ACS News Service Weblog

Movin' On

With the world series already beckoning, I’ve launched a new weblog that should be of interest to everyone who enjoyed the green chemistry conference. How so? This new blog focuses on an upcoming world-series-class event in chemistry. http://acsnewsservice.typepad.com/sf_meeting/

--Michael Woods

Green Shoes

Are your sneakers green? Not green rubber or grass-stained green, but green − made with the guiding principles of green chemistry? That means avoiding the use of toxic chemical compounds and using processes that minimize the production of waste. "Sustainability" is among this science’s other buzzwords. It means that green chemists and engineers are mindful of the long-term environment impact of reactions and production process.

Andy F. Chen’s talk at the green chemistry conference this morning got me thinking about green shoes. I even had to fish out the sneakers from under my desk. My daily commute from the Virginia suburbs into downtown Washington includes a walk to and from a subway station. Like some other exercise-challenged commuters, I wear sneakers when pounding the pavement, and change into business shoes in the office. Actually, I’m not sure what to call exercise shoes these days. Sneakers? Walking shoes? Athletic shoes? When I polled several co-workers, nobody knew the best term for this diverse genre of footwear.

Chen is a scientist with Nike, Inc. in Beaverton, Oregon. At the conference, he described how Nike Footwear has made a commitment to green chemistry and beyond. "One of Nike's long-term corporate environmental goals is to eliminate from its products all substances known or suspected to be harmful to human health or the environment," Chen said.

"Nike is pursuing the vision of ‘Considered Design,’ where the goal is to make innovative, performance-quality products that demand less of our natural resources, and to strive to incorporate sustainability as a design component from the beginning."

Chen explained how Nike is eliminating toxic substances from manufacture of rubber outer soles on its footwear. In redesigning two rubber formulations, Nike used the Cradle to Cradle™ Design Protocol for assessing chemicals against 19 human health and environmental criteria. Nike identified rubber ingredients to replace and selected alternative ingredients that would meet durability and other performance requirements.

Chemists created the new "green" rubber by using more-benign accelerators, vegetable oils, and modified processing methods. The new formulations involve the use of 96 percent fewer toxic substances by weight than the original formulations. Green sole rubber shoes perform as well as traditional rubber shoes, look the same and cost no more.

"To Nike's knowledge, these are the most advanced rubber formulations from a sustainability perspective within the footwear industry," Chen said. Nike is working to establish a consortium of companies, which would pool resources in a joint R&D program focused on the further greening of more consumer products, he added.

I just took another look, and my walking shoes are brown and non-Nike. So I hope those companies do link up as Chen described. Although there’s not much rubber in the sole of an athletic shoe, multiply that by countless millions of shoes sold worldwide each year and you realize that green shoes would be a big step ahead in protecting the environment.

--Michael Woods

Green Insect Repellent

Paul Anastas, director of the ACS Green Chemistry Institute, makes house-keeping announcements before introducing the daily keynote speaker. Anastas’ big news on Wednesday was that patches of blue sky finally were visible outside the Capital Hilton hotel. Conference attendees have been in a deluge since record rainfalls began last weekend. One unpleasant fallout from the downfall already has started to appear − a bumper crop of mosquitoes. In barely two minutes outside at home last night filling the bird feeders, I got bitten badly. Yes, I’d spray on mosquito repellent, except I hate the odor and have to shower afterwards.

After that experience, I was delighted at Frank Lueckgen’s conference presentation on Bayrepel (also known as Picaridin), "a safe, effective, environmentally friendly insect repellent that people will use." Lueckgen is with the Lanxess Corporation in Pittsburgh, Penn., a spin-off of the Bayer Group, which developed Picaridin. He described Picaridin as a green alternative to traditional repellents based on N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide (DEET).

Chemists developed Picaridin with three-dimensional modeling to act on specific olfactory receptors of insects. "Picaridin demonstrates broad effectiveness against mosquitoes, ticks, sand flies and horseflies," according to Lueckgen. "It is gentle on the skin, is non-sticky and has almost no scent to humans. Picaridin is not damaging to plastics, fibers or coating and sealing compounds. This product is safe for use by the whole family."

