditional Organic chemistry experiments into more guided inquiry-based experiments. It provides an overview of how traditional labs have been revamped to allow Green Chemistry principles to be taught through the labs. Lee, D. B. (2019). Recasting traditional organic experiments into green guided inquiry-based experiments: student perceptions ...

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

Reductive Amination: A Remarkable Experiment for the Organic Laboratory

Summary

There are many tools that a synthetic organic chemist can use to synthesize amines; one of which is reductive amination. This common method of introducing the amine functionality is especially crucial for the synthesis of pharmaceuticals and biomolecules.

A typical reductive amination is a one-pot reaction involving a solvent, an aldehyde or ketone, an amine, and a weakened reducing agent. This ...

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

Solvent-Free Synthesis of Chalcones

Summary

Chalcones represent a group of compounds with interesting biological activities that are formed from an aldol condensation between a benzaldehyde and an acetophenone in the presence of NaOH as a catalyst. Although typically synthesized using organic solvents, in this exercise students prepare 20 different chalcones using a solventless procedure. The scale of these reactions can be easily modified ...

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

Solvent-Free Wittig Reaction: A Green Organic Chemistry Laboratory Experiment

Summary

Carbon-carbon bond formation is arguably one of the most crucial transformations in organic chemistry. In this experiment, students will simultaneously transform carbonyl groups into olefins via the Wittig Reaction while learning principles of green chemistry. While the Wittig is not normally known for its "greenness" (due to its poor atom economy), this lab seeks to bolster the reaction's green ...

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

Some Exercises Reflecting Green Chemistry Concepts

Summary

This series of exercises enforces green chemistry concepts while also introducing students to the balancing of equations and stoichiometry. The concept of conservation will likely already be familiar to most students, but these drills give students a chance to analyze different synthetic pathways and decide which path is the most green. The three target compounds given in this article are aluminum ...

Type
Activities/Technology (e.g., in-class activities, online games, hands-on activities/manipulatives, outreach, virtual tools, etc.), Journal articles
Learning Objets

Stoichiometry: Reaction of Iron with Copper(II) Sulfate

Summary

Students use stoichiometry to deduce the appropriate equation for the reaction between solid metallic iron and a solution of copper(II) sulfate. This reaction produces solid metallic copper, which is precipitated as a finely divided red powder in a single displacement reaction. During the reaction, atoms from a solid metal exchange with different metal ions in a salt solution. The iron produced ...

Type
Laboratory experiment
Learning Objets

Sustainable Chemistry Definition

Summary

The Expert Committee on Sustainable Chemistry (ECOSChem)—representing a broad set of constituencies has developed a clear and actionable definition for "sustainable chemistry" along with a set of criteria that may be adopted and adapted to different constituencies and decision contexts, including in policy, education, corporate, and investment decision making.

Type
Other