Cocrystal Controlled Solid-State Synthesis. A Green Chemistry Experiment for Undergraduate Organic Chemistry

Green chemistry has become an important area of concern for all chemists from practitioners in the pharmaceutical industry to professors and the students they teach and is now being incorporated into lectures of general and organic chemistry courses. However, there are relatively few green chemistry experiments that are easily incorporated into these undergraduate courses and clearly demonstrate the application of green chemistry principles. Experiments are described that can be adapted to a typical undergraduate organic chemistry course easily and are inexpensive, relatively safe, require no solvent (or extremely small quantities of solvent), have high atom economy, make use of non-toxic or low toxicity compounds, and generate negligible quantities of waste. The experiments can be accomplished through the use of a new technique known as cocrystal controlled solid-state synthesis, C³S³. The method not only represents an area of current high activity in the scientific research community but also exposes students to the actual practice and application of green chemistry.