With those properties, Picaridin overcomes cosmetic disadvantages that lead people to decline using insect repellents and accept the risk of bites and mosquito-borne diseases, Lueckgen said. Picaridin has been a best-seller in other countries for years, but was first introduced in the United States in 2005. It is the active ingredient in one popular commercial insect repellent.

Lueckgen’s closing comments convinced me to give the green repellent a try before I refill those bird feeders tonight: "Unless people are willing to use it, no repellent can protect against disease-carrying insects."

--Michael Woods

Green Bullets

Baby Boomers and fans of vintage radio/TV/movies may recall The Lone Ranger. The main character was a masked cowboy who fought injustices in the Old West with a 6-gun loaded with silver bullets. Fast forward to 2006, and the ranger might be packing green bullets.

Philip G. Malone’s presentation at the green chemistry conference described how an environmentally friendly bullet certainly is needed. Malone, who is with the U. S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, Miss., said the need exists at small arms firing ranges, where military personnel, law enforcement people, sports enthusiasts, and others fire at targets. There are more than 10,800 of these ranges in the United States. As the bullets zip, they deposit in the surrounding soil an amazing 80,000 tons of lead every year.

Range owners are environmentally aware, periodically "mine" the range and try to recover as many spent bullets as possible in order to control soil and ground water pollution. Some even resort to cleaning lead from the soil and dust, a process that can cost up to $500 per cubic yard. However, corrosion of lead fragments left in soil does result in lead compounds moving into the environment.

Malone reported on a green alternative − a zinc-lead composite bullet that uses zinc as a sacrificial metal to protect the lead in the bullet.

The zinc has much the same effect on lead as it does when used to galvanize iron (with zinc corroding and the iron being protected). Malone and colleagues compared pure lead bullet slugs and green slugs in a standard acetic acid leaching test. Pure lead slugs leached more than 14 parts per million (ppm) lead, compared to less than 0.2 ppm for the zinc-plated lead composite slugs. The green bullet would have a density − an important consideration in performance − only 5.5 percent less than a conventional bullet. Malone said that substituting a lead-zinc composite for lead in bullets would be an economical and environmentally beneficial move.

A U. S. Army representative in the audience emphasized that galvanized lead is among several alternatives being considered for implementation.

--Michael Woods

Rummaging Through the Green Chemistry Toolbox

A toolkit is a "must" for doing repairs around the house. As someone who lives in a 65-year-old house, where something always needs to be fixed, I have toolkits for different kinds of repair work. The plumbing toolbox got a workout during the last few days, thanks to the rain that is drenching the Washington, D. C. area.

Naturally enough, one session at the 10th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference caught my eye today. Entitled "Stocking the Green Chemistry Toolbox," it was devoted to tools that chemists and chemical engineers can use to develop the cleaner, safer, more sustainable reactions that are the hallmark of green chemistry. Organized by the GCI Pharmaceutical Roundtable, the session focused specifically on the pharmaceutical industry.

Liquids were on the agenda − and it was not the rain pouring down outside the Capital Hilton hotel on 16th Street, a few blocks from the White House. It turns out that the pharmaceutical industry uses a tremendous volume of solvents − various liquids that dissolve other materials − to manufacture drugs. In his presentation, C. Stewart Slater, Ph.D. professor of chemical engineering at Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J., estimated that it takes up to 1,760 pounds of solvent to manufacture 2.2 pounds of certain medications. And organic solvents account for about 80 percent of the wastes in a typical drug manufacturing process.

Slater discussed a solvent selection toolkit that has gone into use in the pharmaceutical industry. This guide contains information on a range of solvents, usually customized for the specific solvents used at each individual company. It provides information on solvents to use to make a manufacturing process "green," for instance. Solvents to avoid. Solvents’ environmental impact. Health and safety issues associated with specific solvents.

David J. C. Constable, of GlaxoSmithKline in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, put the FLASC toolkit on display. Make that: Fast Lifecycle Assessment for Synthetic Chemistry.

FLASC is a Web-based application that allows bench chemists to perform streamlined evaluations of the life cycle environmental impacts of new or existing processes. FLASC allows scientists and managers to assess eight different life cycle environmental impact categories associated with materials used in synthetic routes or manufacturing processes.

