Bioplastic made with vanilla bean extract self-destructs under UV light. As scientist said: the extract from vanilla beans could be a key to an environmentally form of plastic.
Plastic is infamous for its ability to persist in the environment for many years. While alternatives made from biomass may well address this issue. They don’t always offer the same performance during use. Scientists have created a new form of bioplastic that appears to walk this line. Relying on a vanilla bean extract to remain stable throughout its lifetime. But „self-destruct on command” in response to a specific wavelength of light.
Center of development: vanilla
The organic compound at the center of this breakthrough is vanillin. Which is the main chemical component of vanilla bean extract. While it is a common flavoring agent, it has also used in herbicides, cosmetics and cleaning products. And the authors of this new study in Angewandte Chemie magazine, have discovered it might also have a role to play in environmentally friendly forms of plastic.
The team used vanillin as the basis for novel cross-linked polymers making up the bioplastic. The vanillin derivative they developed able to absorb light at 300 nm. Crucially, this specific wavelength of UV light hasn’t contained within the spectrum of regular sunlight. So eliminating the risk of inadvertent degradation. When subjected to this form of light, the vanillin derivative enters an excited state. And a chemical reaction takes place that triggers degradation of the polymer.
In addition to „degrading on demand”, the bioplastic can also be reduced to its building blocks. The scientists able to recover 60 percent of the monomers that could then used to rebuild polymers with no reported loss in quality. This means the vanilla extract bioplastic could not just be degraded with light to eliminate waste, but also upcycled into equally high-performance plastic products.
(source: New Atlas)
