RASEI Fellow Niels Damrauer is part of a collaborative team that have developed a new light-driven C-F activation reaction, one that has the potential to help dismantle PFAS ‘forever chemicals’

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are synthetic compounds that have found widespread use in consumer products and industrial applications. Their water and grease resistant properties have been part of their attraction in their applications, but these are also the reason that they are now found practically everywhere in the environment, they are very difficult to decompose.

While many chemicals will decompose relatively quickly, studies have shown that PFAS are expected to stick around for up to 1000 years. While this durability is great in something like firefighting foams or non-stick cookware, it is not great when these compounds get into the environment.

This new article, published in Nature in November of 2024, describes the work of a collaborative team of theoretical and experimental chemists, who have developed a new photochemical reaction that could hold promise of speeding up the decomposition of PFAS. A recent highlight of this work, written by the graduate student and postdoctoral fellows who did the research, appeared in The Conversation.

Using a photocatalyst, that absorbs light to speed up a reaction, the researchers were able to ‘activate’ one of the carbon-fluorine bonds, one of the strongest bonds in organic chemistry. The photocatalyst absorbs light, transfers electrons to the fluorine containing molecules, which then breaks down the sturdy carbon-fluorine bond.

While this doesn’t decompose the whole molecule, it is essentially like finding a chink in the armor, it opens the door to degradation of the PFAS to harmless smaller molecules.

This study demonstrated this process on a small scale, and the researchers are looking at how to optimize this reaction so it is more robust and can be done on larger scales. This work is part of a National Science Foundation funded Center for Chemical Innovation called SuPRCat, a research community that will be looking at this challenge, among others.

If it is possible to break down these forever chemicals, it will help prevent these environmental pollutants being in our soil, rivers, and drinking water. Excited to see the next steps from the team!

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Chemicals are everywhere, from the organic building blocks that make up living organisms, to the synthetic chemicals we use to create advanced materials, such as electronics. More traditional methods for making these critical chemicals have relied on elevated temperatures, additional chemicals, and can often generate large amounts of waste, or be difficult to dispose of at the end of life. One of the core pillars to the RASEI mission is to design new ways to make these critical chemicals, ways that use less energy, generate less waste, and are easier to dispose of when no longer needed.

One of the most intriguing, and sustainable, ways to make chemicals that has emerged in the last decade is so-called photoredox catalysis – essentially using light to drive the reaction. In the same way that harvesting solar energy is far more renewable and cleaner than burning fossil fuels, photoredox methods for making reactions reduces the amount of additional chemicals required, reduces the amount of energy needed, and produces a more sustainable process. Coupling this new technology with a design ethos focused on the end of life of these chemicals, creates an approach that can address many of the concerns associated with synthetic chemicals.

RASEI Fellow Niels Damrauer is a founding member of a new National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Center for Chemical Innovation (CCI) titled The Center for Sustainable Photoredox Catalysis, or SUPRCAT. Niels is a member of the Executive Committee, and is a research area lead. Launched in August of 2023, the mission of SUPRCAT is to transform chemical synthesis by designing powerful, industrially-relevant processes using sustainable photoredox catalysts based on organic or earth abundant compounds and the energy from visible light.

Led out of Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ State University by Prof. Garret Miyake, SUPRCAT brings together a multidisciplinary team of 12 research groups from CSU, Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ Boulder, University of Wisconsin, University of Northern Å·ÃÀ¿Ú±¬ÊÓƵ, Northeastern University, Metropolitan State University Denver and a startup company called New Iridium.

The NSF CCI program supports research Centers focused on major, long-term fundamental chemical research challenges. CCI’s work to address these challenges to produce transformative research that leads to innovation and attracts broad scientific and public interest. SUPRCAT are certainly taking on a grand challenge – we are excited to see their progress.  

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