"Green Analytical Chemistry"
Dr. Jennifer L. Young
Senior Program Director
ACS Green Chemistry Institute
Bio.
Dr. Jennifer L. Young is a Senior Program Manager at the American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute (ACS GCI), a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of green chemistry. Her work has focused on building green chemistry information databases, managing awards and grants programs, promoting through communication and outreach, and producing educational materials. Prior to joining ACS GCI in 2004, she held an industrial polymer research position at DuPont in the Ink Jet business. Her research involved synthesizing and studying new waterborne polymeric dispersant and binder technologies for ink jet inks. Jennifer earned a Ph.D. in polymer/organic chemistry in 2000 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by investigating polymerizations in supercritical carbon dioxide under the direction of Joseph DeSimone. Her B.S. degree in chemistry is from the University of Richmond. Jennifer has over 10 years of experience in green chemistry and has been invited to present and publish on numerous green chemistry topics including green polymers, coatings, adhesives, biotechnology, analytical chemistry, renewable materials, information resources, and sustainability.
Abstract:
Green chemistry emphasizes sustainable chemicals and processes, chemicals which are "benign by design," and pollution prevention at the molecular level rather than remediation of chemical waste. Green chemistry is relevant to all types of chemistry, including analytical chemistry. The American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute has completed a project to identify and apply green chemistry to approximately 850 analytical methods in the National Environmental Methods Index (NEMI; www.nemi.gov). With these metrics, called "greenness" profiles, the users of the online NEMI database can easily compare the greenness profiles of analytical methods, in addition to other method performance criteria, to make more informed decisions when choosing an analytical method. The greenness profiles take into account many aspects of an analytical method, such as sample preparation, measurement/detection, chemical reagents, solvents, preservatives, and waste quantity generated. Additionally, the greenness profiles can aid a researcher in identifying methods that use fewer harmful solvents, use safer chemicals, and prevent waste. Four criteria were developed for generating greenness profiles of analytical methods. These four criteria, called PBT (persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic), Hazardous, Corrosive, and Waste, are defined with threshold levels that must not be exceeded for a method to be considered green. A demonstration will be given of how NEMI can be used to compare the greenness profiles of several analytical methods and how the information in NEMI can be used to develop greener methods.