The categories include energy required, mass of material needed, and the total amount of waste generated in a synthesis. By using FLASC, companies can quickly identify ways to reduce those impacts and use the greenest possible option.

Drug companies are using green toolkits from the start of the product pipeline in R&D laboratories to the finish in the consumer’s medicine chest. As new drugs emerge from the pipeline, designers and managers use toolkits like WRAP. That’s the Wizard for the Rapid Assessment of Packaging, a green packaging guide that incorporates environmental impact into new packaging designs.

Paul Anastas, director of the American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute, dropped by for some of the toolbox presentations. Paul, the undisputed Father of Green Chemistry, could be seen standing in the back of the meeting room, nodding in appreciation as the toolboxes went on display.

--Michael Woods

The Presidential Awards: Green Chemistry's Impact

Could. May. Might. Potentially.

Those terms are fixtures in many of today’s science news stories. I used them countless times in a thirty-something-year career in daily journalism. The ifs, buts, and other qualifiers are mainstays in mature scientific disciplines, let alone new fields with big expectations but still-emerging practical applications. You know, science’s answer to those popular axioms: Big hat, no cattle. Big snake, no rattle. Big boat, no paddle.

But it is refreshing to see that practical applications already have taken place with nearly all the research that was recognized today as the best in using "green chemistry" approaches to address pollution problems. Every year, the coveted Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards are an opportunity to appreciate the sweeping practical impact of this exciting field. The Challenge Awards Program provides national recognition for outstanding chemical technologies that incorporate the principles of green chemistry into chemical design, manufacture, and use, and that have been or can be utilized by industry to achieve its pollution prevention.

The 2006 awards, announced Monday by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the American Chemical Society (ACS), are excellent examples. Over the past 11 years, the winners' work has led to the elimination of 750 million pounds of hazardous chemicals and solvents, according to the EPA. Those innovations have conserved 550 million gallons of water, and prevent release of 280 million pounds of carbon dioxide.

Nominations are judged by an independent panel of technical experts convened by the ACS. The Presidential-rank awards are given to select individuals and organizations that have made dramatic science contributions with identifiable applications that result in less pollution, waste or both in a manufacturing process.

The 2006 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge awards will be presented to Galen Suppes, Ph.D., of the University of Missouri-Columbia; Arkon Consultants of Irving, Texas; NuPro Technologies of Winston Salem, North Carolina; Merck & Company of Rahway, New Jersey; Codexis, Inc. of Redwood City, California; and S. C. Johnson, & Son, Inc. of Racine, Wisconsin.

For more information on the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards: http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry

Academic

Galen J. Suppes, Ph.D.

Department of Chemical Engineering

University of Missouri-Columbia

Biobased Propylene Glycol and Monomers from Natural Glycerin

The economics of biodiesel fuel depend heavily on finding new markets for the glycerin produced as a byproduct. Biodiesel firms in the United States are expected to produce one billion pounds of glycerin annually. A high-value use for glycerin could reduce the cost of biodiesel by as much as 40 cents a gallon.

Galen J. Suppes, Ph.D. and his team have developed a highly efficient process to convert natural glycerin to propylene glycol, used in everything from brake fluid to cosmetics to foods. Propylene glycol has a U.S. market of approximately 2.4 billion pounds per year, and is currently made almost exclusively from petroleum.

Suppes’ technology uses an existing waste steam (glycerin from biodiesel); replaces a petroleum feedstock with a biobased one for a popular chemical (propylene glycol); costs less; and paves the way for propylene glycol to displace ethylene glycol, one of the most widely distributed toxic chemicals in our society. Pilot plant tests will be completed by the end of January 2006; the first commercial facility (50 million pounds/year) is expected to begin production by October 2006.

Small Business

Arkon Consultants

Irving, Texas

NuPro Technologies

Winston Salem, North Carolina

Environmentally Safe Solvents and Reclamation in the Flexographic Printing Industry

Flexographic printing is used on everything from food wrappers to secondary containers,

such as cereal boxes, to shipping cartons. The ink on a flexographic printing plate reacts when exposed to light, forming cross-links and capturing an image. After exposure, printing plates are immersed in a developing solvent to remove any unreacted ink. The developing, or washout, solvent is typically a mixture of chlorinated, saturated cyclic or acyclic hydrocarbons.

