Green analytical chemistry metrics for evaluating the greenness of analytical procedures

Green analytical chemistry (GAC) focuses on mitigating the adverse effects of analytical activities on human safety, human health, and environment. In addition to the 12 principles of GAC, proper GAC tools should be developed and employed to assess the greenness of different analytical assays. The 15 widely used GAC metrics, i.e., national environmental methods index (NEMI), advanced NEMI, assessment of green profile (AGP), chloroform-oriented toxicity estimation scale (ChlorTox Scale), Analytical Eco-Scale, Green Certificate Modified Eco-Scale, analytical method greenness score (AMGS), green analytical procedure index (GAPI), ComplexGAPI, red-green-blue (RGB) additive color model, RGB 12 algorithm, analytical greenness calculator (AGREE), AGREE preparation (AGREEprep), HEXAGON, and blue applicability grade index (BAGI), are selected as the typical tools. This article comprehensively presents and elucidates the principles, characteristics, merits, and demerits of 15 widely used GAC tools. This review is helpful for researchers to use the current GAC metrics to assess the environmental sustainability of analytical assays.