<
https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2024/04/tylenol-now-from-palm-trees-instead-of-petroleum/>
"Tylenol is an environmental headache. Acetaminophen—the active ingredient in
the ubiquitous pain-relieving medicine—is typically made from chemicals derived
from crude oil.
But researchers now report a way to make the pharmaceutical compound from the
wood of palm and poplar trees. The study, published in the journal
ChemSusChem, presents a way to make the commonly used pain medicine more
environmentally friendly. It is also possible to modify the process to produce
an array of chemical building blocks for plastics, pigments, and
pharmaceuticals, the researchers say.
Acetaminophen, also called paracetamol, is one of the most produced
pharmaceutical compounds in the world. People around the world consume over
16,000 metric tons of it every year. The industrial production of paracetamol
involves turning benzene compounds into phenols, which can then by turned into
paracetamol. Benzene, the starting material, comes from petroleum.
Last year, a team from the University of Bath in the UK made paracetamol and
ibuprofen from a type of turpentine compound found in pine tree wood. The
compound could be obtained from the waste product of the paper and forestry
industries.
The new approach is based on work by Steven Karlen and John Ralph of
UW–Madison. In 2019, the researchers led a team on a patent for a method to
make paracetamol from lignin, the strong polymer that makes plant cell walls
rigid."
Via
Fix the News:
<
https://fixthenews.com/good-news-on-marriage-equality-in-thailand-conservation-in-romania-and-reforestation-in-the-mediterranean/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
