Green chemistry

Since their initial appearance in the scientific literature, the terms "green" and "sustainable" have been increasingly used and are nowadays ubiquitously present in the terminology of several research areas. The seminal origin of what is considered “green chemistry” today might be ascribed to the launch of the Responsible Care® initiative by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) [1] and to the Brundtland report [2]. The concept was then further refined and completed with the Pollution Prevention Act (approved by the American Congress [3]) and the definition of the Anastas and Warner’s 12 principles of green chemistry [4,5]. Very generally, green chemistry may be considered as the scientific and economical context in which academia, industry and government are attempting to converge their efforts for the development of a sustainable civilization.