GREEN CHEMISTRY AND ENVIRONMENT

During the academic year 2007-08, the Department of Chemistry offered a 60-hour add-on certificate course entitled GREEN CHEMISTRY AND ENVIRONMENT. Sixteen students including three students of Daulat Ram College attended and successfully completed the certificate course. The course covered lectures, practical sessions, a field visit and screening of films concerning the environment. Eminent speakers from a variety of educational institutions, research organizations and the private sector delivered the lectures. The lectures and practical sessions broadly covered the following aspects: Green Chemistry- Principles and applications, Learning from nature- use of enzymes and other natural compounds in the laboratory, Molecular Modelling- Strategies for rational design of new compounds and Environmental concerns and waste management. The field visit linked up the lectures on environment concerns with a realistic example.
The Chemistry Department proposes to offer a similar course during the academic session 2008-09 and hopes to attract more enthusiastic students from across Delhi University colleges to create awareness about the environment and inculcate good and “green” laboratory habits amongst the science students.