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Researchers in the U.K. are working on a revolutionary approach to water contamination, investigating the possibility of unleashing “supermolecules” to hunt down and rout out pollution.
The scientists from the University of Surrey published their findings in the European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences this year. The study focuses on the possibility of treating pharmaceuticals in water with this approach.
Researchers, policy officials, and environmentalists say drugs are escaping wastewater treatment processes and contaminating rivers and streams. “Most treatment plants lack the often-expensive technologies necessary to filter out [pharmaceuticals] and other potentially dangerous ‘chemicals of emerging concern,’” Ars Technica explained in a recent close-up on water contamination. The practice of dumping untreated sewage also presents an opportunity for pharmaceuticals to enter the environment.
A new kind of “supermolecule,” referred to as “calix[4],” may be able to help with this problem.
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