Sometimes the most obvious questions are the ones that need to be asked. In chemistry professor David Atwood’s case, that question came in 1994 when a postdoc student working in his lab realized that there was no industrial chelator that worked with mercury.



Fast forward 20 years and 50 compounds later, and Atwood is providing answers that have some far-reaching benefits.



Discoverer: David Atwood, department of chemistry, University of Kentucky

Discovery: Highly effective mercury chelator

Years in development: Six

Biological application: Antioxidant, under development as a mercury poisoning therapy

Environmental application: Under development in water filtration

Sales to date: $1.5 million, as a nutritional supplement



>>Read the full article in Chemical & Engineering News here.