RUI: Fundamental Investigation Towards Phosphorus Recovery Through Organophosphate Pesticide Degradation by Molybdate Complexes

本项目由化学部环境化学科学计划资助。杀虫剂和除草剂被用来杀死杂草和昆虫，但这些化学物质持续时间很长，在整个环境中都可以找到。这些化学物质可能会对动物和人类造成损害，甚至与神经退行性疾病有关。刘易斯和克拉克学院的Louis Kuo教授利用基本的化学技术，寻找使这些杀虫剂和除草剂更安全的方法。这些化学品中的一个主要成分是磷元素。该项目还调查了使用无毒金属收集、分解、安全回收和转化磷酸盐毒素以供新用途的情况。磷是不可再生的，对地球上的生命至关重要，因此回收利用它对可持续发展很重要。这项研究位于无机化学和有机化学的交界处，使用了实验和计算技术相结合的方法。本科生、高中生和高中教师参与这个项目，同时在安全环境管理的背景下从事有意义的科学。这个研究项目致力于环境毒素修复和磷回收。有机磷(OP)是目前普遍存在于环境中的农业农药。因此，需要一种能够以实际方式降解这些有机磷农药的材料。当降解的有机磷农药被回收为可用有机磷时，这一目标更有意义，因为磷是一种基本但不可再生的资源。这项研究的重点是使用负载型和溶液=相钼络合物将有机磷毒素转化为商品化学品。具体地说，该项目研究了聚苯乙烯支持的钼-过氧化合物的吡咯烷(溶液)络合物如何将含硫的有机磷农药和广泛使用的草甘膦除草剂(农达)转化为磷酸盐商品化学品。通过对溶液模型和负载型钼-过氧络合物的光谱研究，验证了几种涉及活性氧物种的假想路线。在实验工作的同时，还有一个使用密度泛函理论的计算组件，它模拟了有机磷反应。其目标是预测和设计更好的完成有机磷降解的钼配合物。在这方面，长期目标是开发新的支持和实用的过氧钼材料，将有机磷毒素降解为增值材料。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project is funded by the Environmental Chemical Sciences Program of the Chemistry Division. Pesticides and herbicides are used to kill weeds and insects, but these chemicals last a long time and can be found throughout the environment. These chemicals can be damaging to animals and humans, and have even been implicated in neurodegenerative diseases. Using basic chemistry techniques, this project from Professor Louis Kuo at Lewis and Clark College looks for ways to make these pesticides and herbicides safer. A main ingredient in these chemicals is the element phosphorus. This project also investigates the use of non-toxic metals to collect, break down, safely recover, and transform the phosphate-based toxins for a new use. Phosphorus is non-renewable and essential for life on earth, so recycling it is important for sustainability. This research lies at the interface of inorganic and organic chemistry, and uses a combination of experimental and computational techniques. Undergraduate researchers, high school students, and high school teachers participate in this project, while engaging in meaningful science within the context of safe environmental stewardship.This research project addresses environmental toxin remediation and phosphorus recovery. Organophosphates (OP) are agricultural pesticides that are now ubiquitous in the environment. As such, there is a need for materials that degrade these OP pesticides in a practical fashion. This goal is more meaningful when the degraded OP pesticides are recovered as usable organophosphates since phosphorus is an essential but non-renewable resource. This study focuses on using supported and solution=-phase molybdenum complexes that convert organophosphate toxins into commodity chemicals. Specifically, the project examines how polystyrene-supported and picolinato (solution) complexes of molybdenum-peroxo compounds convert sulfur-containing organophosphate pesticides and the widely-used glyphosate herbicide (Roundup) into phosphate commodity chemicals. Several hypothetical routes involving reactive oxygen species are tested with spectroscopic studies on solution models and supported molybdenum-peroxo complexes. In parallel with the experimental work there is a computational component using density functional theory that simulates the organophosphate reactions. The goal is to predict and design better molybdenum complexes that accomplish the organophosphate degradation. In this connection, the long term goal is to develop new supported and practical molybdenum-peroxo materials that degrade the organophosphate toxins into value-added materials.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.