When we made the transition a little over a decade ago from the nineteenth to the twentieth century, many believed that we were finally closing the door on one of the most notably problematic and violent centuries in world history. Not only were two major World Wars fought during this period, but major anti-discrimination and racism struggles also took place in countries such as the United States, South Africa, and India that finally brought justice to women and ethnic minorities of nations around the world.

By turning the page on this often violent and unjust century, then, one would expect that our new millennium would be noted for its relative calm, peace, and sense of justice. Unfortunately, however, it remains fact that numerous problems continue to plague both our globe and its billions of inhabitants until this very day. One of the most challenging and at the same time simplistic of these problems is that of water contamination. It is estimated that over a billion humans around the world (or one-sixth of the entire population) routinely drink unhealthy water. This leads to the deaths of approximately 5 million people every year with 1.4 million of these being children.

For this reason, researchers from Uppsala University in cooperation with the University of Botswana are testing a simple and sustainable solution to this global issue that implements nothing more than the seeds of the Moringa oleifera tree.

In commonly used water purification processes, the flocculation of impurities is often seen as an important first step. The problem facing currently used methods, however, is that they implement aluminum and iron salts which often have accompanying undesirable health effects. Therefore, the research team at Uppsala University took it upon themselves to discover a more natural way to accomplish the same end goal and found that a natural extract from the seeds of the Moringa oleifera tree does just that without the unwanted side effects of aluminum and iron salts.

The way these seeds work is that small amounts of a protein found in their natural extract bind strongly to contaminant particles and cause an aggregation of these impurities into large and readily removable lumps. Adrian Rennie, a Professor of Physics at Uppsala University, said of the study, “It is nice to see how the basic interactions of molecules can play a role in solving practical problems. Understanding of the process may lead to further development in water purification with materials that are locally available and environmentally friendly.”

It is remarkable that despite the increasing trend towards genetic engineering and the use of artificially made chemicals in our current age of technological advancement, it is often simple, natural extracts from plants that still seem to best solve some of the most pressing challenges that face the world today.

Discussion Question: Given your knowledge of bonds (and more specifically, hydrogen bonds found in water), what sort of chemical explanation do you think can be given for the ability of this natural seed extract to readily bind to water impurities?

News Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100218102452.htm
Scientific Article: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/la9031046