Calculate the Solvent Intensity of any chemical process from the actual masses of solvents and auxiliaries used and the mass of product isolated. Results update live as you type — and every session stays in your browser, never on a server.
Solvent Intensity (SI) is a direct experimental measure of how much solvent and auxiliary material a chemical process consumes per unit of desired product isolated. Expressed as grams of solvent per gram of product (g/g), SI isolates the solvent burden from the broader Process Mass Intensity (PMI) calculation, shining a direct light on Principle 5 of Green Chemistry — Safer Solvents and Auxiliaries.
| Symbol | Term | Units |
|---|---|---|
| \(\text{SI}\) | Solvent Intensity | g g−1; ideal value = 0 |
| \(m_{\text{solvent},i}\) | Mass of each solvent or auxiliary used (enter volume × density, or mass directly) | g |
| \(m_{\text{recovered},i}\) | Mass of solvent i recovered and recycled (credits recycling) | g |
| \(m_{\text{product}}\) | Mass of isolated desired product | g |
SI uses net solvent mass (used minus recovered) to reward recycling and recovery. All solvents and auxiliary substances — reaction solvents, extraction solvents, wash solvents, recrystallisation solvents, chromatography eluents, drying agents — should be included. A lower SI is always better; SI = 0 represents a fully solvent-free process.
| Process type | Typical SI (g/g) | Key driver |
|---|---|---|
| Industrial bulk chemicals (highly optimised) | < 5 | Minimal auxiliary solvent; continuous processing |
| Academic synthesis (simple, 1–2 solvents) | 5–20 | Reaction solvent + recrystallisation only |
| Pharmaceutical fine chemicals (multi-step) | 20–50 | Multiple solvent exchanges, workup, chromatography |
| Complex API synthesis or chiral resolution | > 50 | Many steps, large excess reagents, heavy purification |
| Metric | What it measures | Stage |
|---|---|---|
| Solvent Intensity (SI) | Net solvent & auxiliary mass per unit product mass — the focus of this tool | Experimental |
| Atom Economy (AE) | Theoretical fraction of reactant mass in desired product (from balanced equation) | Design |
| % Yield | Fraction of theoretical product actually isolated | Experimental |
| E-factor | Total waste mass per unit product (includes all inputs: reagents, solvents, workup) | Experimental |
| PMI (Process Mass Intensity) | Total input mass per unit product; PMI = E-factor + 1; SI is a component of PMI | Experimental |
Enter every solvent and auxiliary substance used: reaction solvents, extraction solvents, wash solvents, recrystallisation solvents, chromatography eluents, drying agents, etc. Enter volume and density to auto-calculate mass, or enter mass directly. Enter any mass recovered to give credit for recycling — net mass = used − recovered.
| Solvent / auxiliary | Category | Vol. (mL) | Density (g/mL) | Mass used (g) | Recovered (g) | Net mass (g) |
|---|
Tip: Mass = Volume (mL) × Density (g/mL). Common densities: water 1.000, ethanol 0.789, ethyl acetate 0.902, DCM 1.325, acetone 0.791, toluene 0.867, hexane 0.659, THF 0.889, DMF 0.944.
Enter the mass of product actually isolated at the end of the process (after all workup and purification). This is the denominator of the SI calculation.
| Solvent / auxiliary | Category | Used (g) | Recovered (g) | Net (g) | % of Σ net | Visual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enter solvents and product mass above to see breakdown. | ||||||
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Export your Solvent Intensity calculation as a PDF report or CSV data file. PDF opens in a new tab and uses your browser's print function. CSV downloads directly.
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