AI4Green4Students: Promoting Sustainable Chemistry in Undergraduate Laboratories with an Electronic Lab Notebook

Area of Science:

• Green Chemistry
• Chemical Education
• Laboratory Informatics

Background:

• The pharmaceutical sector faces environmental challenges, necessitating sustainable practices.
• Traditional laboratory notebooks lack features for environmental impact assessment.
• Educating future chemists in sustainable practices is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present AI4Green4Students, a pedagogical adaptation of the AI4Green electronic laboratory notebook (ELN).
• To foster sustainable laboratory practices among undergraduate chemistry students.
• To integrate sustainability assessment tools into chemistry education.

Main Methods:

• Development of AI4Green4Students with features for sustainability assessment, data documentation, and analysis.
• Collection of user feedback through questionnaires and interviews for iterative refinement.
• Implementation in a Year 3 undergraduate chemistry lab project.

Main Results:

• The AI4Green4Students ELN was successfully developed and refined based on user feedback.
• Implementation in an undergraduate lab project showed improved adherence to sustainable practices.
• The ELN demonstrated its potential to support the integration of sustainable chemistry into teaching.

Conclusions:

• AI4Green4Students effectively supports the integration of sustainable chemistry principles into undergraduate laboratory teaching.
• The ELN equips students with essential skills for modern, environmentally conscious chemical practices.
• Future work will expand the ELN's scope and enhance its machine learning capabilities.