Green Chemistry

Greening Across the Chemistry Curriculum English | Versión en Español | Versão em Português (Brasil)

At the University of Scranton we have been involved in bringing green chemistry into the classroom for we think it is essential that our future chemists are taught to view chemistry with a green tint. Other efforts in this area are focused on infusing green chemistry into an environmental chemistry text ("Environmental Chemistry," 3rd edition, 2005, 4th edition, 2008, 5th edition, Colin Baird and Michael Cann, W. H. Freeman Co.) and "Chemistry in Context," 7th edition, 2012 . We are also involved in daylong green chemistry workshops. A current project underway is "Chemistry in Context," 8th edition (tentative publication date: 2014). In addition we participated in a joint project with the Green Chemistry Institute of the American Chemical Society, in accessing the economic and environmental benefits, to US industries, of adopting green chemistry processes and products.

Our initial efforts in education, which began in 1996, were centered around our course in environmental chemistry. In this course (see the syllabus for this course) students are required to search for information on the most recent Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards and give both a poster and an oral presentation on this subject (see J. Chem. Ed. 1999, 76, 1639-1641).

In 1998 the EPA and the ACS partnered to make a concerted effort to develop educational materials to bring green chemistry into the curriculum. The ACS/EPA Green Chemistry Educational Materials Development Project had four initial foci:

an annotated bibliography of green chemistry
Real-World Cases in Green Chemistry
green laboratory modules
short courses in green chemistry

Our efforts with regard to this project have been centered around the cases and have resulted in a book "Real-World Cases in Green Chemistry." These cases develop and compile information about the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award nominated proposals. It is our hope and intent that the content and format of these cases will allow their use by instructors in a variety of university chemistry courses to green the chemistry curriculum. "Real-World Cases in Green Chemistry Volume 2," was published in
2008.

In order to take the greening of the chemistry curriculum to its next logical step, six faculty members at Scranton have developed green chemistry modules for specific courses in the chemistry major. The objective of this project was to take the general information provided by a particular case in Real-World Cases in Green Chemistry, supplement this with more (course specific) detailed information so that the module specifically addressed a topic(s) in a particular course. The module is then to be used for insertion of green chemistry into a course under a particular topic already covered in such a course. Thus we have attempted to green a typical course topic without adding a great deal of new material to an already overcrowded course. We hope other instructors will adopt these modules in whole or in part to use in their courses. This project is supported by a grant from The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Special Grant Program in the Chemical Sciences. These modules have been developed and posted on the web (see green chemistry teaching modules).

"Real-World Cases in Green Chemistry Volume 2," was published in 2008.

Our efforts in green chemistry education have been recognized by a 2001 Pennsylvania Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence.

Green Chemistry Workshop; Please contact Michael Cann if you are interested in a day long workshop on green chemistry; download workshop outline.

Other sites of interest regarding green chemistry:

Please direct comments and suggestions to the author of the module or to:

Michael C. Cann
Chemistry Department
Univeristy of Scranton
800 Linden St. Scranton, PA 18510
570-941-7519
570-941-7510 (FAX)
michael.cann@scranton.edu

Michael C. Cann

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Green Chemistry

Greening Across the Chemistry Curriculum English | Versión en Español | Versão em Português (Brasil)