Abstract
The objective of the present review on the evolution of Green Chemistry (GC), since its emergence until 2016 (25th anniversary), aimed an integrated vision of its progress along the three phases of its development: emergence, divulgation and consolidation. The methodology involved the analysis of a selection of bibliography on the evolution of GC collected from issues of the ACS symposia series; editorials in specialized GC journals; and commemorative birthday papers/editorials of these journals and of the GC itself. The analysis allowed to identify and discuss the characteristics and conceptions of GC agents about fundamental concepts and procedures, in order to visualize and better understand the state of knowledge and the subject areas that make up the field. The main alterations identified in the evolution of GC were: it acquired a better defined identity, with more participation of academy and increased scope; was progressively framed in sustainability; has been aspiring to a holistic frame (but it is still dominated by its original reductionism) and to a change on the nature of the innovation for its implementation, from incremental to transformative. The analysis suggests that for supporting expansion and consolidation of GC the following aspects deserve attention: full validation of chemical greenness by metrics; better characterization of the frontiers of GC research areas/themes; increased integration between academy and industry; and penetration in chemistry curricula. Its basic philosophy being the practice of a chemistry more focused on the environment preservation, GC means a new stage in nature and in the history of Chemistry.
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Notes
Anastas and Warner (1998, p. 11) defined GC as: “… the utilization of a set of principles that reduces or eliminates the use or generation of hazardous substances in the design, manufacture and application of chemical products”.
The word consolidation is not used here meaning stability or mature science, but rather acknowledgement by the whole area of Chemistry (Howard-Grenville et al. 2017).
In brackets the parts of the words eliminated in searches are presented.
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CAM thanks support of CAPES Foundation (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Brasil) for a sabbatical leave (2017-2018) at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal (Estágio Sênior no Exterior 88881.119087/2016-01).
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Marques, C.A., Machado, A.A.S.C. An integrated vision of the Green Chemistry evolution along 25 years. Found Chem 23, 299–328 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10698-021-09396-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10698-021-09396-6