Scientists have invented plastic that imitates DNA and degrades when we want it

Researchers at Rutgers University have used a natural principle to create plastics that self-destruct at programmed rates, without the need for heat or harsh chemicals, offering a solution to the global problem of plastic waste.

Nature produces many long-chain molecules called polymers, including DNA and RNA, but these natural polymers eventually degrade. Synthetic polymers, such as plastics, do not. Why?

“The difference has to be in the chemistry“, it says Yuwei Guresearcher at Rutgers University, in the USA, and leader of a team of scientists who developed an innovative technique that makes it possible to manufacture plastics scheduled to degrade shortly after use.

The discovery, detailed in a published Friday in the journal Nature Chemistryis based on the replication of the mechanism used by polymers natural materials, such as DNA and RNA, to break down — a capacity that traditional synthetic plastics do not have.

Plastic has proven to be a such useful material for humanity, whose traces future archaeologists will certainly find in every corner of the planet.

From the depths of the Mariana Trench to the snow of Everest, it is present in water we drink, in animals and plants we consume and even in the air we breathe. And also, inevitably, in our body.

Scientists have already identified traces of plastic in the liver, kidneys and . Its presence in the body may be associated with a worrying set of diseases.

What makes it so useful, and at the same time the reason we invaded the planet with it, is precisely its durability. The time it takes for plastic to degrade varies depending on the type of polymer, but oscillates between decades and centuries.

There are already biodegradable alternatives, such as bioplastics derived from corn starch or sugar cane, but their high production cost largely limits its use on an industrial scale, which has led numerous scientists to search for the “plastic of the future”.

This is the case of Yuwei Gu, who one day, while walking through Bear Mountain State Park, north of New York, came across plastic bottles abandoned on the ground.

Gu wondered why nature uses polymers in proteins, DNA and RNA, cellulose, practically everywherebut these never accumulate massively, as happens with synthetic plastics. Then he came up with the idea of imitate nature to create plastic that degrades when we want it to.

“It was a simple thought: copy the structure of nature to achieve the same goal. But seeing that it worked was incrediblel”, explains Gu num from Rutgers University.

“This strategy is especially effective for plastics that benefit from a controlled degradation over days or monthsso we see huge potential for applications such as food packaging or other short-lived consumer products.”

How it works

The essential difference between natural and synthetic polymers lies in its chemistry. Natural polymers have chemical structures called “neighboring groups“, which facilitate decomposition.

These groups accelerate internal reactions called nucleophilic attackswhich break the bonds of polymer chains—a process that, in synthetic plastics, requires a huge amount of energy.

Gu and colleagues created artificial chemical structures that mimic these groups neighbors and used them to produce new plastics, a process the team compares to fold a sheet of paper so that it tears easily along the crease. With this “fold” in the structure, the plastic can break thousands of times faster than usual.

Although the new polymer is easier to degrade when activated, its basic chemical composition remainsremaining strong and functional until the moment it is intended to decompose.

“The most important thing was that we discovered that the exact spatial arrangement of these neighboring groups dramatically changes the rate of degradation of the polymer”, explains Gu. “By controlling its orientation and positioning, we were able to design the chemical structure so that the plastic begins to decompose on its own within a few days, at room temperature”.

After the plastic decomposes, the long polymer chains transform into small fragments which, according to Gu, could be used to manufacture new plastics — or simply dissolve safely in the environment.

“This research not only paves the way for more environmentally responsible plastics, it also expands the range of possibilities for designing smart and reactive polymer-based materials across multiple domains,” says Gu.

“Our strategy offers a practical solution, based on chemistryto rethink these materials: work perfectly when usedbut then they are left to decompose naturally.”