Answer: Prevention, atom economy, less hazardous synthesis, safer chemicals, safer solvents, energy efficiency, renewable feedstocks, fewer derivatives, catalysis, design for degradation, real-time analysis, and safer chemistry for accident prevention.
- Prevention: it is better to prevent waste than to treat or clean it up after it is formed.
- Atom economy: design syntheses so that as many atoms of the reactants as possible end up in the product.
- Less hazardous chemical syntheses: use and produce substances with little or no toxicity.
- Designing safer chemicals: products should do their job while being as non-toxic as possible.
- Safer solvents and auxiliaries: avoid solvents and separating agents, or use harmless ones (water, supercritical CO₂).
- Design for energy efficiency: run reactions at room temperature and pressure where possible.
- Use of renewable feedstocks: use raw materials from plants (biomass) rather than depleting petroleum.
- Reduce derivatives: avoid unnecessary blocking/protecting groups and temporary modifications, which need extra reagents and create waste.
- Catalysis: catalytic reagents are better than stoichiometric reagents.
- Design for degradation: products should break down into harmless substances after use.
- Real-time analysis for pollution prevention: monitor processes during production to stop hazardous by-products forming.
- Inherently safer chemistry for accident prevention: choose substances and forms that reduce the risk of explosions, fires and releases.
