THE CATALYST

6th Sept 2022 TUESDAY 1st EDITION

INEXPENSIVE WAY TO ELIMINATE DANGEROUS ‘FOREVER CHEMICALS’ Devika Vijayan, August 2022

Research at Northwestern University appears to have yielded a novel, inexpensive method to remove PFAS ( poly and perfluoroalkyl substances) from contaminated water and other sources. Prof. Dichtel’s team at the institute has developed a mechanism to isolate compounds belonging to the carboxylic acid class of PFAS substances by treating them with Sodium Hydroxide in the presence of Dimethyl Sulphoxide, which attacks the oxygen-rich reactive ends of the molecules, thereby cleaving their heads and leaving their fluorocarbon tails susceptible to attack and degradation, and the application of some heat results in decomposition of the fluorocarbon chain. This method is highly beneficial to adopt once industrially scaled, as not only does it involve inexpensive reagents and normal reaction conditions, but the byproducts of the elimination process are harmless!

The method developed tackles a significant problem hitherto faced by environmental chemists. PFAS is found in thousands of everyday items, including makeup and cooking utensils. Exposure to this substance causes major health hazards, including cancer and birth abnormalities, at specific levels. Because of the extremely high bond strength of the Carbon-Fluorine bond, PFAS has been historically challenging to eliminate. PFAS has earlier proven itself resilient in the face of bacterial attack, pyrolytic techniques or dilution. However, the new research has offered a new approach to handling issues faced when studying PFAS degradation and has produced results which can be directly applied to pollution control mechanisms. According to Prof. Sunderland from Harvard University, this could be very helpful in aiding populations affected by high levels of contamination.

The scientific team is hopeful that with further research, more efficient methods to degrade all classes of PFAS pollutants may be strategised and developed. To quote Prof. Dichtel, “I really think that the fundamental knowledge of how these materials degrade is probably the single most important thing coming out of this study. There is certainly the possibility of activating sulfonates in similar ways that we've done carboxylates, but all that has to happen in the future,”.

‘Smart’ means to tackle preservative poisoning Aleena Joshy, August 2022

Nitrates and nitrites, widely used as preservatives in processed meat, are known to be potential precursors to carcinogenic substances such as nitrosamines upon heating or during digestion. Hence, there is a need to develop an accessible means by which one can analyse the level of nitrate preservatives found in commodities. Saúl Vallejos, José M. García, and colleagues have developed a colour-changing film called "POLYSEN," which stands for "polymeric sensor," made of four monomers and hydrochloric acid. This film reacts with nitrites present in any sample via azo coupling.

Further treatment with Sodium Hydroxide lends the film a yellowish hue, whose intensity is a measure of nitrate concentration. To quantitate the colour change, the researchers created a smartphone app which self-calibrates when a chart of reference disks is photographed in the same image as the sample disks, and returns the value of nitrate content in the sample. This is a highly cheap and functionally easy method to estimate preservative content in food and can be used commercially to potentially prevent many cases of food poisoning, contamination or possibly even cancer.

Faculty talk: An in‘quiz’itive session A Vindication of Prof. K George Thomas Venom Tuesday, 17 May 2022: As part of our regular faculty research talk series, CSIT organised an offline talk delivered by Prof. K George Thomas on the topic ‘Journey into the scattering of light: From the discovery of Raman effect to SERS’. The talk delved into various light scattering phenomena and their manifold applications, while also providing a historical background to all the important developments in the field. Prof. Thomas, with his characteristic friendly demeanour and humour engrossed the attendees with explanations of scientific principles interspersed with historical anecdotes and real-life examples. The talk concluded with a video highlighting how the research work in Prof. Thomas’ own lab involved SERS techniques and their applications beyond the laboratory. The talk was highly appreciated by attendees for its informative and engaging nature. CSIT wholeheartedly thanks Prof. Thomas for delivering the talk!v

Tuesday, 1 March 2022: As part of a celebration of National Science Day, CSIT organised an online quiz on general chemistry trivia. The quizmasters were Ishaani R Kamath and Ananthakrishna P from Batch ‘21. The competition was quite stiff, with enthusiastic participation from all teams, but the laurels were taken away by Adam Zacharia Anil and Akhila S of the team ‘Cool Kidz Club’, while Dayona A Verghese and Akhila Anna Verghese of the team ‘Nobody wants poor people’ came a close second. The quizmasters and organizing team were appreciated for the quality of questions framed and smooth organization. CSIT congratulates the victors and all the participants for their successful participation in the contest!

Cures for Cancer hidden in plain sight? Common lab molecule exhibits anti-cancer properties.

Aparna M P, August 2022 esearchers at the UNC School of Medicine have discovered that a molecule called EdU, which is frequently used to label DNA in laboratory experiments, is actually recognised as DNA damage by human cells, setting off a runaway process of DNA repair that is ultimately fatal to affected cells, including cancer cells. Given its toxicity and preference for rapidly dividing cells, the finding reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences raises the possibility of employing EdU as the foundation for cancer treatment. EdU (5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine) is essentially a popular scientific tool first synthesized in 2008 as an analogue, or chemical mimic, of the DNA building block thymidine. The research team's findings strongly imply that EdU kills cells by causing a runaway process of futile excision repair that ultimately causes the cell to kill itself through a process known as apoptosis, a type of programmed cell death

Saturday, 16 July 2022: On the occasion of World Snake Day, CSIT organised an online talk on the riveting subject of ‘The Biochemistry of Snake Venom’. The speaker, Shreyas Kuchibhotla, was a first-year Biomedical Engineering student at Imperial College London. He elucidated, with lucidity and charming humour, the evolution of venom in snakes, its characteristics, types and mechanism of action. The discussion of immunity to snake venom in nature, antivenin and the possible medical potential of snake venom was particularly enlightening and insightful. The talk was found to be informative and exciting in equal measure by students.

Energy Breakthrough: floating artificial leaves make fuel from sunlight and water

Ramsiya P, August 2022 Artificial floating leaves that produce clean fuels from sunlight and water have been designed by researchers from the University of Cambridge. The ultra-thin, flexible devices are the brainchild of chemist Dr Virgil Andrei and his colleagues, taking their inspiration from photosynthesis -the process by which plants convert sunlight into food. Since the low-cost, autonomous devices are light enough to float, they could be used to generate a sustainable alternative to gasoline without taking up space on land. This is the first time that clean fuel has been generated on water. If the production were scaled up, the artificial leaves could be used on polluted waterways, in ports, or even at sea, and could help reduce the global shipping industry’s reliance on fossil fuels.

“Life is nothing but an electron looking for a place to rest”

-Albert Szent-Györgyi (Nobel Prize 1937)