Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol.16, No.3, 376-383, 2008
Systematic selection of green solvents for organic reacting systems
The solvent selection methodology developed earlier by Gani et al. (Comp. Chem. Eng., 2005) has been extended to handle multi-step reaction systems. The solvent selection problem was formulated based on the methodology guidelines, and solved using ICAS software tool. A list with solvent candidates is generated so that it can be further investigated experimentally. Comments and clarifications from chemists have been incorporated into the problem formulations to clarify the role of the solvents in the chemistry and potential reactivity issues. Highly promising results were obtained, in accordance with industrial process data.
Keywords:pharmaceutical synthesis;green chemistry;green engineering;solvent selection;computer-aided molecular design