The Evolution of a Green Chemistry Laboratory Experiment:Greener Brominations of Stilbene

摘要

Green chemistry-the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances-is becoming more widely incorporated into chemistry curricula.Previous work by our group and others describes experiments that can be used to"green"chemistry curricula(1-7);however,these are only starting points for continued innovation and optimization.This manuscript is concerned with the process used to assess and optimize greener laboratory experiments and provides a case study that demonstrates the need for continual evaluation and modification of expe'rimental procedures in the pursuit of the most benign experiments for use in the teaching laboratory.Two alternative sets of reaction conditions,one involving pyridinium tribromide and the other a hydrogen peroxide-hydrogen bromide system,have been developed and compared to the traditional bromination of stilbene.