Sugar Derivative Solidifies Oil

C&EN:  A new sugar-based compound that selectively converts oils into a gel could serve as a new tool for cleaning up oil spills, its inventors say.

To mitigate oil spills such as the current one in the Gulf of Mexico, cleanup crews typically reach for dispersants—mixtures of chemicals that cause the oil to collect in tiny droplets. If successful, a gelling process would represent an entirely new strategy that could have advantages over the use of dispersants, which have raised toxicity concerns.

In a one-step process aided by enzymes, materials chemist George John of the City College of New York and chemical engineer Srini Raghavan of the University of Maryland and their colleagues have synthesized amphiphilic sugar molecules that bind with hydrocarbon oils and form a gel, even when the oil is mixed with water (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., DOI:10.1002/anie.201002095).

The group tested the gelator in mixtures of water and diesel fuel. Within five minutes, the oil becomes a congealed mass that floats on top of the water and can be lifted out with a spoon.

Read more at  C&EN