Green Solvents for Sustainable Organic Synthesis

Abstract

Green or sustainable chemistry is now recognised as an important scientific subject, and research in this area has led to the creation of cleaner and safer chemical processes, with many new advances occurring each year. Researchers are very interested in unconventional or alternative solvents for chemical synthesis. Chemical solvents make up around 80% of all chemical compounds utilised in a variety of essential chemical processes, notably in the chemical industry. Unfortunately, many of these solvents are volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced from petrochemicals, which pose a variety of health and environmental hazards. In this chapter, different environmentally benign solvent alternatives have been discussed based on their green matrix in chemical processes.