{"id":8915,"date":"2022-08-24T17:27:19","date_gmt":"2022-08-24T17:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/scientists-discover-easy-way-to-destroy-forever-chemicals"},"modified":"2022-08-24T17:27:19","modified_gmt":"2022-08-24T17:27:19","slug":"scientists-discover-easy-way-to-destroy-forever-chemicals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/scientists-discover-easy-way-to-destroy-forever-chemicals","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Discover Easy Way to Destroy \u2018Forever Chemicals\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Sierra-Leone. <\/strong><\/span>Scientists have discovered an &#8220;Achilles heel&#8221; in two popular classes of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). A simple and affordable method helps to decompose these substances, known as \u201cforever chemicals\u201d, into safe components.<\/p>\n<p>Chemists from Northwestern University have developed a new decomposition method for two classes of PFAS containing carboxylic acid. The technology works at normal temperatures and requires only inexpensive reagents.<\/p>\n<p>The secret of the stability of PFAS is in the bonds of carbon with fluorine. These are the strongest bonds in organic chemistry, which are extremely difficult to break. But when studying compounds of perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids, scientists discovered that at one end of the molecule there is a group that contains charged oxygen atoms.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers used a solvent focused on this group. To do this, they heated the PFAS in dimethyl sulfoxide with sodium hydroxide. Such an impact destroyed the &#8220;head group&#8221; of the molecule and started the processes of further disintegration of the substance. At the same time, the material isolated fluorine atoms in the form of fluoride, the safest possible form, the authors of the study say.<\/p>\n<p>PFAS is a class of chemicals with very strong fluorocarbon bonds. They are often called &#8220;forever chemicals&#8221; because they are extremely difficult to destroy. Bacteria can&#8217;t eat them, fire can&#8217;t incinerate them, and water doesn&#8217;t dilute them. Since the 1940s, these substances have been actively used as non-stick and waterproofing agents.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\">Sierra-Leone<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Sierra-Leone. Scientists have discovered an &#8220;Achilles heel&#8221; in two popular classes of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). A simple and affordable method helps to decompose these substances, known as \u201cforever chemicals\u201d, into safe components. Chemists from Northwestern University have developed a new decomposition method for two classes of PFAS containing carboxylic acid. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":8914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,9],"tags":[291,293,292],"class_list":["post-8915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-sierra-leone","tag-sierra-leone"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Scientists Discover Easy Way to Destroy \u2018Forever Chemicals\u2019 - Sierra Leone<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/scientists-discover-easy-way-to-destroy-forever-chemicals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scientists Discover Easy Way to Destroy \u2018Forever Chemicals\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press &#8211; Sierra-Leone. Scientists have discovered an &#8220;Achilles heel&#8221; in two popular classes of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). A simple and affordable method helps to decompose these substances, known as \u201cforever chemicals\u201d, into safe components. Chemists from Northwestern University have developed a new decomposition method for two classes of PFAS containing carboxylic acid. The [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/scientists-discover-easy-way-to-destroy-forever-chemicals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sierra Leone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-24T17:27:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/scientists-discover-easy-way-to-destroy-forever-chemicals#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/scientists-discover-easy-way-to-destroy-forever-chemicals\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Scientists Discover Easy Way to Destroy \u2018Forever Chemicals\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-24T17:27:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/scientists-discover-easy-way-to-destroy-forever-chemicals\"},\"wordCount\":257,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/scientists-discover-easy-way-to-destroy-forever-chemicals#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_1-630662bf67297.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Sierra-Leone\",\"Sierra-Leone\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/scientists-discover-easy-way-to-destroy-forever-chemicals#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/scientists-discover-easy-way-to-destroy-forever-chemicals\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/scientists-discover-easy-way-to-destroy-forever-chemicals\",\"name\":\"Scientists Discover Easy Way to Destroy \u2018Forever Chemicals\u2019 - 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Scientists have discovered an &#8220;Achilles heel&#8221; in two popular classes of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). A simple and affordable method helps to decompose these substances, known as \u201cforever chemicals\u201d, into safe components. Chemists from Northwestern University have developed a new decomposition method for two classes of PFAS containing carboxylic acid. 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