Bacteria can be used to convert plastic waste into pain analgesics, and researchers found, and the possibility of a more sustainable process of producing medicines.
Chemists have discovered that E Coli can be used to create paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen, of a substance produced in the laboratory of plastic bottles.
“People do not realize that paracetamol comes from oil now,” said Professor Stephen Wallace, the main author of the University University. Edinburgh. “What this technology shows is that by combining chemistry and biology in this way for the first time, we can make paracetamol more sustainable and clean plastic waste from the environment at the same time.”
Writing in the Nature Chemistry magazine, Wallace and his colleagues report how they discovered that a kind of chemical reaction is called a rearrangement of loss, a process that was not seen in nature, was vital compatible. In other words, they can be implemented in the presence of live cells without harming them.
The team discovered them when they took the polyethylene terefiti (PET) – a type of plastic that is often found in food packaging and bottles – and using sustainable chemical methods, turned it into a new substance.
When the researchers embraced this substance with a harmful strain of the colon E, they found that it was converted into another substance known as PABA in a process that should include rearrangement of loss.
It is important, while rearranging loss of loss usually includes harsh laboratory conditions, it has happened automatically in the presence of the colon E, where the researchers discovered that it was stimulated by phosphate within the cells themselves.
The team adds that PABA is a basic substance that bacteria need to grow, especially the synthesis of DNA, and it is usually manufactured within the cell of other materials. However, the coli genetically modified in experiments to prevent these tracks, which means that bacteria should use the substance based on pets.
The researchers say the results are exciting because they indicate that plastic waste can be converted into a biological material.
“It is a way to clarify the plastic waste completely,” said Wallace.
Then the researchers have a genetically modified E Coli, where he introduced two genes – one of the mushrooms and one of the soil bacteria – enabling the bacteria to convert Paba to paracetamol.
The team says that, using this form of E Coli, they managed to convert the start -up starting material to paracetamol in less than 24 hours, with low emissions and return up to 92 %.
Although more work is needed to produce paracetamol in this way at commercial levels, results may have a practical application.
Wallace said: “For the first time, it allows a path of plastic waste to paracetamol, which is not possible using biology alone, and chemistry cannot be used alone.”
