PERFUMES, paints and cosmetics could be manufactured without producing so much toxic waste.
Before petroleum hydrocarbons can be turned into useful household chemicals they have to be oxidised to make them reactive enough to receive the chemical groups responsible for their properties – such as colour and stickiness for paint.
The reactions for achieving this often rely on heavy-metal oxidants such as manganese or chromium compounds, and these create toxic waste that usually ends up in landfill sites.
Now Graham Hutchings and colleagues at Cardiff University, UK, have oxidised liquid cyclo-octene, an alkene used in perfume production, using a catalyst made…