Most traditional washout solvents are volatile, hazardous air pollutants subject to stringent reporting requirements; they also raise worker safety issues and create problems with recycling and disposal. Arkon Consultants and NuPro Technologies together have developed a safer chemical processing system: safer washout solvents and Cold Reclaim System™ recycling machinery to maximize the reuse and recycling of solvent. The system uses filtration and centrifugation instead of vacuum distillation, saving energy and reducing the accident potential of traditional solvent recovery systems.

Focus Area 1

Merck & Co., Inc.

Rahway, New Jersey

Novel Green Synthesis for

β-Amino Acids Produces the Active Ingredient in Januvia™

Sitagliptin is the active ingredient of Januvia™, a new treatment for type 2 diabetes. Merck expects to file for regulatory approval of Januvia™ in 2006. In anticipation of commercializing sitagliptin, Merck redesigned its synthesis. A critical step of the new, highly efficient synthesis for sitagliptin is a unprecedented transformation: an asymmetric reaction without temporary, protective modification of the molecule.

The new synthesis has only three steps, creates 220 pounds less waste for each pound of sitagliptin manufactured, and increases the overall yield by nearly 50 percent. Over the lifetime of the drug, Merck expects to eliminate the formation of at least 330

million pounds of waste, including nearly 110 million pounds of aqueous waste. The technology discovered, developed, and implemented by Merck for the manufacture of Januvia™ is an excellent example of scientific innovation resulting in benefits to the environment.

Focus Area 2

Codexis, Inc.

Redwood City, California

Directed Evolution of Three Biocatalysts to Produce the Key Chiral Building Block for

Atorvastatin, the Active Ingredient in Lipitor

®

Codexis uses directed evolution to create biocatalytic microorganisms. It has applied that

technology to a major pharmaceutical ingredient. Using recombinant technology, Codexis selects those microorganisms that are the best biocatalysts for a particular reaction and then crosses them with each other to produce another generation of biocatalysts.

Repeating the selection and crossing through multiple generations, Codexis maximizes the efficiency of the biocatalyst. Using this method, Codexis designed, enabled, and developed an innovative green process to produce the hydroxynitrile that is the key chiral intermediate in the synthesis of atorvastatin (Lipitor®) on a commercial scale. Previous commercial processes were significantly more wasteful of both material and energy. The new route uses readily available feedstocks and two particularly clean biocatalytic reactions under neutral conditions. The process is operated by Lonza to manufacture this hydroxynitrile for Pfizer’s production of atorvastatin calcium.

Focus Area 3

S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc.

Racine, Wisconsin

Greenlist™ Process to Reformulate Consumer Products

SC Johnson formulates and manufactures a wide variety of consumer products. To evaluate the environmental and health effects of their formula ingredients, SC Johnson developed the Greenlist™ classification system. SC Johnson is now using Greenlist™ to choose the most sustainable, effective ingredients and to reformulate multiple products to make them safer and more environmentally responsible.

Greenlist™ covers more than 90 percent of the raw materials SC Johnson currently uses. SC Johnson used Greenlist™ to remove a particular volatile organic compound (VOC) from Windex®. They developed a novel new formula containing amphoteric and anionic surfactants, a solvent system with lower VOCs, and a polymer for superior wetting. Their formula cleans 30 percent better and eliminates over 1.8 million pounds of VOCs per year. SC Johnson sets performance targets using Greenlist™ and has applied the process to other products, including Saran® Wrap, Raid®, Glade® aerosol, and a Glade® all-purpose cleaner. Furthermore, the company has phased out all bleached paperboard packages and PVC bottles.

--Michael Woods

Green Chemistry Summer School

Two masters at engaging students rang the opening bell at the 4th annual Summer School on Green Chemistry. Those 50 students didn’t just hear a presentation on the principles of green chemistry by Mary Kirchhoff, Ph.D. They participated in it. Kirchoff, a former assistant director of the ACS Green Chemistry Institute, presented the 12 guiding principles of green chemistry and engineering.

