Significant breakthrough in the chemistry of fluorinated compounds

Overcoming the “Fluoro Wall”: Researchers observe tunneling effect of heavy atoms for the first time

05-May-2025 - An international research team made up of scientists from Freie Universität Berlin and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in conjunction with Université de Lorraine in Metz, France, has achieved a significant breakthrough in the chemistry of fluorinated compounds. With the ...

Major breakthrough: New additive process can make better — and greener — high-value chemicals

“Our research opens up fascinating possibilities for the future of pharmaceutical and agrochemical development”

30-Jul-2024 - Researchers at the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI) have achieved a significant breakthrough that could lead to better — and greener — agricultural chemicals and everyday products. Using a process that combines natural enzymes and light, the team from the ...

Environmentally friendly alternative to PFAS-based coatings

21-Feb-2024 - The Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP) in Greifswald, Germany has developed a new method for the production of ultra-hydrophobic organosilicon polymer coatings. These coatings are an alternative to per- and polyfluorinated compounds (PFAS), which are still used in many ...

Using clay to combat eternal toxins

TU Freiberg clarifies basis for innovative PFAS filter made of clay

06-Dec-2023 - PFAS filters available for industrial waste are usually made of activated carbon (PFAS = perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl compounds). As this is comparatively expensive, researchers are looking for alternative filter materials for the so-called "eternal toxins", whose hazardous residues ...

analytica 2024: Food analysis for sustainable nutrition

From PFAS to microplastics: focus on new harmful substances

16-Nov-2023 - From meat-free cold cuts to vegan salmon, the food market is changing. More and more consumers want to eat sustainably, but without sacrificing the taste of familiar products. “Modern analytical methods play a key role in the development of alternative foods, which is why analytica is ...

Chemists present method for the fluorination of enines

The new synthesis method produces a wide range of difluorinated molecular building blocks that can be candidates for new active substances

23-Oct-2023 - Fluorinated small molecules are very often used to produce medicines or agrochemicals. However, they rarely occur naturally. The societal importance of fluorinated substances, combined with the lack of natural sources, has created a demand for effective, sustainable methods to generate new ...

Harmful boomerang: PFAS pollution in ocean comes back to land

“The common belief was that PFAS would eventually wash off into the oceans where they would stay to be diluted over the timescale of decades”

17-Dec-2021 - Many of the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that end up in the ocean boomerang back to shore after they are re-emitted into air with the crashing of waves, according to a study by researchers at Stockholm University published inEnvironmental Science & Technology. The findings suggest ...

Synthetic chemicals in soils are 'ticking time bomb'

13-Feb-2020 - A growing health crisis fueled by synthetic chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in groundwater has garnered much attention in the last few years. The reported levels could be "just the tip of the iceberg," as most of the chemicals are still migrating down slowly ...

Shaking off fluorochemicals from outdoor and protective clothing

Most treated clothing over-engineered for consumer purposes

31-Jan-2019 - Rain-repelling fluorochemicals used in waterproof clothing can and should be phased out as unnecessary and environmentally harmful, textile researchers argue. And yet they remain the only effective option for medics and emergency service personnel. New research demonstrates how waterproofs using ...

Two new ways to fluorinated structures

Chemo-enzymatic synthesis of fluorinated antibiotics

07-Aug-2018 - Fluorinated structures make up more than 20 percent of modern drugs, but benign and fast fluorination schemes are scarce. In a study scientists have now combined dynamic kinetic resolution and nucleophilic fluorination for the asymmetric synthesis of florfenicol, a veterinary antibiotic. After ...