The Amazing Science of Hydroxyls - Nature's Detergent
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Hydroxyls are nature’s way of decontaminating our environment and are the reason our environment remains safe for life
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Discovered by the UK’s Ministry of Defence in the early 1960s, hydroxyl radicals (originally called the ‘Open Air Factor’, often just called ‘hydroxyls’) are highly reactive molecules of oxygen (O) and hydrogen (H); their chemical formula is OH.
Hydroxyls are continually produced in abundance in the troposphere (where the weather happens and we live) and wage a constant war of attrition against contaminants such as viruses, bacteria, allergens, irritants and pollution.
When hydroxyls are created, they immediately seek out and react with contaminants in the air and on surfaces. These reactions happen within seconds and break down larger molecules, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and tiny structures, such as viruses and bacteria, so well that hydroxyls are often called 'Nature’s Detergent' or 'The Detergent of the Atmosphere' - a term coined by Nobel Prize winning chemist Paul J. Crutzen to describe the critically important atmospheric cleansing and sanitising role of hydroxyls.
Hydroxyls are continually produced in abundance in the troposphere (where the weather happens and we live) and wage a constant war of attrition against contaminants such as viruses, bacteria, allergens, irritants and pollution.
When hydroxyls are created, they immediately seek out and react with contaminants in the air and on surfaces. These reactions happen within seconds and break down larger molecules, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and tiny structures, such as viruses and bacteria, so well that hydroxyls are often called 'Nature’s Detergent' or 'The Detergent of the Atmosphere' - a term coined by Nobel Prize winning chemist Paul J. Crutzen to describe the critically important atmospheric cleansing and sanitising role of hydroxyls.
