Green and Environmental Chemistry

Chemistry directed at sustainability and at understanding the chemistry of the environment.


field tier

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 · 2000
    Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice
    anastas-2000, warner-2000
  • textbook · primary · 2016
    Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics: From Air Pollution to Climate Change
    seinfeld-2016, pandis-2016

In context

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Explore

  1. 01

    Principles of Green Chemistry

    Atom economy, E-factor, hazard reduction, and the twelve principles.

  2. 02

    Sustainable Feedstocks

    Biomass, CO2, and renewable-resource derived chemicals.

  3. 03

    Biomass Conversion

    Lignocellulose deconstruction, sugar platforms, and renewable monomers.

  4. 04

    CO2 Utilization Chemistry

    Carbon-dioxide as C1 feedstock for fuels, polymers, and fine chemicals.

  5. 05

    Green Solvents and Solvent Effects

    Water, ionic liquids, deep eutectic solvents, and supercritical fluids.

  6. 06

    Atmospheric Chemistry

    Tropospheric and stratospheric chemistry — ozone, aerosols, and pollutant cycles.

  7. 07

    Aerosol Chemistry

    Secondary organic aerosols, heterogeneous chemistry on particles, and indoor air chemistry.

  8. 08

    Aquatic Chemistry

    Speciation, redox, and biogeochemistry of natural waters.

  9. 09

    Soil and Geochemistry

    Mineral weathering, soil chemistry, and elemental cycles.

  10. 10

    Persistent Organic Pollutants

    Chemistry of PCBs, dioxins, PFAS, and their environmental fate.

  11. 11

    PFAS Chemistry and Remediation

    Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — environmental occurrence and destruction chemistry.

  12. 12

    Water Treatment Chemistry

    Advanced oxidation, membrane, and adsorption processes for water purification.

  13. 13

    Polymer Recycling Chemistry

    Mechanical, chemical, and enzymatic depolymerization routes for plastics.

  14. 14

    Circular Chemistry

    Closed-loop chemical processes and design-for-recycling principles.

  15. 15

    Life-Cycle Assessment in Chemistry

    LCA methodology applied to chemical processes and products.


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