Then Kirchhoff, who now is acting director of the ACS Education Division, passed the microphone down the rows, encouraging the graduate students and post-doctoral students to add detail and concrete examples from their own knowledge and experience. Kirchhoff, for instance, explained that “atom economy,” is the green chemical principle calling for synthetic methods designed to maximize the incorporation of all materials used in the process into the final product syntheses.  Then she asked the class for concrete examples from their own knowledge. Paul Anastas, Ph.D., director of the Green Chemistry Institute, joined the conversation, taking the microphone to add his own insights and observations.

Kirchhoff provided her own compelling examples of how industry has used the principles of green chemistry to save money and protect the environment.  Chemists at Merck & Co., Inc., for instance, developed a green synthesis for Merck’s anti-nausea drug Emend® (aprepitant).  Kirchhoff described how the revised synthesis doubled the yield of aprepitant, eliminated 340,000 liters of waste for every ton of product, and reduced the consumption of raw materials by 85 per cent.

The school continues through the weekend.  Students were looking forward to next week, when they will attend the 10th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference, which begins Monday with announcement of winners of the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards.  Students had positive feelings after the first sessions.  "It seems very useful, very beneficial in expanding our horizons about green chemistry," said Raj Brahaman, a University of Dayton student.  Bogdan Botar, a native of Romania, was making his first visit to Washington.  He expected to take home new knowledge of green chemistry and memories of the nation's capitol.  "The school also is an opportunity to make a few friends and contacts, and do some networking for the future" said Botar, a postdoc at Emory University in Atlanta.

 

For more pictures of this event, please visit the event gallery.

Next Event:  The Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards

A Green School Near the White House

Mention a “green” summer school and people start thinking about lessons in gardening or maybe lectures in the cool shade of a forest. The green-titled school that goes into session today is in the concrete-and-glass environs of downtown Washington, D. C., a few blocks from the White House.  With temperatures this past week hovering in the 90s, and humidity to match, cool shade is merely a dream.

The school’s focus is an exciting field called green chemistry.  And the school bell is ringing for more than 50 graduate and post-doctoral students who are preparing to use green chemistry and engineering to solve global challenges.  Their classroom for the 4th Annual  Summer School on Green Chemistry is Marvel Hall in the American Chemical Society (ACS) headquarters.  To me, this must rank as one of the world’s most remarkable summer schools. “Green chemistry is the design of new products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances,” said Paul Anastas, Ph.D.  Often called the “Father of Green Chemistry,” Anastas directs the Green Chemistry Institute at the ACS.

I’m excited about the Green Chemistry School for another reason, as well.  It is a chance to kick the tires of our new weblog. Nishant Magar, of the ACS Office of Communications, designed the blog, and we’re debuting it today and during next week’s Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference.

The Johnson Family Foundation and the ACS are sponsoring this year’s event, which precedes the 10th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference.  That conference will be just down 16the street in the Capital Hilton hotel. News media are welcome, and can get information from the ACS News Service (202-872-4400 or [email protected].)  There will be presentations by leading scientists and educators, collaborative problem-solving projects, presentations by students, and more.

Not on the official program is the golden opportunity for schmoozing and networking, in which these young scientists develop friendships and collegial relationships.  These interpersonal connections often lead to future collaborations on research and career-building presentations at scientific conferences. Some could be international in scope, with this year’s class hailing from the United States and five other countries.

Green Chemistry School − 2006 is one in a series that began with the Pan-American Advanced Studies Institute (PASI) on Green Chemistry in Montevideo, Uruguay, in July 2003. “The proposal for the PASI was developed by the ACS’s Mary Kirchhoff,” noted Kathryn Parent, of the ACS Green Chemistry Institute.  “It was to provide education in green chemistry and engineering for chemists and engineers, as well as an opportunity for these young scientists to build interdisciplinary and cross-cultural collaborations.”
This year’s program is a slightly shorter version (3.5 days) of the typical week-long program, Parent said, citing other changes. “It also will offer background in green chemistry and engineering principles, as well as feature several cutting-edge examples of current green chemistry and engineering research.  For the first time, the summer school is immediately preceding the annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference, which many of the students will also attend.”

