Researchers have developed an innovative, eco-friendly chemical tool that harnesses the power of engineered “soapy” water and electricity to create reactions in a whole new way.
This breakthrough electrochemistry method could reduce the cost of making medicines and support clean energy technology, including efforts to remove pre- and polyfluoroalkyls (PFAS), also known as “forever-chemicals,” from water.
Traditional electrochemistry relies on toxic solvents and electrolytes. In a search for non-toxic alternatives, University of Missouri Associate Professor Sachin Handa and graduate student Karanjeet Kaur, alongside Novartis Pharmaceuticals, developed environmentally friendly substances called micelles—tiny molecular structures made from natural amino acids and coconut oil.
These ball-shaped structures have two sides: one that mixes with water and the other that repels it. Their unique design allowed researchers to make electrochemical reactions more efficient by combining the traditional roles of solvents, electrolytes and reaction boosters into one simple tool. Bonus: The reactions are highly efficient and selective.
Handa and Kaur discovered the technique while trying to find a way to use micellar water and electricity as a green source to drive chemical reactions, a process known as micellar electrochemistry.
“Notably, these micelles drive desired reactions forward, but they don’t react with anything and remain stable, making them unique from ionic micelles,” Handa says.
“By making the process more effective, this advancement could help improve the development of medicines—including inhibitors targeting proteins, such as the NS5A of the Hepatitis C virus—and may be used to treat hyperproliferative, inflammatory, and immunoregulatory diseases.”
Micelles can be used to develop clean energy technologies by helping split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
“This process, known as electrocatalysis, also plays a key role in clean energy production,” Handa says.
“With the same approach, hydrogen—in situ generated from water—can be potentially used as a clean fuel. Plus, we can use hydrogen to break down harmful PFAS chemicals, transforming them into useful hydrocarbons while simultaneously releasing oxygen into the air.”
By focusing on sustainability and efficiency, this new chemical tool can reduce the environmental impact of traditional chemical processes and offer sustainable solutions for clean energy production and storage.
The research appears in Angewandte Chemie, a journal of the German Chemical Society.
Additional coauthors are from Mizzou and Novartis Pharmaceuticals.
Source: University of Missouri
