The EcoScale as a framework for undergraduate green chemistry teaching and assessment.

An upper-year undergraduate practical examination is presented that utilizes the EcoScale (a semiquantitative tool) and several established mass metrics to assess student understanding of green chemistry principles. This activity focuses on the straightforward preparation of a benzodiazepine via three different catalytic methods, and the analysis of individual experimental data during laboratory time. Students learn about the structure of the EcoScale, apply it as a simplistic life cycle assessment, and critique it as a scientific model. The examination complements more traditional expository and self-design experiments within a synthetic course where green chemistry and sustainability are central themes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]