Designing out risk: safer plastics from the start
Plastics are everywhere around us, but some of their building blocks can interfere with our hormones and affect human health. For Mistra SafeChem, this is a key challenge. How can we support the development of materials that are safe from the start?
“High-throughput toxicology makes it possible to evaluate many candidates early in development, helping us ensure that only the safest options move forward,” says Oskar Karlsson, Professor at Stockholm University and SciLifeLab.
In the study “Safe and sustainable by design approach to polyesters from non oestrogenic bisphenols”, published in Nature Sustainability, the researchers present a route to replace bisphenol A, BPA, with safer, bio-based alternatives. This work integrates expertise across several fields, including toxicology with Oskar Karlsson and Paula Pierozan at Stockholm University; data science with Ulf Norinder at Stockholm University, who is also part of Mistra SafeChem; organic chemistry with Helena Lundberg at KTH Royal Institute of Technology; and polymer technology with Minna Hakkarainen at KTH. Together, this multidisciplinary approach helps guide the development of new materials that are safer, more sustainable and fit for purpose.
By combining computational screening, synthetic chemistry, materials science and toxicology, the team evaluated more than 170 candidates and identified a promising substitute, bisguaiacol F, BGF.
The results show that it is possible to develop plastics that:
• have no estrogenic activity
• are based on renewable raw materials
• match or outperform conventional BPA-based materials
This is an important step forward. BPA is widely used in everyday products but has been linked to endocrine disruption and adverse health effects. BPA has already been replaced in some applications by structurally similar bisphenols such as BPS and BPF. However, these alternatives have also raised toxicological concerns, illustrating the risk of regrettable substitution. Demonstrating safer alternatives with comparable performance opens new opportunities for both industry and society.
“Multidisciplinary collaboration is essential if we want to develop new materials that are not only functional, but also safer and more sustainable. This work highlights how integrating safety, functionality and sustainability early in the design process can lead to better chemical solutions. Further toxicological testing will be an important next step in supporting the development of BGF-based materials toward future applications,” says Oskar Karlsson.