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1. PFAS – Forever Chemicals

   Aras, Deniz; Wasler, Severin; Bieri, Alex; Domenig, Fabio; Moor, Jan (January 2022, Report EUT-P4-22FS-04 / Institute for Biomass and Resource Efficiency)

   Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of synthetic fluorinated compounds. Today more than 4’700 PFAS molecules are known. These chemicals have a high resistance and physical stability. They repel water, dirt, and grease. Due to these properties they are used in a wide range of products, from ski-wax and waterproof textiles to fire extinguishers and food packaging. PFAS are the most persistent synthetic chemicals. They do not occur in nature, and they hardly degrade in nature. Therefore they are called “Forever Chemicals”. The number of PFAS detections in the environment and in various organisms worldwide is increasing. The recognition of their bioaccumulative properties, their high mobility and their adverse effects on biological systems has led and is still leading to a regulation of multiple PFAS molecules. The response of the industry was the introduction of other PFAS as substitutes, which are now themselves increasingly detected in the environment. Worrying is that the list of negative health effects from an exposure to PFAS is becoming longer every year. 

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2. Challenges in PFAS Postdegradation Analysis: Insights from the PFAS-CTAB Model System

   https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmeasuresciau.4c00083  

   Navarathna, Chanaka; Boateng, Ransford_Appianin; Luo, Long (January 2025, ACS Measurement Science Au)
3. A comprehensive trial on PFAS remediation: hemp phytoextraction and PFAS degradation in harvested plants

   https://doi.org/10.1039/D3VA00340J  

   Nason, Sara L; Thomas, Sara; Stanley, Chelli; Silliboy, Richard; Blumenthal, Maggie; Zhang, Weilan; Liang, Yanna; Jones, Jasmine P; Zuverza-Mena, Nubia; White, Jason C; et al (February 2024, Environmental Science: Advances)

   In this community driven project, hemp plants were used to extract PFAS from contaminated soil and hydrothermal liquefaction was used to degrade PFAS in the harvested hemp. 

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4. Solvent-Free Nonthermal Destruction of PFAS Chemicals and PFAS in Sediment by Piezoelectric Ball Milling

   https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.2c00902  

   Yang, Nanyang; Yang, Shasha; Ma, Qingquan; Beltran, Claudia; Guan, Yunqiao; Morsey, Madison; Brown, Elizabeth; Fernando, Sujan; Holsen, Thomas M.; Zhang, Wen; et al (January 2023, Environmental Science & Technology Letters)
5. A prescription for engineering PFAS biodegradation

   https://doi.org/10.1042/BCJ20240283  

   Wackett, Lawrence P; Robinson, Serina L (December 2024, Biochemical Journal)

   Per- and polyfluorinated chemicals (PFAS) are of rising concern due to environmental persistence and emerging evidence of health risks to humans. Environmental persistence is largely attributed to a failure of microbes to degrade PFAS. PFAS recalcitrance has been proposed to result from chemistry, specifically C-F bond strength, or biology, largely negative selection from fluoride toxicity. Given natural evolution has many hurdles, this review advocates for a strategy of laboratory engineering and evolution. Enzymes identified to participate in defluorination reactions have been discovered in all Enzyme Commission classes, providing a palette for metabolic engineering. In vivo PFAS biodegradation will require multiple types of reactions and powerful fluoride mitigation mechanisms to act in concert. The necessary steps are to: (1) engineer bacteria that survive very high, unnatural levels of fluoride, (2) design, evolve, and screen for enzymes that cleave C–F bonds in a broader array of substrates, and (3) create overall physiological conditions that make for positive selective pressure with PFAS substrates. 

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