Erin Donahue-Boyle: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire! Siloxanes as Potential Replacements for Forever Chemicals

However, they are very environmentally persistent, bioaccumulative, and prone to widespread transport, and are being regulated worldwide. Siloxanes are another class of compound that are commercially used and whose properties compare favourably with some of those of PFAS.

They have already been used as PFAS replacements in applications like water-repellent garment coatings and cosmetics. Beneficially, they are also known to degrade quickly in the environment. This project focuses on the design of new, siloxane-based molecules that mimic the structures of PFAS.