In the past, the problem of waste disposal in the sophomore organic chemistry laboratory was combated by scaling down the experiments.  In other words, the students performed the experiments on the microscale.  Upon my arrival (and through the summer of 2007) at Widener, Organic Chemistry I laboratory students performed all of their reactions on the microscale.  While the microscale is great for reducing the amount of waste generated, this approach does not address the larger problem of hazardous waste disposal and introduces several pedagogical problems.  The microscale experiments require “special” glassware to deal with the small amounts of material used and produced in an experiment.  This microscale equipment is not always similar to the mini- or macroscale equipment students would see in an academic or industrial setting.  The microscale experiments are also VERY frustrating for the students and they routinely get VERY little or NO product yields.  This result is disheartening to the students and leads to an unnecessary anxiety in the organic chemistry laboratory.  Also, rescaling a reaction does not fully address the issue of hazardous waste disposal or the need for more environmentally friendly solvents, reagents, and reactions.  Therefore, Kaitlyn Gerhart, chemistry student, and I redesigned the organic chemistry I laboratory into a green organic chemistry laboratory.  A green organic chemistry laboratory will make students more environmentally aware as the “greenness” of the experiment is discussed and analyzed by the students.  Greening the organic chemistry laboratory accomplished several goals:

1. 1.The experiments have safer starting materials as we are using chemically inert starting materials, reagents, and products where possible.
   

2. 2.We are teaching the students about renewable resources by using the product of a                             previous experiment as the starting material of future experiments.
   

3. 3.We have introduced safer solvents into the laboratory.  For example, ethanol is being used rather than methylene chloride (a highly carcinogenic and commonly used organic solvent).
   

4. 4.We have decreased the amount of waste generated by using reactions with high atom efficiency (a term used to describe the % of atoms in your starting materials that end up in the desired product).
   

5. 5.Since waste generation is unavoidable, we have used reactions that generate biodegradable reactants and products when possible.
   

        Our approach involved an investigation of the current labs performed in Organic Chemistry I and II laboratories to determine their pedagogical purpose.  We also discussed with several science faculty the skills/knowledge that students should obtain from Organic Chemistry I and II laboratory.  From this information, we outlined the knowledge/skills that a student should gain in organic chemistry laboratory and searched the current literature for “green” organic chemistry labs that meet the developed course goals.  As we found suitable experiments, Kaitlyn performed the experiments and we evaluated the experiments based on pedagogical value.  In conjunction with Kaitlyn, I selected the experiments that met the course goals.  I also prepared a custom lab manual with Thomson/Brooks-Cole that incorporated our labs for Organic Chemistry I and II with two of their current Organic Chemsitry Lab textbooks.  We also designed a multi-week inquiry-based, green synthesis experiment.