The catalysts, which were practically interwoven with the fabric, displayed all of the characteristics that the chemists expect from such a system: the result of the chemical reactions which the scientists undertook with the catalyst-loaded nylon strips is impressive. All three catalysts converted around 90 percent of the source materials to the desired products. And the catalyst, which is used in the pharmaceutical industry and only generates one out of two mirror-image molecules, achieved a success rate of over 95 percent without showing any major signs of wear and tear. Ji-Woong Lee carried out several hundred test-runs and observed that the catalysts relinquished little of their functionality.

A large surface makes chemical reactions more efficient

Compared with other ways of immobilizing catalysts, “organ textile catalysis” has several advantages: in particular, it provides the reagents with a larger surface than other supports, for example plastic spheres or foils – the larger the surface, the more efficiently a reaction proceeds. Moreover, nylon is flexible and very inexpensive. Dry textiles loaded with catalysts are easy to transport, which means that it is simpler to meet the requirements for some chemical processes where it is practically impossible to set up sophisticated chemical systems. For example, organ textile catalysis could help in the treatment of water in locations where people are cut off from the water supply.

“Our method enables the low-cost production of long-term functionalized textiles without causing any pollution,” says Ji-Woong Lee. He is entirely convinced that the process can be applied in several scientific areas – and industrial processes. “In addition to chemistry, these could include biology, the materials science and pharmaceutics.”

Max-Planck-Institute