University of Oregon Leads Way in Green Chemistry

The University of Oregon is setting the pace in research into green chemistry with its Green Organic Lab, part of a pioneering movement to clean up organic chemistry.

The lab, which focuses on reducing waste and hazard in organic chemistry, may be the first full-scale instructional green lab in the country. “It's always exciting to do chemistry that other people aren't doing,” said Scott Reed, a graduate student who helped design and research experiments for the lab.

Reed worked with Professors Jim Hutchison and Ken Doxsee to create green experiments that would work in an instructional lab setting. The experiments teach the same principles as a traditional organic lab, but use solvents and reagents that are less toxic.

Green chemistry focuses on reducing, recycling, or eliminating the use of toxic chemicals in chemistry by finding creative ways to minimize the human and environmental impact without stifling scientific progress. The UO department hopes to eventually turn all organic labs “green”.

The goal of the lab is to get students to think beyond the lab - to take what they learn to work with them and develop skills to help industry solve environmental problems.

“This is going to change students' perception of chemistry,” said Hutchison. While in traditional labs, students learn to fear chemicals; in the green lab, students learn to discriminate between what's toxic and what isn't.

“The push toward green chemistry is big. We're giving them a window into what's going to happen in the future,” said Warner.

Finding realistic solutions to environmental concerns in academic labs should prove to be a boon to industry as they look for employees ready to meet the demands of the future of science.

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