By rethinking and reworking our laboratory exercises we can avoid the more harmful chemicals while still providing students with the important lessons of chemistry. They also learn additional important lessons about the environmental aspects and implications of chemistry. Our students were the first ever to conduct this synthesis. It is only now that we practitioners of chemistry have advanced far enough in our understanding that a green chemistry course could exist. This is truly revolutionary.
Green chemistry has another significant advantage for students.
Smaller quantities result in proportionately less waste. Microscale requires them to use minuscule amounts of chemicals with unusual specialized apparatus. In other words, it has little to do with the kind of chemistry the students may eventually be asked to do as they take jobs in industry or academia. After several decades of tighter environmental regulations in America, it now typically costs more to dispose of a chemical than to purchase it. By developing this innovative approach to chemistry here at the university we can train chemists who are prepared to enter industry and introduce innovative and environmentally benign approaches.