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Researchers from the Universitat Jaume I
have developed a catalyst
that is able to activate and break
the more stable bounds
of synthetic chemistry:
carbon-fluorine bounds.
This breakthrough opens the door
to numerous applications,
such as reducing in a controlled way
the existing stocks of CFCs
taking care of the environment.
These compounds, known as
"greenhouse gases",
had a huge boom
until in the 1990s
they were found to destroy the ozone layer.
-They are very stable compounds
but very harmful,
because in the higher layers of the atmosphere
they break down the ozone layer.
It is one of the gases responsible
for the destruction of the ozone layer.
This type of catalysts
may be used for the controlled decomposition
of these materials.
-The results achieved,
published in "Nature Communications",
are the fruit of five years of work
in the design of catalysts
starting from a simple idea:
the combination of two different metals
that act in a synergistic way.
-We have combined two metals,
ruthenium and palladium,
to produce the activation or "break"
of carbon-fluorine bounds.
This process is very important
because these bounds are the strongest
that exist in organic molecules.
Breaking these molecules
is one of the great challenges
of current synthetic chemistry.
-The group is now working
in another phase of the research
to facilitate the reverse reaction,
that has never before been achieved,
and that would open many possibilities
in industries such as the pharmaceutical,
thanks to the attainment
of fluorinated molecules.