Traditional chemistry is often acknowledged in terms of its contributions to human health, wealth, and well-being. In fact, chemistry is frequently referred as the central science because of its essential role in helping advance fundamental knowledge. However, chemistry curricula are often described as hierarchical, where the focus is to prepare students for subsequent courses, rather than demonstrate the essential role of chemistry in the progress and development of other natural or social science fields. Students are exposed to applications of chemistry in various core disciplines such as organic, inorganic, analytical, physical chemistry, and biochemistry but they often lack the training to apply chemistry as a science for the benefit of society on a local and global scale. 21st century chemists need to develop skills in applying chemistry knowledge in terms of its relevance to society and contributions to addressing global challenges. The re-alignment of chemistry based on experiential learning in and out of the classroom would benefit from a holistic approach where the synergistic relationships among green and sustainable chemistry, chemical education, the chemical enterprise, and society would be underscored. Illustrations of recently revised courses in the Chemistry Department at Washington College are presented to highlight how green and sustainable chemistry can be used as the driving force to create connections with other disciplines and how chemistry can be positioned as a "sustainability science" as well as science for society.

This cross-disciplinary course bridging the disciplines of art and chemistry provides an exceptional environment in which first-year students and beyond are engaged and challenged in new ways. This dual lab/studio-based course, titled “Art in the Anthropocene: Greener Art through Greener Chemistry,” enables students to use their imagination, creativity, and innovation to respond to environmental issues and concerns through art. Students are asked to reflect on the nature and implications of the actual physical materials that artists use and to achieve a renewed sense of social and ethical responsibility through the content of their artwork. The curriculum is designed so that teachers guide students on how chemical processes are used to make art materials in an environmentally friendly way. The overall goal is to apply green chemistry principles in the making of artworks that can be crafted with reclaimed, recycled, and naturally available materials, non-toxic solvents and paints, and using sustainable forms of energy while keeping ethical values in mind.

Success in chemistry in the 21st century requires not only a mastery of important chemical concepts, but also the skills to apply this knowledge to important societal issues and the ability to effectively convey scientific information using a range of media. In response to this challenge we have developed an innovative four-credit seminar that comprehensively integrates the skills needed for chemistry majors to become successful professionals and experts in the chemistry field. It is expected that after taking this course chemistry majors will (1) develop scientific literature proficiency; (ii) gain valuable career preparation/marketing skills; (iii) enhance their scientific communication skills (oral, written, and visual); (iv) increase their awareness for research ethics codes and policies; and (v) gain an appreciation for the role of chemistry in contemporary moral/societal issues, particularly sustainable science literacy. Details pertaining to the design of the course such as learning objectives, assessment outcomes, impacts of the new course, along with student views on how this new course influenced their level of preparation for the work force, and future directions are presented.

Trends such as population growth, climate change, urbanisation, resource scarcity, conservation of energy and water, and reduction of waste and toxicity have led to the development of sustainable practices in industry, education and society. The desire to improve ways of living, the need for performance materials, and the urgency to close the gap between developed and emerging nations have propelled creative and innovative solutions based on green and sustainable chemistry to the forefront. This article provides an overview of the main impacts of green chemistry on industry, academia and society in the USA in the past ten years, as well as a summary of the drivers and barriers associated with the adoption of green chemistry practices. It also describes how researchers, policy makers, educators, investors and industries can work together to "build innovative solutions that transform and strengthen the chemical enterprise" (1) while addressing environmental and social challenges. The goal of this article is to understand why green chemistry is still primarily viewed as Joel Tickner, Director of Green Chemistry and Commerce Council (GC3), University of Massachusetts, Lowell, USA, puts it: as "an environmental activity rather than one that, as experience shows, yields economic benefit, and it has yet to be integrated into the fabric of the chemical enterprise, educational systems, or government programs" ( 1).

