The amazing science of hydroxyls - Nature's detergent

Hydroxyls are nature’s way of decontaminating our environment and are the reason our environment remains safe for life​

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 both tiny structures, such as viruses and bacteria, and larger molecules, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) 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.

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Atmospheric creation of hydroxyls

Hydroxyls are naturally created by interactions between sunlight, water, and plants

Hydroxyls are created in the atmosphere by two principal chemical reactions:

• During daylight hours a photochemical reaction occurs in the atmosphere where different wavelengths of light interact with water (and other chemicals) in the air and produce simpler by-products known as Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). One of the main types of ROS is hydroxyls.​
• In addition, during the entire 24 hour cycle, hydroxyls are formed as part of the natural and continual breakdown of natural plant oils secreted into the air by plants everywhere.

There are, on average, more than two million hydroxyls in each cubic centimeter of outdoor air during daylight hours and their estimated global concentration, higher around the tropics, is shown opposite - red higher, blue lower.

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The atmospheric cleansing and sanitising cycle

Hydroxyls power the Earth’s atmospheric cleansing and sanitising cycle and keep our atmosphere clean and liveable

Hydroxyls:

• Destroy, on contact, all airborne human pathogens, both bacteria and viruses. 
• Chemically and / or physically alter the surfaces of allergens, such as pollens, mould spores, dust mite excretions, pet dander and cat saliva, so that they no longer cause allergic reactions.
• Break down all polluting gasses susceptible to oxidation, including those problematic for humans, such as ammonia, carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and formaldehyde – removing them from the atmosphere.
• React with VOCs in less than 100 milliseconds;  initiating a series of chain reactions that decompose VOCs and their by-products, keeping air safe to breathe. ​
• Oxidise all long chain organic odours in seconds and, over a longer time scale, short chain and inorganic odours as well.
• Vapourise carbon based ultra-fine particulates to carbon dioxide.

Natural protection for living organisms

​Hydroxyls attack harmful contaminants, but not us! 

Humans, animals, and plants have evolved over millennia to co-exist with hydroxyls and their reaction by-products. ​Atmospheric hydroxyls cannot enter the blood stream or tissues within the body, because skin and mucosal membranes have evolved to provide a protective barrier.

​Without doubt, hydroxyls are pretty amazing!
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Simply put, only Airora provides continuous whole-space protection

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