Next:  School Days

Weblog Interview: Paul Anastas, Father of Green Chemistry

Paul Anastas, Ph.D., director of the Green Chemistry Institute at the American Chemical Society, is often known as the “Father of Green Chemistry.” Anastas coined and defined that term in 1991, when he was chief of the Industrial Chemistry Branch of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He continued to foster efforts at developing green chemistry and engineering while serving as assistant director for environment in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He had responsibility for issues including climate change, green chemistry, oceans, sustainability, mercury, air quality, water and ecosystems, toxics, and environmental indicators.

On the eve of the 10^th annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference, Anastas discusses green chemistry and its challenges with the ACS News Service Weblog.

ACS News Service: What is green chemistry?
Paul Anastas: Green chemistry is the design of new products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. This means that not only the structures of a final product can be designed to be non-hazardous but also each of the transformations along the way to manufacture of a product are designed so that they don’t use or generate hazardous substances.

ACS: How does it differ from traditional efforts to reduce air and water pollution from chemical processes?
Anastas: We’re really talking about is the chemistry of sustainability. There is an implicit consideration life cycle impacts with the scope of green chemistry. Although traditionally pollution prevention was thought to focus on waste reduction and waste minimization, green chemistry includes and expands this focus to all stages of the life cycle. The importance of this expansion is seen through commonly reported achievements from industry where the greatest economic benefit as well as the greatest environmental benefits are being realized as much in the early stages of the process or product life cycle as they are in the latter stages.

ACS: What is chemistry for sustainability?
Anastas: Sustainability has been defined roughly as “the ability to maintain the development of the quality of life while not compromising the ability of our progeny to do the same.”

ACS: These efforts go far beyond the traditional bounds of chemistry?
Anastas: They do. Contributions from many disciplines will be required if sustainability is to become a reality. The intersection of molecular biology and engineering produces microorganisms capable of synthesizing chemicals from biomass. Advances in green chemistry employ reactions that use less hazardous substances and generate less waste. Improved products are designed through research in materials science.

ACS: What are the major scientific challenges for green chemistry in the years ahead?
Anastas: The green chemistry programs implemented by government industry and academia on a voluntary basis have achieved success in reducing risk through the reduction of intrinsic hazard at the molecular level. We must answer some key questions in the future. What is the molecular basis of hazard – toxicological, physical and global?  Can we use weak forces as a design tool in imparting performance as we have done with covalent forces? What is the pathway toward designing catalysts from first theoretical principles?  Can we use energy in the place of matter to effectively carry out transformations catalytically on a commercial scale?  Are the reaction types and feedstocks we use currently in chemical manufacturing the one’s we should be using in the next ten, twenty years? If we are to meet the challenges of sustainability, it will require that we address the problem at the molecular level as one part of the solution.

ACS: What are your hopes and expectations from this 10^th conference?
Anastas:  When the scientists, engineers, business people, environmentalists, policy-makers, teachers and students come together at the conference, they are building collaborations around the power of the possible. They recognize that in order to move forward on environmental and economic progress, it will not be enough to simply focus on what is bad in the world and in the environment, we will have to design, develop and implement the good; the next generation of sustainable products and processes. This conference will be swimming in those innovations! The best thing that will come out of this conference is the sense of optimism for continuous improvement that our greatest Green Chemistry innovations of today will be exceeded by the innovations when we convene again next year.

Listen to another interview with Paul Anastas, courtesy of the Science and Society podcast here.

10th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference, June 26-30

Green chemistry is a far-ranging effort to reduce the environmental impact of the chemical enterprise. It focuses on developing and using technologies that are cleaner, smarter, less costly and more sustainable than approaches traditionally used in chemistry and chemical engineering. Authorities on green chemistry are gathering in Washington, D.C., June 26-30 for a conference that promises to be a bonanza of news and background for science and environmental journalists. It is the 10th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference [ www.greenchem2006.org]. Sponsors include the American Chemical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the National Science Foundation, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, the ACS Green Chemistry Institute, the ACS Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Roundtable, and the Mascaro Sustainability Initiative. For information and media registration, contact Charmayne Marsh at 202-872-4445 or [email protected].