Green chemistry: State of the art through an analysis of the literature

The literature of green chemistry has undergone a dramatic increase in the new millennium. Besides that, in ad hoc journals, papers of this type are published in journals of general, organic, and catalytic chemistry. The high proportion of communications within this area indicates that this is a hot topic. These reports mainly concern more environment-friendly synthetic methods, based on better catalytic systems, less harmful solvents and, more rarely, ‘‘alternative’’ physical techniques. Although the compliance with the green chemistry postulates is still partial, a trend in this direction is recognizable. For example, the number of preparative papers that introduce an environmental assessment is rapidly increasing.