Green Chemistry and Organic Solvent Safety Awareness among Chemistry Students

Abstract

This study investigated chemistry and chemistry-related students' self-reported awareness about green chemistry principles, hazards of organic solvents, safe laboratory practices, management of chemical waste, and the students' perception of barriers in practicing green chemistry in educational laboratory settings. A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was used, and data were collected using a structured Arabic questionnaire that was sent electronically through Google Forms. A total of 182 valid responses were received from undergraduate students enrolled in a chemistry or related scientific program. The questionnaire consisted of demographic and academic questions, 31 Likert-scale questions and one open-ended question. Responses were scored on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly Agree; 5 = Strongly Disagree), with lower mean scores reflecting higher levels of agreement. For the awareness domains, lower mean scores reflected higher self-reported awareness. The barriers and challenges domain was understood separately, with lower scores reflecting greater perceived barriers and challenges. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach's alpha, independent-samples t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation and thematic summary of open-ended responses were used. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the questionnaire were in the range of 0.858–0.934 for the awareness domains, and 0.963 for the overall awareness scale, excluding barriers. The overall awareness scale showed strong self-reported agreement, with a mean score of 1.494. Safe laboratory practices showed the strongest self-reported awareness, while green chemistry awareness was comparatively weaker. Students' self-reported capability in differentiating between relatively safer solvents and highly hazardous solvents was the weakest item-level result. However, students who had completed an organic chemistry course, an organic chemistry laboratory, or three or more chemistry laboratories reported significantly greater self-reported awareness. The overall awareness score was comparable between gender and academic level and not significantly associated with gender or academic level. Students also perceived several barriers, including the lack of chemical waste containers, limited practical training, and the need for additional workshops. These findings should be interpreted as students' perceived awareness rather than direct evidence of actual knowledge or observed laboratory practice. The results indicate that students reported high perceived awareness of laboratory safety and green chemistry; however, emphasis is needed in practice on safer solvents, using SDS/MSDS, how to interpret the labels on the chemicals used and what to do with chemical waste.