Terry Collins, Carnegie Mellon’s Thomas Lord Professor of Chemistry, uses "green chemistry" to develop environmentally safe ways to decontaminate biological weapons (like anthrax) and eliminate toxic residues produced by industry. His tool of choice? Oxidation catalysts.

The catalysts, called Fe-TAML® (tetra-amido macrocyclic ligand) activators, are made from natural elements and work with hydrogen peroxide to convert harmful pollutants into less toxic or harmless substances.

Collins heads Carnegie Mellon’s Institute for Green Oxidation Chemistry (IGOC) in the Mellon College of Science. The IGOC pursues holistic approaches in green chemistry and emphasizes replacing polluting technologies with harmless, green alternatives.

Fe-TAMLs could possibly replace chlorine-based oxidants in large global technologies, eliminating the production of toxic industrial residues. They also show great promise in applications like general water purification.

Collins and his research team have found that Fe-TAMLs are also effective in killing an anthrax simulant—a harmless form of the deadly biological warfare agent commonly used in the laboratory for testing agents designed to eliminate its more deadly cousin.

“In our laboratory tests, Fe-TAMLs are highly promising in cleaning up an anthrax simulant, Bacillus atrophaeus,” Collins said. “These results indicate the enormous potential of Fe-TAMLs to kill the lethal strain of anthrax and to eradicate other waterborne infectious microbes that account for significant death and disability worldwide.”

The research group also noted the catalyst’s potential for reducing fuel pollutants, detoxifying pesticides, treating pulp and paper processing byproducts, cleaning wastewater from textile dye manufacturing and catalyzing chemical reactions with oxygen instead of hydrogen peroxide.

Collins’ research team has been awarded multiple U.S. and foreign patents covering the composition of Fe-TAML catalysts and their methods of use in a wide number of applications.