Advances in green chemistry education

As the recent train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, U.S.A. exemplified, industry needs to commit to developing safer chemical processes and products derived from renewable sources (1). As Tickner et al. discuss, the chemicals that form the basis of the world economy were developed and deployed prior to the 1960s when fossil fuels were abundant: this was a time when environmental and health consequences were not widely considered in product development. While these consequences have been addressed via the creation of environmental protection agencies and regulations, the latter are limited in their safeguarding of the environment and our communities. Additionally, the global economy still heavily relies on fossil fuels. Green and sustainable chemistry practices provide the framework that allows the transition of our manufacturing industries away from fossil fuel-derived and hazardous pre-cursor chemicals (2). The innovations of industry and academia to provide greener technologies is exemplified by the annual Environmental Protection Agency Green Chemistry Challenge winners (3).

Paramount to a systemic change in industry is education of scientists and engineers to understand the principles of green and sustainable chemistry and engineering. Since the first report of a green organic chemistry teaching experiment by Reed and Hutchison (4) in 2000, and subsequent publication of Green Organic Chemistry: Strategies, Tools, and Laboratory Experiments (5), educators have designed new and greener pedagogical experiments across the chemistry curriculum. Indeed, there are currently hundreds of green chemistry teaching activities in the pedagogical literature and several compilations of instructional approaches (6–9).

As was the case with the 2019 special issue on 'Advances in Green Chemistry Education' (10), the articles in this Green Chemistry Letters & Reviews special issue were inspired by the plethora of green chemistry teaching papers published every year, green chemistry and sustainability sessions at the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education meetings and at American Chemical Society national meetings. The types of activities discussed include (i) introducing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in high school curricula and general chemistry; (ii) new experiments in the general, organic, and inorganic laboratories; and (iii) a cross-disciplinary project connecting political engagement to sustainable chemistry.

At the high school level, Hoffman and Dicks present a framework that introduces the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and green chemistry into the high school curriculum. Two of the papers provide pedagogies for general chemistry courses: D’eon and Silverman present a stoichiometry module that connects green principles, systems thinking, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In comparison, Thomas et al. discuss a creative 'Choose Your Own Green Chemistry Synthesis Adventure' for the general chemistry laboratory that utilizes nickel transformations and encourages students to think like chemists and apply the scientific method.

Several of the articles in this issue present new experiments for the undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory. Leontyev et al. describe a case study assessment using biobased 5-hydroxymethylfurfural to teach redox reactions. Nigam et al. discuss an experiment that uses citrus juice as a catalyst in an imine synthesis, and Zhang et al. present the incorporation of green chemistry into the organic chemistry laboratory through cooperative project-based experiments and case studies. Continuing the practical theme, De Backere et al. describe an updated greener tetraphenylporphyrin synthesis and metalation experiment that can be implemented in undergraduate organic or inorganic chemistry laboratories. Finally, the cross-disciplinary nature of green chemistry is explored in the article by Bastin where he describes a political engagement exercise in an undergraduate organic chemistry lecture course.

It is our hope that this special edition will inspire chemistry educators to create their own courses, exercises, and pedagogical advancements to educate the next generation of students to become change agents in industrial, academic, community, and government settings.

We wish to thank Beyond Benign for sponsoring this special issue and for covering the article publishing costs.