The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS') award-winning Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions podcast series describes a simple, inexpensive dip-and-dry treatment can convert ordinary silk into a fabric that kills disease-causing bacteria — even the armor-coated spores of microbes like anthrax — in minutes.
This new "killer silk" has many potential uses, including make-shift curtains and other protective coatings that protect homes and other buildings in the event of a terrorist attack with anthrax.
Based on an article by Rajesh R. Naik, Ph.D., and colleagues in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, the new podcast is available without charge at iTunes and fromwww.acs.org/globalchallenges. Listen to the podcast here: http://web.1.c2.audiovideoweb.com/1c2web3536/GC2012_KillerSilkFINAL.mp3
Naik points out in the podcast that in adverse conditions, bacteria of the Bacillus species, which includes anthrax, become dormant spores, enclosing themselves in a tough coating. These spores can survive heat, radiation, antibiotics and harsh environmental conditions, and some have sprung back to life after 250 million years. Certain chemicals — most popular among which are oxidizing agents, including some chlorine compounds — can destroy bacterial spores, and they have been applied to fabrics like cotton, polyester, nylon and Kevlar. These treated fabrics are effective against many bacteria, but less so against spores. The researchers tried a similar coating on silk to see if it could perform better against these hardy microbes.
They developed a chlorinated form of silk, which involves soaking silk in a solution that includes a substance similar to household bleach and letting it dry. Silk treated for just an hour killed essentially all of the E. coli bacteria tested on it within 10 minutes and did similarly well against spores of a close anthrax relative used as a stand-in. "Given the potent bactericidal and sporicidal activity of the chlorinated silk fabrics prepared in this study, silk-Cl materials may find use in a variety of applications," the authors say. Other applications, they add, include purifying water in humanitarian relief efforts and in filters or to mitigate the effects of toxic substances.
Combating disease . . . promoting public health . . . providing clean water and safe food . . . developing new sources of energy . . . confronting climate change. Hello, from the American Chemical Society — the ACS. Our more than 164,000 members make up the world’s largest scientific society. This is “Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions: New Solutions 2012.” Global Challenges 2012 updates the ACS’ award-winning podcast series.
Today’s solution is a simple, inexpensive dip-and-dry treatment that can convert ordinary silk into a fabric that kills disease-causing bacteria — even the armor-coated spores of microbes like anthrax — in minutes. The study’s authors describe a range of potential uses for this new killer silk, including make-shift curtains and other protective coatings that protect homes and other buildings in the event of a terrorist attack with anthrax. Their research appears in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
Here’s the study’s lead author, Rajesh R. Naik, Ph.D., a scientist at the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base:
“In adverse conditions, bacterial species, which include anthrax, become dormant and produce spores, enclosing themselves in a tough coating. The spores can survive heat, radiation, antibiotics and harsh environmental conditions, and some have sprung back to life after 250 million years.”
Certain chemicals — most popular among which are oxidizing agents, including some chlorine compounds — can destroy bacterial spores, and they have been applied to fabrics like cotton, polyester, nylon and Kevlar. These treated fabrics are effective against many bacteria, but less so against spores. The researchers tried a similar coating on silk to see if it could perform better against these hardy microbes.
They developed a chlorinated form of silk, which involves soaking silk in a solution that includes a substance similar to household bleach and letting it dry.
“Silk treated for just an hour essentially killed all of the bacterial cells tested within 10 minutes, and we did that similarly against spores of a close anthrax relative that was used as a surrogate. Given the potent bactericidal and sporicidal activity of the chlorinated silk fabrics prepared in this study, silk-chlorine materials may find use in a variety of applications, which could include water purification for humanitarian relief efforts and for use in filters or to mitigate the effects of toxic substances.”
Smart Chemists/Innovative Thinking
Smart chemists. Innovative thinking. That’s the key to solving global challenges of the 21st century. Please check out more of our full-length podcasts on wide-ranging issues facing chemistry and science, such as promoting public health, developing new fuels and confronting climate change, at www.acs.org/GlobalChallenges. Today’s podcast was written by Sam Lemonick. I’m Adam Dylewski at the American Chemical Society in Washington.
