What gave the first molecules their stability?

New insights into the origins of life

05-Aug-2024 - The origins of life remain a major mystery. How were complex molecules able to form and remain intact for prolonged periods without disintegrating? A team at ORIGINS, a Munich-based Cluster of Excellence, has demonstrated a mechanism that could have enabled the first RNA molecules to stabilize in ...

Feathers replace petroleum

Adhesives from feathers: The project addresses a billion-dollar market

06-Mar-2024 - Adhesives are almost always based on fossil raw materials such as petroleum. Researchers at Fraunhofer have recently developed a process that allows to utilize keratin for this purpose. This highly versatile protein compound can be found, for instance, in chicken feathers. Not only can it be used ...

Boosting PET recycling with higher standards for laboratory experiments

New study shows how enzymatic plastic degradation could be brought one step closer to commercialisation

29-Nov-2023 - Many enzymes promise to break down plastic. But what works well in the lab often fails on a large scale. Now a new study by Gert Weber, HZB, Uwe Bornscheuer, University of Greifswald, and Alain Marty, Chief Scientific Officer of Carbios, shows how raising the bar for laboratory experiments could ...

Evonik cooperates with REMONDIS on sustainable polyurethane recycling

The cooperation will support Evonik as it develops its chemical recycling process to the next level

19-Sep-2023 - Evonik is one step closer to its goal of closing the material cycle in the polyurethane industry: The company has joined forces with the REMONDIS Group, one of the world's leading recycling companies to secure the supply of end-of-life mattress foams. The cooperation will support Evonik as it ...

Degradable sugar-based polymers may store and release useful molecular freight

Options for chemical plastic recycling

25-Jan-2021 - Degradable, bio-based polymers offer options for chemical recycling, and they can be a tool to store and release useful molecules. Scientists have developed a class of sugar-based polymers that are degradable through acid hydrolysis. The researchers also integrated “cargo” molecules in the ...

Adsorbent material developed with PET bottles for the removal of antibiotics from water

The porous carbon composite is applicable to various fields

27-Apr-2020 - South Korea with its high antibiotic use is categorized as a country at high risk of the emergence of multi drug-resistant bacteria, or so-called "super bacteria." According to the Ministry of Environment, antibiotic substances have been detected at livestock wastewater treatment facilities, ...

Converting biomass by applying mechanical force

15-Mar-2019 - One of the greatest global challenges is the efficient use of renewable sources in order to meet the increasing demand for energy and feedstock chemicals in the future. In this context, biomass is a promising alternative to existing fossil sources such as coal or oil. Cellulose plays a decisive ...

Engineering antidotes to chemical weapons

18-Oct-2017 - Chemical weapons and other toxic agents including pesticides pose a serious health threat worldwide, whether they are deliberately released or emitted by accident from industrial chemical operations during processing, shipping, or storage. Jin Montclare, an associate professor in the Department ...

Chemical trickery corrals 'hyperactive' metal-oxide cluster

09-Dec-2016 - After decades of eluding researchers because of chemical instability, key metal-oxide clusters have been isolated in water, a significant advance for growing the clusters with the impeccable control over atoms that's required to manufacture small features in electronic circuits. Oregon State ...

Splitting disulphide bonds in water is more complicated than previously thought

26-Oct-2016 - From a chemical perspective, splitting disulphide bonds under tensile stress is a substantially more complicated process than previously assumed. A team headed by Prof Dr Dominik Marx from Ruhr-Universität Bochum found out what happens in detail during this process - with the aid of extensive ...