How green are ZIF synthesis protocols?

Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) represent a unique class of reticular materials attracting a sharp interest for key industrial directions including gas adsorption/separation, energy storage, and catalysis. In line with this, a sustainable scaling-up of ZIFs production is applying the 12 principles of Green Chemistry, resulting in green synthesis protocols. However, at this stage, we are coming to a knowledge gap where we need to quantify the green synthesis protocols and their actual environmental impact (see Figure).

To address this question, here we perform an environmental impact assessment of the most important ZIF members: ZIF-8, ZIF-67, and ZIF-90. For each material, diverse synthesis protocols adhering to Green Chemistry Principles were decoded into stages and analyzed.

All in all, this work contributes into one of the essential directions in materials science – sustainable synthesis of materials. The main impact of the work is connected to quantifying the potential environmental hotspots of green synthesis protocols and giving a guidance for the development of sustainable synthesis protocols based on comprehensive environmental assessment. This research direction is gradually becoming an important and integral part of materials science due to increasing environmental concerns which humans are facing at present. We believe that this work could serve as a map for further development of sustainable synthesis of reticular materials and for materials in general. Please have a look:

ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering 2025, DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.5c06818