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Dolphins Suggest New Anti-Fouling Strategy
01 Dec 2002
Dr Karen L Wooley, professor of chemistry at Washington University in St Louis USA, is studying ways to mediate interactions between biological systems and synthetic materials, designing chemical 'functionalities', or groups of atoms that either promote or discourage binding between them. She is currently developing a group of non-toxic anti-fouling coatings that may one day inhibit marine organisms such as barnacles, tube worms and zoo spores from attaching to the hulls of ships.
Wooley's research is supported in part by by research grants from the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research.
With the IMO having banned the use of tributyltin coatings from the end of next year and calling for their removal from all ships by 2008, a timetable has been laid down increasing demand for non-toxic alternatives.
The key to Wooley's anti-fouling agents is their three dimensional topography which mimics such naturally hydrodynamic surfaces as the slightly rippled skin of the dolphin. Her operative hypothesis is that if the coating's surface features are in the same size regime as the secreted protein of foulants then the protein will be unable to bind sufficiently to maintain attachment.
Wooley mixes two normally incompatible polymers then allows them to phase separate into distinct domains, one interspersed in the other. A chemical process called crosslinking then solidifies the mixture, thus creating a heterogeneous coating.
MJ Information No: 17733
