Engineered enzymes break down silicon–carbon bonds in siloxane, an emerging pollutant

Silicon–carbon bonds have been broken down by a cytochrome P450_BM3 enzyme engineered for just that task. The altered enzyme could break the bonds in the mass-produced siloxane, the oligomeric building blocks of silicone, something the researchers say is the first step to making siloxanes biodegradable.

Volatile methylsiloxanes (VMSs) are a type of siloxane that can exist in ring or chain form. They are found in a wide range of consumer products, including textiles, electronics, cosmetics, and medical equipment due to unique properties such as water resistance, flexibility and low chemical reactivity. To keep up with demand, global production of siloxanes increased by 25% from 2017 to 2022.