EcoScale, a semi- quantitative tool to select an organic preparation based on economical and ecological parameters

• Koen Van Aken,
• Lucjan Strekowski and
• Luc Patiny

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2006, 2, No. 3, doi:10.1186/1860-5397-2-3

• alternative. [1][2] The main parameters and approaches are briefly discussed as follows. Atom economy [3][4] This parameter is the ratio of the molecular weight of the target molecule to the sum total of the molecular weights of all the substances produced in the stoichiometric equation for the reaction

• involved. It takes into account the amount of the reagents incorporated into the end product. Cycloadditions are examples of transformations with 100% atom economy. For other reactions (e.g. substitution reaction), a 100 % economy can never be reached due to the intrinsic nature of the reaction. The main

• use of this parameter is to adapt reaction sequences in a way that transformations with low atom economy are limited to a minimum. Environmental factor (E-factor) [5][6][7][8] This factor is the ratio of the weight of generated waste to the total weight of the end product. It is a useful tool for