Guides and Metrics

The use of simple tools and guides, that have been specifically designed to direct the user towards more sustainable choices, can provide an everyday way to incorporate green chemistry thinking into bench-scale research. They are particularly useful, for example, in medicinal chemistry, where multiple routes to numerous different compounds are under consideration at the same time and more detailed assessment (e.g. life cycle assessment) would be unfeasible due to time constraints. These should also be supplemented by the use of metrics to measure, compare and assess methodologies and guide reaction discovery to design an effective and inherently green methodology. The combination of quick and easy to use guides with metrics assessment can support the reduction of potential adverse environmental impact of reactions, as well as helping to minimize the need for major changes to synthetic routes that are scaled-up for further development. 

This topic will provide an overview of both existing tools and guides for solvent and reagent selection and metrics.