The Associated Press State & Local Wire
Students at the University of Oregon are trying something that may sound like a paradox: a chemistry class without toxic chemicals.
Developed by professors Jim Hutchison and Ken Doxsee, the university's "green chemistry" course has caught the attention of the American Chemical Society, the Environmental Protection Agency and chemistry professors around the country.
"Rather than trying to protect the environment or workers from toxic material, green chemistry substitutes another material so you don't have to worry about it anymore," Hutchison said.
The class is something of a novelty at UO, a school known for its environmentally conscious student body. Thirty students have enrolled this term, less than 15 percent of the school's organic chemistry students.
While more than 200 students took traditional chemistry labs, those who took green chemistry were pleasantly surprised.
"It's a great opportunity to take an environmental focus and avoid being exposed to so many nasty chemicals," biology student Shannon Curnutte said.
General science major David ResSeguie chose the class based on its student-to-teacher ratio, but quickly learned he'd stumbled into something very interesting. "This is taking chemistry in an entirely new direction," ResSeguie said.
Students in traditional labs used highly corrosive nitric acid to produce adipic acid, one of the building blocks of nylon. ResSeguie and Curnutte performed the same experiment using hydrogen peroxide and a simple catalyst. Risks to students and the environment were minimized.
Chemical substitutions are new to college campuses but not entirely new to industry. For the past decade many companies have turned to less toxic methods to create products. President Clinton even issues a "green chemistry" award each year to individuals and industries that reduce waste. Examples include the less-toxic adipic acid synthesis, a new non-lead paint used to keep mussels off ship hulls and a carbon dioxide compound used in dry-cleaning to replace a toxic cleaner.
"It's not just pie-in-the-sky environmental talk," ResSeguie said. "This is being done by real chemists who have the bottom line, yield and economics in mind."
Hutchison expects enrollment to increase as word about the class spreads.
"Our hope is that students will be ambassadors of green chemistry and go off and prove you can do things differently," he said.