The conventional solvents used in chemical, pharmaceutical, biomedical and separation processes represent a great challenge to green chemistry because of their toxicity and flammability. Since the beginning of "the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry" in 1998, a general effort has been made to replace conventional solvents with environmentally benign substitutes. Water has been the most popular choice so far, followed by ionic liquids, surfactant, supercritical fluids, fluorous solvents, liquid polymers, bio-solvents and switchable solvent systems.

Green Solvents Volume I and II...