Universities are at the forefront of developing science-based solutions to address grand challenges in sustainability. But how does new knowledge move beyond individual labs and universities into broad communities of research and practice? Our work addresses this question by examining the emergence and evolution of green chemistry. By pairing social network analysis with a unique data set of green chemistry research articles, we are able to map collaboration between both researchers and institutions over the last 18 years. This approach allows for an empirical assessment of the most central researchers, institutions, and journal articles in green chemistry. We augment our network analysis with interview data obtained from participants in the field, enabling us to deepen our understanding of how knowledge developed and diffused. Our work not only contributes to the understanding of the evolution of green chemistry collaboration, but also suggests intriguing possibilities for future collaboration by indentifying gaps and isolated groups in the overall research structure. These results provide insight for researchers, funders, public policy makers, and businesses regarding the most effective levers for translating university research based innovation into practical sustainability solutions.