Uranium to replace plastic?

Uranium can perform reactions that previously no one thought possible, which could transform the way industry makes bulk chemicals, polymers, and the precursors to new drugs and plastics, according to new findings from The University of Manchester.

 

Writing in the journal Nature Communications, the chemists have discovered that uranium can perform reactions that used to be the preserve of transition metals such as rhodium and palladium. And because uranium sits between different types of reactivity of lanthanides and transition metals it might be able to combine the best of both to give new ways of producing materials and chemicals.

 

This discovery is also profiled in a new video which is part of a series produced by the School of Chemistry. Other videos show how chemists at Manchester have developed the world’s smallest fuel powered motor and identified that Parkinson’s sufferers can have a unique smell identifying the disease - before any medical professional can see symptoms.