Microscale chemistry is a laboratory-based, environmentally safe, pollution-prevention approach accomplished by using miniature glassware and significantly reduced amounts of chemicals. Microscale chemistry can be implemented without compromising educational standards or analytical rigor, and its techniques are amenable to industrial R&D applications. Since its modest beginning at three institutions in the early 1980s (Bowdoin College, Merrimack College, and Brown University), microscale chemistry has experienced a rapid growth in the U.S. and around the world. The extent of proliferation of this technique can be judged from numerous publications in this Journal.Originally, microscale chemistry was introduced in the organic chemistry laboratory at Bowdoin College, Maine. It was later expanded to cover general, inorganic, analytical, and environmental chemistry. The National Microscale Chemistry Center was established at Merrimack College in 1992-1993 as the first center to offer formal microscale chemistry training to teachers and chemists at all levels from elementary school to university.Green chemistry (1-3) is a relatively new initiative undertaken by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, in collaboration with the ACS and the Green Chemistry Institute, MD. The simplest definition of green chemistry is "the use of chemistry techniques and methodologies that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of feedstocks, products, by-products, solvents, reagents, etc., that are hazardous to human health or the environment" (2). While more commonly being used in industrial applications, the concepts of green chemistry can also be incorporated into educational pedagogy, which argues for the adoption of microscale laboratory methods in teaching institutions. To recognize the impact of green chemistry on the environment, several awards, such as the Kenneth G. Hancock Green Chemistry Memorial Scholarship and the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards have been instituted (see EPA's award announcement: www.epa.gov/docs/gcc).Microscale chemistry is a laboratory-based green chemistry approach. In green chemistry, the laboratory product, rather than being the industrial 10,000 lb/h of ethyl benzene, is the understanding of the chemistry behind a particular reaction. The application of green chemistry-microscale chemistry to this laboratory product would then be a modification of the reagents, solvents, experimental methodology, and/or products to allow the gaining of this knowledge with the minimum hazard to human health or the environment. A chemist trained in this way will have a significant impact on the solution of problems related to the environment. In this paper we report on the compatibility of microscale chem-istry and green chemistry pedagogic programs: their benefits and impact on academia and industry.We will examine each of the fundamental aspects of green chemistry pedagogy (3b), with examples from microscale experiments performed at our center.

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The objective of this experiment is to destroy, at the microscale level, a sample of surrogate organic waste by generating a powerful oxidizer at the anode of an electrochemical cell. This generated species oxidizes the waste to harmless products. The oxidizer can then be regenerated and recycled. Specifically, this experiment utilizes a redox mediator with a high standard potential (i.e., the Co (III/II) couple, E° = 1.82 V) to destroy a surrogate organic waste (e.g., glycerin or acetic acid) by converting it into CO2 and water. Students can observe the end of the reaction signaled by a color change of the electrolytic medium (from pink to gray-light purple) as well as the evolution of CO2 which precipitates CaCO3 from a Ca(OH)2 solution. The Co(II) solution and the electrodes can then be reused.

Archie's comic book feature on microscale chemistry.

Electrochemical remediation of the environment is gaining widespread acceptance due to the mild conditions used, the cleanliness of the electron as a reagent, the easiness for automation, its versatility, etc. In this paper three phenomena are presented at the microscale level, originating from the application of an electric field to a simulated soil sample: a) Demonstration of metal ion migration, b) Demonstration of the creation and movement of an acidic and a basic front, and c) Demonstration of water movement through soil.