Safer solvent use in the pharmaceutical industry

Alternative solvents

Despite the fifth principle of Green Chemistry stating 'the use of auxiliary substances (e.g., solvents, separation agents, etc.) should be made unnecessary wherever possible and, innocuous when used', arguably no field of research has benefited more from Green Chemistry than solvents. Instead of removing solvents from products and processes, scientists were spurred on to create benign solvents that avoided the environmental health and safety issues generally associated with solvents. We now have a plethora of new solvents with intriguing properties that can be used to make chemistry safer and more sustainable. Read on for further information on bio-based solvents, ionic liquids, water, carbon dioxide, and solvent-free reactions and how they might be used to make active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).