Green chemistry: deliverance or distraction?

Abstract

As the green chemistry principles are increasingly used in teaching chemistry at all levels, this perspective provides a critique of their strengths and weaknesses. It asks whether or not the principles have sufficient scientific validity to aid the proper understanding of the subject (as opposed to highlighting concerns about its application). Furthermore, as the principles are increasingly cited in research papers, it also questions whether evidence exists that they have led to improvements in the sustainability and environmental impact of chemical technology that would not otherwise have arisen as a result of conventional economic, feedstock, competitive, market and regulatory pressures had they not been promulgated.