IntroductionAs the fi ne chemical and pharmaceutical industries progress into the 21st century there is an ever -increasing necessity to improve the sustainability of their manufacturing processes. In 2006 James Clark stated ' The three cornerstones of sustainable development -economic, environmental, and social benefi t -each provide drivers for change that should help to push the application of green chemistry forward ' [1] . The responsibility, therefore, is on the manufacturer to develop and operate sustainable processes, for example, by (i) reducing waste or treating waste to render it nonhazardous. (ii) improving process effi ciency by using less raw materials and by recycling and re -using solvents whenever appropriate, and (iii) developing cleaner, more energy -effi cient processes and by reducing emissions through effective abatement management.One useful measure of a process ' s sustainability is the E factor [2] . As defi ned by Roger Sheldon, the E factor is the ratio (by weight) of the by -products to the desired product(s). The pharmaceutical and fi ne chemical industries routinely operate processes with E factors one to two orders of magnitude higher than their petrochemical counterparts. There are many reasons for this, including the high level of chemical complexity in pharmaceutical products and the high quality standards in the pharmaceutical industry, but another circumstance contributing to this difference between the E factors is the type of manufacturing technology employed. The petrochemical industry tends to operate continuous processes, whereas the fi ne chemical and pharmaceutical industries predominantly use less effi cient batch manufacturing methods. It could be argued that the different production techniques simply refl ect the volume and complexity of the materials manufactured. Is it correct, however, that relatively simple petrochemical products are produced using modern continuous -based manufacturing technologies whereas pharmaceutical products and intermediates are produced using older batch methods?In the fi eld of organic chemistry, new synthetic strategies and methodologies are developed at an astonishing rate to access a diverse range of molecules.