As the Green Chemistry 1,2 movement has gained momentum, definitions of Green Chemistry have been dominated predominantly by academic viewpoints. Green Chemistry concepts, however, apply to an incredible diversity of scientific endeavor, which has invariably led to differences between and amongst both academia and industry regarding what constitutes Green Chemistry. Speaking primarily of the pharmaceutical industry and considering the advances achieved toward promoting Green Chemistry globally, 3 it is surprising how diverse the answers can be when executives, engineers, biologists, and chemists are asked the seemingly simple question "What is Green Chemistry?" Perhaps this should be expected considering that individual priorities change based upon a specific endeavor, altering the focus of Green Chemistry and consequently the message, making general definitions difficult. A common impression obtained appears to be that many do not accurately know or fully understand the true motivations, drivers, and deciding factors that serve to inspire and define Green Chemistry, and in particular Pharmaceutical Green Chemistry. This commentary seeks to shed light upon key aspects with regard to the philosophy of Pharmaceutical Green Chemistry.

Green and sustainable drug manufacturing goes hand in hand with forward-looking visions seeking to balance the long-term sustainability of business, society, and the environment.

BackgroundTwin studies have revealed a significant contribution of the fetal genome to risk of preterm birth. Preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) is the leading identifiable cause of preterm delivery. Infection and inflammation of the fetal membranes is commonly found associated with PPROM.MethodsWe carried out whole exome sequencing (WES) of genomic DNA from neonates born of African‐American mothers whose pregnancies were complicated by PPROM (76) or were normal term pregnancies (N = 43) to identify mutations in 35 candidate genes involved in innate immunity and host defenses against microbes. Targeted genotyping of mutations in the candidates discovered by WES was conducted on an additional 188 PPROM cases and 175 controls.ResultsWe identified rare heterozygous nonsense and frameshift mutations in several of the candidate genes, including CARD6, CARD8, DEFB1, FUT2, MBL2, NLP10, NLRP12, and NOD2. We discovered that some mutations (CARD6, DEFB1, FUT2, MBL2, NLRP10, NOD2) were present only in PPROM cases.ConclusionsWe conclude that rare damaging mutations in innate immunity and host defense genes, the majority being heterozygous, are more frequent in neonates born of pregnancies complicated by PPROM. These findings suggest that the risk of preterm birth in African‐Americans may be conferred by mutations in multiple genes encoding proteins involved in dampening the innate immune response or protecting the host against microbial infection and microbial products.