Vitamin C and Water Not Just Healthy for People -- Healthy for Plastics, too

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A new use for vitamin C (background) allows researchers to use less copper catalyst to drive powerful polymerization reactions critical for manufacturing many plastics. Credit: Nicolle Rager National Science Foundation
A new use for vitamin C (background) allows researchers to use less copper catalyst to drive powerful polymerization reactions critical for manufacturing many plastics. Credit: Nicolle Rager, National Science Foundation

Two new laboratory breakthroughs are poised to dramatically improve how plastics are made by assembling molecular chains more quickly and with less waste. One relies on common vitamin C and the other on the dissolving properties of plain water.


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