Two procedures using a template-free synthesis of zeolites A and X were compared in an effort to assess how modification of the porous structure of zeolites with various ligands impacts the property of hydrophobicity. Modification with ligands such as octyltrichlorosilane (OTCS), dichlorodiphenylsilane (DCDPS), chlorotrimethylsilane (CTMS), hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDS) as well as with a combination of CTMS and HMDS, was performed. Both procedures led to the formation of water repellant materials. The hydrophobicity of zeolite A increased when zeolite A was modified with DCDPS and with OTCS. Zeolite X demonstrated superior hydrophobic properties when modified with all ligands, except with HMDS.Infrared spectroscopy (IR), macroscopic analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) data are presented.

This chapter puts the concepts of chemistry to work in understanding the interactions between various ecosystems and how specific actions propagate through the environment. It emphasizes the importance of chemistry within the following topics: nature and the environment, energy and its production from chemical sources, waste and pollution prevention, ecotoxicology, and green living. Environmental assessment analysis combines the elements of classification, characterization, significance analysis, and valuation into a single measure that would allow one to compare multiple opportunities to determine which of these would have the least environmental harm. There are many opportunities to decrease our personal environmental footprint and adopt more sustainable personal practices. Using the multiplying power associated with large-scale adoption, it is clear that the greatest force leading to a more sustainable society is the power of the consumer.

An experiment focusing on the creation of phase diagrams involving nonconvalent derivatives of hydroquinone and bis[N,N-diethyl]-terephthalamide (HQ-DETPA) is presented. A phase diagram was assembled by taking samples of different compositions (i.e., 40% hydroquinone and 60% bis[N,N-diethyl]-terephthalamide, 70%/30%, etc.) and determining the melting points of each sample. This experiment is suitable for students enrolled in a physical chemistry class or materials science course and was effectively accomplished by three pairs of students. The experiment requires two 3-h lab sessions. Background information, experimental procedure and hazards, and results of the research are detailed. Results indicate that the noncovalent derivatization successfully provides a co-crystal that assembles into a 50:50 molar ratio. The eutectic points are shown to take place at the 25:75 and 75:25 molar ratios, respectively. Because entropy was the driving force behind the assembly of the co-crystals, the presence of a maximum point on the phase diagram, which represents the highest value of enthalpy and lowest point of entropy, was occurred at the 50:50 molar ratio of HQ to DETPA.

An elective course, Toward the Greening of Our Minds: Green and Sustainable Chemistry, has been offered at Washington College since 2005. This new course without laboratory is designed for chemistry and biology majors and minors who have previously taken two semesters of general chemistry and organic chemistry. Due to the popularity of the course, the enrollment nearly doubled since 2005. Specific changes needed to be implemented to respond to students' feedback and needs but also to account for the expansion of the field of green chemistry. The original goals associated with this course are still incorporated yet are now addressed differently to provide students with up-to-date, quantitative, and skillful knowledge of green chemistry applications and metrics. The ultimate goal is for students to use their critical thinking skills to produce an innovation proposal and to become responsible citizens of the 21st century.

This chapter highlights both older and newer methodologies and discusses the challenges of using animal-based, cellular, or subcellular assays to predict human toxicological outcomes. A critical question will be raised in the chapter: How much toxicological science must a chemist know and understand to function in a high-level green chemistry mode? The discipline of toxicology draws upon a combination of chemistry and biology. More specifically, toxicology is the study of the adverse effects of chemicals and physical agents on living organisms. For the most part, procedures that have been most successful are those that are focused on understanding chemically induced toxicity, where a correlation between chemical structure and potential toxicity is assessed. Key data components are relational databases that allow cross-referencing existing data to create informed predictions about data-poor compounds. Large-scale integration issues present both software and data challenges requiring software engineering as well as toxicology data generation solutions.

This chapter introduces and demonstrates the economic and, in turn, the correlated societal and environmental benefits that are gained when the principles of green chemistry and green engineering are introduced into a technology. It introduces the concepts, economic benefits, and needed thinking in order to increase the viability and introduction of technologies that employ green chemistry and green engineering into practice and the marketplace. In actuality, economic theory can be applied with increasing complexity to three levels of scale: (i) microscale or plant scale, (ii) corporate scale, and (iii) macroscale or economy scale. Although the principles of green chemistry and green engineering have been established for well over a decade, only recently have companies begun large-scale implementation and use of these concepts for industrial applications, often with emphasis on developing renewable feedstocks for chemical processes.