Assessment of Greenness of Various Routes of Synthesis of cis and trans Isomers of Bis(glycinato)copper(II) Monohydrate: An Undergraduate Chemistry Experiment

Abstract

Synthesis of cis and trans isomers of bis(glycinato)copper (II) monohydrate is a standard experiment performed in undergraduate curriculum. Awareness on green chemistry on the other hand is also another important topic for undergraduate students. The aim of this paper is to introduce these two important aspects through a unified protocol, which was executed by an undergraduate student as summer project. The focus of this study is to present the results of the evaluation of greenness of the synthetic routes traditionally used for the synthesis of cis/trans copper gycinato complexes at undergraduate labs. The evaluation tables should help the educators to present an overview of greenness of different preparative methodologies before the students. Each of the two geometrical isomers had been prepared via two different routes available in literatures. The greenness had been assessed in accordance with the 12 principles of Green Chemistry formulated by Paul Anastas and John Warner. A tabular form of the Green Chemistry Mass Metrices is presented along with and other holistic graphic metrics such as the Green Star and the Green Circle, the latter being based on the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals. Further, SWOT tables (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) have been included to expose the upshots and drawbacks of the different synthetic routes.