Chemistry

In many areas, the chemical industry is trying to replace petroleum-based products with bio-based alternatives. However, sustainability, which is welcomed by consumers, is not always a sufficient argument for actually using the new raw materials. The threshold for this is low for raw materials that can be substituted without having to change processes or equipment. However, if development work or even investments in the conversion of existing plants are necessary, economic aspects hamper the switch to ecological alternatives.

Studies have shown that insecticides from the neonicotinoid group are responsible for bee mortality. Three out of five such preparations are therefore banned in the European Union for use in the field - and rightly so, as an international study involving the University of Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) has now shown. However, the insecticide clothianidin does not impact honeybees as much as wild bees such as bumble bees.

It is one of the most important protein complexes for life on earth: the so-called Photosystem I. As part of photosynthesis, the complex is used by plants to generate energy for their metabolism from sunlight. Electrochemists have been trying for a long time to use this principle for technical applications. Now, an breakthrough has been made by a team from the University of Bochum.

Whether made of steel or aluminium, long or short: nails have become an indispensable part of everyday life. Metal pins are an important element for connecting individual components, especially in timber construction. For a Euro pallet, for example, 78 steel nails are required to fasten the individual boards. With around 400 million pallets produced each year, this is almost 200,000 tons of steel. Hans Korte is convinced that there is an alternative.

Children's toys, food boxes or shopping bags: many products already consist of bio-based feedstocks and are therefore considered sustainable. In order to be classified as sustainable, however, the organic content of the material must account for at least 35%. Fraunhofer researchers have been working for years to increase the biogenic content of materials such as plastics.

The history of surfactants began more than 4,500 years ago with the production of the first soap-like substance from olive oil and wood ash. Today, it is impossible to imagine everyday life without these active washing substances, which can be found in practically every detergent. As emulsifiers they have even found their way into food, because surface-active agents reduce the interfacial tension between two phases and make it possible to blend water and oil. Modern surfactants are also usually biodegradable.

Tailoring peptides is a declared goal of many researchers. Scientists are emulating nature in which microorganisms are able to assemble tiny protein molecules like on an assembly line. Researchers at Frankfurt's Goethe University had already taken an important step in peptide synthesis last year.

Out of carbon dioxide and solar energy, land plants produce biomass, which contains valuable building blocks for the bioeconomy. It is easy to forget that algae also remove enormous amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere - about as much as the entire land vegetation. Algae primarily produce multiple sugars, whose degradation products are important food sources for numerous marine organisms. One of these degradation processes has now been investigated by an international team of researchers.

Worldwide, an estimated 100,000 animal species produce toxins. Some serve to protect against predators, others to hunt prey. What many poisons have in common is that they can have the opposite effect in small doses: Important antihypertensives, anticoagulants and pain killers are based on animal toxins, and a toxin of the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis is making waves as a biological insecticide. Unlike snakes or spiders, little is known about the toxins of predatory flies.

When a disease infestation in a field becomes visible to the naked eye, the infection has often already spread and caused damage. In addition, the symptom alone does not always make it clear which pathogen is involved and which therapy is therefore the most effective. The companies Ontera Inc. and BASF therefore want to speed up the process: They have agreed to collaborate on research into a portable system for the early diagnosis of plant diseases.