Scientists led by an Oregon State University chemistry researcher are closing in on a new tool for tackling the global problem of weedkiller-tainted groundwater.
Scientists led by an Oregon State University chemistry researcher are closing in on a new tool for tackling the global problem of weedkiller-tainted groundwater.
Kyriakos Stylianou of the OSU College of Science led an international team that identified a material known as a metal-organic framework, or MOF, that showed an ability to completely remove, and also break down, the oft-used herbicide glyphosate.
The MOF, one of four tested in a collaboration among scientists from Oregon State and Tiangong University in China, is based on scandium, chemical symbol Sc, and a carboxylate linker, TBAPy.
“When exposed to light for just five minutes, Sc-TBAPy eliminated 100% of glyphosate in water,” Stylianou said. “In addition to its quicker adsorption and more efficient photodegradation of glyphosate compared to the other three TBAPy MOFs we looked at, it also degraded the glyphosate without producing a toxic acid, unlike the other three.”
Read more at: Oregon State University
