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.

The focus of green analytical chemistry (GAC) is to minimize the negative impacts of analytical procedures on human safety, human health, and the environment. Several factors, such as the reagents used, sample collection, sample processing, instruments, energy consumed, and the quantities of hazardous materials and waste generated during analytical procedures, need to be considered in the evaluation of the greenness of analytical assays. In this study, we propose a greenness evaluation metric for analytical methods (GEMAM). The new greenness metric is simple, flexible, and comprehensive. The evaluation criteria are based on both the 12 principles of GAC (SIGNIFICANCE) and the 10 factors of sample preparation, and the results are presented on a 0-10 scale. The GEMAM calculation process is easy to perform, and its results are easy to interpret. The output of GEMAM is a pictogram that can provide both qualitative and quantitative information based on color and number.

Polyethylene glycol is one of the most commonly used synthetic macromolecular polymers for modifying small molecule drugs, peptides, proteins or Nano-drug delivery systems to improve their water solubility, biocompatibility and stability. Block copolymers containing PEG have been widely used in Nano-drug delivery systems such as solid lipid nanoparticles, polymeric nanoparticles, polymeric micelles and liposomes. To date, although numerous PEGylated Nano-drug delivery systems have been developed, only a few have been approved for clinical application. Poor safety and effectivity are important reasons for the high failure of Nano-drug delivery systems clinical trials. These factors are not only related to the loaded drugs and released drugs, but also related to the nanocarriers. Therefore, investigating the in vivo spatiotemporal fate of block copolymers containing PEG used in Nano-drug delivery systems is necessary and important for evaluating their safety, efficacy and toxicity. In this article, we will review the information that has been reported about the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of block copolymers containing PEG. We believe this review is helpful to understand the biological fate of block copolymers containing PEG. Significance Statement This review describes pharmacokinetic study of block copolymers containing polyethylene. The main focus of this paper is the in vivo fate of these PEG related copolymers after their release from Nanocarriers. This review is helpful for understanding of the in vivo fate of block copolymers containing polyethylene glycol used in Nanocarrier drug delivery system.