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Everyday painkiller made from plastic — by E. coli
Nature ^ | June 23, 2025 | Rita Aksenfeld

Posted on 06/26/2025 11:30:23 AM PDT by Red Badger

A common bacterium can be adapted to convert plastic waste into paracetamol, a study published this week in Nature Chemistry1 reports.

Paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen, is widely used to treat pain and fever. It is produced from molecules derived from fossil fuels, but researchers are working to develop processes that use more sustainable source molecules, such as plastic waste.

“We’re able to transform a prolific environmental and societal waste into such a globally important medication in a way that’s completely impossible using chemistry alone or using biology alone,” says co-author Stephen Wallace, a chemical biotechnologist at the University of Edinburgh, UK.

Central to the project’s success was the discovery by Wallace and his team that a synthetic chemical reaction that typically requires conditions that are toxic to cells can occur in their presence. The reaction, called the Lossen rearrangement, has been known for over a century, but had previously been observed only in a test tube or a flask, says Wallace.

Plastic unpacked

To convert plastic waste into paracetamol, the researchers used conventional chemical methods to degrade and modify polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a plastic used in food packaging and textiles, into a precursor molecule. They added this molecule into bacterium Escherichia coli cell culture, where the Lossen rearrangement transformed it into a biologically relevant molecule. The reaction also occurred, to a lesser extent, in the experiment's negative control, which contained only the precursor molecule and growth medium. The team later discovered that phosphate, an ion found in all organisms, catalyzed the reaction.

The authors also modified the E. coli, introducing the genes for enzymes able to catalyse reactions that use the product of the Lossen rearrangement. The enzymes produced by the modified E. coli carried out the remaining synthetic steps needed to create paracetamol.

(Excerpt) Read more at nature.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Food; Health/Medicine; History
KEYWORDS: acetaminophen; ecoli; ifhfakescience; madscientists

1 posted on 06/26/2025 11:30:23 AM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

Tylenol makes me, and millions of others, sick.


2 posted on 06/26/2025 11:46:36 AM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: Red Badger
NO. I was just in the hospital (A hospital? What is it?) with stomach bleeding.
(David never throws up blood at home), so no NSAIDS for me. And yes, I'm in a LOT of pain, but there's not much I can do about it right now.
3 posted on 06/26/2025 11:59:42 AM PDT by real saxophonist (Michael Bennet claps on 1 and 3.)
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To: Mariner

I thought we were trying to reduce plastic from the environment? They were even trying to develop a synthetic plastic from plants to keep it out of our systems.


4 posted on 06/26/2025 12:01:23 PM PDT by dvan (Send Them Home!Napolatono)
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To: Mariner

I have aspirin growing on trees where I live.


5 posted on 06/26/2025 12:02:38 PM PDT by ryderann
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To: Red Badger; SE Mom; nutmeg
Acetaminophen made from plastic waste, broken down by bacteria from poo poo. Can't make this stuff up!

Fortunately, I can count the number of Tylenol products I have taken in the past 40 years on one hand. My concern was always liver toxicity. Now I can add microplastics and E. coli.

6 posted on 06/26/2025 2:03:53 PM PDT by NautiNurse
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To: Mariner

I just had my stomach rebuilt thanks to acetiminophen and Ibuprofen. If you have pain, go see your doctor and get the real drugs, Oxy works wonders


7 posted on 06/26/2025 4:19:46 PM PDT by eyeamok
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To: NautiNurse

Yikes! That’s not good. Maybe new quality control practices?

I took Tylenol once- nothing happened so I went back to an occasional aspirin. I just didn’t trust the others. It’s rare that I need pain meds, I seem to have a tolerance for pain but I remember childbirth got my attention lol.


8 posted on 06/28/2025 8:14:58 AM PDT by SE Mom (ScreamingEagleMom)
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To: SE Mom
Maybe new quality control practices?

Recycled plastics broken down by bacteria from feces appears to be the new "sustainable" formula for making APAP.

Beyond that, words fail me.

9 posted on 06/29/2025 9:03:32 AM PDT by NautiNurse
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