Rising Importance of Green Chemistry in India: A Study

 

Surya Prakash BN Gupta¹, Neeraj Upmanyu² and Gopal Garg³

¹Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Pharmacy, Satna (M.P.)-485001(India)      ²GLA Institute of Pharmaceutical and Research Mathura (U.P.)-India      ³VNS College of Pharmacy, Satna (M.P.)-485001(India)

*Corresponding Author E-mail: suryatony@yahoo.co.in

ABSTRACT:

With growing public concern over global warming and greenhouse gases, we want to understand how human actions affect the health of our planet. We are deeply concerned about pollution. We practice recycling. Moreover, we want to secure a healthy Earth for future generations. We have a unique opportunity to start at the ground floor of the exciting and expanding field of green chemistry. Green chemistry is also known as environmentally benign chemistry, or sustainable chemistry. Green chemistry involves the development of chemical products and synthetic procedures, which are environmentally friendly and have reduced health risks with the search for more efficient methods to do chemistry. Its roots stem back ten years from a simple idea to a prominent concept, which permeates all areas of modern chemistry, which strives to reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. Green chemistry impacts a wide array of fields including pharmaceuticals, pesticides, polymers, and many others.

 

KEYWORDS:

 

INTRODUCTION:

Green chemistry looks at pollution prevention on the molecular scale and is an extremely important area of chemistry due to the importance of chemistry in our world today and the implications it can how on our environment. Green-chemistry wave has reached our country too. We need to work for its betterment by encouraging the practices of chemistry. Green chemistry is not a new branch of chemistry; it is rather a thought process on existing and new tools, knowledge, and design of chemistry in a way that it contributes to the societal economy while protecting the environment and human health.¹ It is a challenge for the chemistry community to take up work involving environment friendly substances and technologies. It is important that chemists develop new Green chemistry options. Green chemistry impacts a wide array of fields including pharmaceuticals, pesticides, polymers, and many others.

 

Need for Green Chemistry:

Chemistry is undoubtedly a very prominent part of our daily lives.  Food and drink has been made safe to consume, the development of cosmetics has enabled us to beautify and admire our appearances and the whole area of pharmaceuticals has allowed the development and synthesis of new cures for illnesses and diseases, all as a result of chemistry. 

 

However, additional chemical developments also bring new environmental problems and harmful unexpected side effects, which result in the need for ‘greener’ chemical products. A famous example is the pesticide DDT, which was effective in controlling insect pests that carried deadly diseases but also were later found to have implications on the bald eagle population and was also suspected to be a potential carcinogenic².

 

Objective: -

One of the main objectives of green chemistry is to reduce or eliminate the waste formation. Green chemistry reduces toxicity, saves energy, minimizes waste, and cuts down on the depletion of natural resources. It allows for advances in chemistry to occur in a much more environmentally benign way.

 

Experimental Methods:

Attempts are being made not only to quantify the greenness of a chemical process but also to factor in other variables such as chemical yield, the price of reaction components, safety in handling chemicals, hardware demands, energy profile and ease of product workup and purification. Green chemistry is increasingly seen as a powerful tool that researchers must use to evaluate the environmental impact of nanotechnology. As nanomaterials are developed, the environmental and human health impacts of both the products themselves and the processes to make them must be considered to ensure their long-term economic viability³.

 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

The green chemistry programs implemented by government industry and academia on a voluntary basis have achieved success in reducing risk through the reduction of intrinsic hazard at the molecular level. The types of hazards that can and are being addressed by scientific and industrial concerns include physical hazards, toxicological hazards (both human & ecotox, and global hazards), all of which are effected by proper and innovative molecular design.

 

CONCLUSION:
The emerging area of green chemistry has identified scientific principles, approaches, and methodologies that have demonstrated the most positive aspects of chemistry. While the successes of green chemistry thus far seem quite large in terms of quantitative benefit to human health and the environment, they are merely the tip of the iceberg when compared to the potential. To reach this full potential, greater awareness, adoption, and development of green chemistry practices are necessary¹. Sustainable economic development depends on the chemical industry to produce a vast array of products and processes. In the future, when green chemistry is practiced by all chemists and all chemical related companies, the term "green chemistry" will ideally disappear as all chemistry becomes green.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1.       Dennis L. Hjeresen et. al, JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu, Vol. 77 (12), pg 1543-1546, 2000.

2.       Cann, Michael C. et. al, Real-World Cases in Green Chemistry. Washington, DC: American Chemical Society, 2000.

3.        Anastas, Paul T., et. al. Green Chemistry Theory and Practice. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

 

 

Received on 18.09.2009       Modified on 23.11.2009

Accepted on 12.12.2009      © RJPT All right reserved