Green and Environmental Chemistry
Chemistry directed at sustainability and at understanding the chemistry of the environment.
Green and Environmental Chemistry — Chemistry directed at sustainability and at understanding the chemistry of the environment.
The field organises around several methodological axes: how the underlying objects are modelled, how they are measured, how they are connected to the rest of chemistry, and which empirical phenomena drive open questions. The references below anchor the topic in established treatments and current literature.
Foundations and core methods
A primary reference for this area is Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice (Anastas and Warner, 2000), which lays out the core concepts that govern green and environmental chemistry. The treatment frames the subject within the broader context of chemistry and motivates the conceptual vocabulary used throughout this page. The discussion here cites this work as a general anchor rather than for a specific claim, since the exact contribution claim is treated cautiously in line with the Charted sourcing policy.
A complementary perspective comes from Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics: From Air Pollution to Climate Change (Seinfeld and Pandis, 2016), which provides further background on the methods and results most relevant to green and environmental chemistry. Together with the previous reference, it establishes the standard expectations for how practitioners approach the topic in current practice.
Open questions
Open methodological questions in green and environmental chemistry include the transferability of the standard methods to harder regimes, the integration of newer measurement and modelling tools, and the connection to neighbouring subfields of chemistry. Future revisions of this page will deepen the treatment as more primary literature is curated.
Prerequisites
Sources
- textbook · primary · 2000Green Chemistry: Theory and Practiceanastas-2000, warner-2000
- textbook · primary · 2016Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics: From Air Pollution to Climate Changeseinfeld-2016, pandis-2016
In context
Where this topic sits in the prerequisite graph. Click any node to jump.
Explore
- 01
Principles of Green Chemistry
Atom economy, E-factor, hazard reduction, and the twelve principles.
- 02
Sustainable Feedstocks
Biomass, CO2, and renewable-resource derived chemicals.
- 03
Biomass Conversion
Lignocellulose deconstruction, sugar platforms, and renewable monomers.
- 04
CO2 Utilization Chemistry
Carbon-dioxide as C1 feedstock for fuels, polymers, and fine chemicals.
- 05
Green Solvents and Solvent Effects
Water, ionic liquids, deep eutectic solvents, and supercritical fluids.
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Atmospheric Chemistry
Tropospheric and stratospheric chemistry — ozone, aerosols, and pollutant cycles.
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Aerosol Chemistry
Secondary organic aerosols, heterogeneous chemistry on particles, and indoor air chemistry.
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Aquatic Chemistry
Speciation, redox, and biogeochemistry of natural waters.
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Soil and Geochemistry
Mineral weathering, soil chemistry, and elemental cycles.
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Persistent Organic Pollutants
Chemistry of PCBs, dioxins, PFAS, and their environmental fate.
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PFAS Chemistry and Remediation
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — environmental occurrence and destruction chemistry.
- 12
Water Treatment Chemistry
Advanced oxidation, membrane, and adsorption processes for water purification.
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Polymer Recycling Chemistry
Mechanical, chemical, and enzymatic depolymerization routes for plastics.
- 14
Circular Chemistry
Closed-loop chemical processes and design-for-recycling principles.
- 15
Life-Cycle Assessment in Chemistry
LCA methodology applied to chemical processes and products.
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