On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
Along with rising prices at the pump, the cost of some petroleum-based chemicals used in plastics manufacturing has skyrocketed. Accordingly, researchers have sought to improve a process for turning fructose, a common plant sugar, into 5-hydroxymethylfurfuran (HMF), an alternative, nonpetroleum precursor for chemicals such as polyesters. The reaction occurs in water, which creates several unwanted compounds. To obtain pure HMF, chemists have had to redissolve it in a solvent that is hard to boil away, making the process costly and inefficient. A group from the University of Wisconsin-Madison doubled the reaction's overall yield, to 80 percent, by adding a series of compounds to suppress the reactions that create by-products. Moreover, the additives increase HMF's affinity for a solvent that boils at a low temperature, making the final product easier to obtain. Distill the essentials from the June 30 Science.
Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism
Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.
When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.
Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber
