1908: Giacomo Ciamician and the concept of green chemistry

To make available to today's society compounds and materials that are useful in everyday life while causing no harm to the environment is what is expected from the modern chemical industry. It is probably unnecessary to comment on the distance between this ideal and the actual state of affairs, or worse, the perception that the general public has of it. The realization that this gap must be filled has recently led to the development of a discipline that has become known as sustainable or "green" chemistry.[1] This area has acquired momentum in the last decade and promises significant advances. However, it is interesting to point out that a lucid illustration of environmentally friendly chemistry was elaborated a century ago by the eminent Italian chemist Giacomo Ciamician (1857-1922; Figure 1),[2] who made a conscious effort to develop a science corresponding to this concept. As this idea was first presented in its complete form in a talk before the Societe Francaise de Chimie (French Chemical Society) on June 5, 1908 (Figure 2),[6] we could celebrate in 2008 the centenary of the concept of sustainable or green chemistry. © 2008 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co.KGaA, Weinheim.