Metrics & Mandates: Driving Chemistry Toward a Greener Future

As sustainability continues to guide both corporate and academic decision-making in the lab, chemists are increasingly tasked with evaluating the environmental impact of their work early in process development.

Understanding what makes a chemical reaction sustainable and having the tools to assess and improve it is a crucial skill in modern chemistry. Join Jonathan Tripp of Gilead Sciences as he explores practical methods and tools chemists can use to enhance reaction sustainability, as well as how to quantify the benefits of different process options using well-established metrics.

In addition to internally led initiatives to improve the sustainability of chemical processes, the U.S. Federal Government continues to implement new regulations that impact the work of industrial and academic chemists. With the EPA’s ruling on methylene chloride (also known as dichloromethane) taking effect under Section 6(a) of the Toxic Substances Control Act as of July 8, 2024, academic institutions must now plan for compliance with industrial and commercial uses to follow in 2026. Join Amanda Chung of UNC Chapel Hill as she shares how her institution has addressed this regulatory shift through collaboration, communication, and program development to ensure safe, compliant use of methylene chloride in research and teaching labs.

This ACS Webinar is moderated by Edmond Lam of the ACS Green Chemistry Institute and is coproduced by ACS Government Affairs.

What You Will Learn:
• What factors contribute to the sustainability of a chemical reaction
• What tools are available to assess and improve the sustainability of chemical processes
• What are the key sustainability metrics and how they’re calculated and applied
• How the new methylene chloride rule impacts academic institutions
• What steps has UNC Chapel Hill taken to develop and implement a compliant program
• What are the takeaways from exposure monitoring at UNC-CH and implications for lab safety