Contact: Michael Baum
michael.baum@nist.gov
301-975-2763
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Computer-Designed Molecule to Clean Up Fluorocarbons?

Caption: Postmortem: Computer modeling rendition of the proposed carbon-fluorine bond-breaking macrocycle after reaction with a molecule of methyl fluoride (CH3F). Highlighted in the center of the macrocycle, the CH3 fragment has attached to a nitrogen atom, separating it from the fluorine atom which has been grabbed by a group of four hydrogen atoms. The potentially toxic components of the fluorocarbon are immobilized in the macrocycle until removed by a second reaction, an important feature for possible filtering systems.

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