How to design a safer chemical
How to design a safer chemical - When chemists design new detergents, shampoos, paints, and lubricants, they don't immediately consider whether their molecules will have toxic side-effects. That task has traditionally been left to toxicologists further down the production line. But synthetic chemists can and should take earlier responsibility for the safety of their molecules, urges a group led by Julie Zimmerman at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. In a paper published in Green Chemistry, the researchers show how obeying two key rules of thumb greatly reduces the chances of a molecule being acutely toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms. They plan to follow this up with similar design guidelines to avoid other types of damage, such as toxicity to birds.
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