ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book introduces synthesis tree diagrams to streamline the display and analysis of synthesis plans, particularly convergent ones. It presents the life cycle assessment analysis based on the Mackay compartment environmental model and the Guinee environmental impact potentials formalism. The book also introduces in-depth analysis of energy metrics based on fundamental thermodynamics principles. It provides various algorithms available in the literature including Environmental Assessment Tool for Organic Synthesis, EcoScale, Edwards–Lawrence, GreenStar, Multivariate, University of Toronto Green Chemistry Initiative, Andraos, and Rowan Solvent Greenness Index. The key operative energy metric is energy consumption per unit mass of target product, where energy consumption refers to the amount of input energy that is required to go from an initial state of ambient conditions to a final state of reaction temperature and pressure conditions.