Purdue researchers eye common foods for adhesives’ toxicity problem

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In Indiana, scientists at Purdue University are looking at compounds in food that could be used to create stronger and safer adhesives in everyday products.

“Adhesives are used in almost every consumer product that we touch each day,” and most are made  from petroleum, Gudrun Schmidt, associate professor, Purdue’s College of Science, tells Purdue Research News. “We would love to leave this planet a better place for the future generations. It turns out creating new adhesives is one way that we will get there.”

The team looked at molecules found in nuts, fruits and plants that were similar to those found in shellfish that adhere themselves to rocks.

“We have created high-performance, tunable adhesives that are nontoxic and degradable,” Schmidt adds. “We found that some combinations of zein protein and tannic acid could be reacted together in order to generate high-performance adhesives that could be alternatives to carcinogenic formaldehyde used in the glues that hold lots of furniture and other household items together. It would be a big health benefit if we could switch over to bio-based or even food-based adhesives.”

Their work is published in a recent issue of Advanced Sustainable Systems.