Our latest blog series is designed to guide peptide chemists towards a greener, more sustainable laboratory. Each of our blog entries (or sermons, if you will) will delve into one principle. If you missed a previous one, they can be found here.
Fourth Commandment: Design Safer Chemicals
We are a third of the way through our review of the ACS Twelve Principles, and generally, we have focused on process, especially concerning solvents. The fourth commandment is admittedly the most difficult to adhere to for peptide chemists, given the general scope of their work. As Nicholas D. Anastas, Ph.D., of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – New England states that it, “may be one of the most challenging aspects of designing safer products and processes. Achieving this goal requires an understanding of not only chemistry but also of the principles of toxicology and environmental science.”1
Additionally, it can be asserted that when peptides are made to a specific order or designed to fulfill research requirements, there might be little latitude in the ability to “design safer chemicals.” Getting to the result often does not allow any deviation from the required outcome, toxic or not.
Worth the Effort
That said, peptide chemists can utilize toxicologists and data to apply new metrics and issue guidelines to assess the safety of chemicals better. Toxicology Testing In the 21st Century (Tox21) is a significant collaboration between the EPA, NIH (including the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences and the National Toxicology Program at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences), and the Food and Drug Administration.2 Some publications and resources offered there will assist in adhering to this commandment and establishing greener end products coming out of the lab.