The harmful molecules are everywhere, but chemists have made progress in developing a method to break them down.
Dr. Trang and Dr. Dichtel teamed up with other chemists at U.C.L.A. and in China to figure out what was happening. The sodium hydroxide hastens the destruction of the PFAS molecules by eagerly bonding with the fragments as they fall apart. The fluorine atoms lose their link to the carbon atoms, becoming harmless.
"Once you give it a chance, this thing will unzip," Dr. Dichtel said.
Dr. Strathmann, who was not involved in the research, said that the new study was important because it was based on chemistry profoundly different from other methods that were being studied. "We're going to need some creative solutions," he said.
Read full at NY Times;
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/18/science/pfas-forever-chemicals.html