Contacts and sources:
Michael Bernstein
American Chemical Society
This new "killer silk" has many potential uses, including make-shift curtains and other protective coatings that protect homes and other buildings in the event of a terrorist attack with anthrax.
Based on an article by Rajesh R. Naik, Ph.D., and colleagues in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, the new podcast is available without charge at iTunes and fromwww.acs.org/globalchallenges. Listen to the podcast here: http://web.1.c2.audiovideoweb.com/1c2web3536/GC2012_KillerSilkFINAL.mp3
Naik points out in the podcast that in adverse conditions, bacteria of the Bacillus species, which includes anthrax, become dormant spores, enclosing themselves in a tough coating. These spores can survive heat, radiation, antibiotics and harsh environmental conditions, and some have sprung back to life after 250 million years. Certain chemicals — most popular among which are oxidizing agents, including some chlorine compounds — can destroy bacterial spores, and they have been applied to fabrics like cotton, polyester, nylon and Kevlar. These treated fabrics are effective against many bacteria, but less so against spores. The researchers tried a similar coating on silk to see if it could perform better against these hardy microbes.
They developed a chlorinated form of silk, which involves soaking silk in a solution that includes a substance similar to household bleach and letting it dry. Silk treated for just an hour killed essentially all of the E. coli bacteria tested on it within 10 minutes and did similarly well against spores of a close anthrax relative used as a stand-in. "Given the potent bactericidal and sporicidal activity of the chlorinated silk fabrics prepared in this study, silk-Cl materials may find use in a variety of applications," the authors say. Other applications, they add, include purifying water in humanitarian relief efforts and in filters or to mitigate the effects of toxic substances.
Transcript of the podcast:
Combating disease . . . promoting public health . . . providing clean water and safe food . . . developing new sources of energy . . . confronting climate change. Hello, from the American Chemical Society — the ACS. Our more than 164,000 members make up the world’s largest scientific society. This is “Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions: New Solutions 2012.” Global Challenges 2012 updates the ACS’ award-winning podcast series.
Today’s solution is a simple, inexpensive dip-and-dry treatment that can convert ordinary silk into a fabric that kills disease-causing bacteria — even the armor-coated spores of microbes like anthrax — in minutes. The study’s authors describe a range of potential uses for this new killer silk, including make-shift curtains and other protective coatings that protect homes and other buildings in the event of a terrorist attack with anthrax. Their research appears in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
Here’s the study’s lead author, Rajesh R. Naik, Ph.D., a scientist at the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base:
“In adverse conditions, bacterial species, which include anthrax, become dormant and produce spores, enclosing themselves in a tough coating. The spores can survive heat, radiation, antibiotics and harsh environmental conditions, and some have sprung back to life after 250 million years.”
Certain chemicals — most popular among which are oxidizing agents, including some chlorine compounds — can destroy bacterial spores, and they have been applied to fabrics like cotton, polyester, nylon and Kevlar. These treated fabrics are effective against many bacteria, but less so against spores. The researchers tried a similar coating on silk to see if it could perform better against these hardy microbes.
They developed a chlorinated form of silk, which involves soaking silk in a solution that includes a substance similar to household bleach and letting it dry.
“Silk treated for just an hour essentially killed all of the bacterial cells tested within 10 minutes, and we did that similarly against spores of a close anthrax relative that was used as a surrogate. Given the potent bactericidal and sporicidal activity of the chlorinated silk fabrics prepared in this study, silk-chlorine materials may find use in a variety of applications, which could include water purification for humanitarian relief efforts and for use in filters or to mitigate the effects of toxic substances.”
Smart Chemists/Innovative Thinking
Smart chemists. Innovative thinking. That’s the key to solving global challenges of the 21st century. Please check out more of our full-length podcasts on wide-ranging issues facing chemistry and science, such as promoting public health, developing new fuels and confronting climate change, at www.acs.org/GlobalChallenges. Today’s podcast was written by Sam Lemonick. I’m Adam Dylewski at the American Chemical Society in Washington.
Contacts and sources:
Michael Bernstein
American Chemical Society
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