5 Key Takeaways

• 1

  Many common solvents in analytical workflows are not considered green due to their volatility, toxicity, and non-renewable origins.

• 2

  Elia Psillakis and colleagues developed GreenSOL, a solvent selection guide that evaluates solvents from production to disposal.

• 3

  GreenSOL is tailored specifically for analytical chemistry and includes deuterated solvents essential for techniques like NMR.

• 4

  The guide employs a three-phase life-cycle evaluation: production, laboratory use, and waste, with scores from 1 to 10.

• 5

  Surprisingly, some conventional solvents received excellent production scores, raising questions about the greenness of bio-based alternatives.