BRIGHTLY coloured underwear and socks that infiltrate the whites on
washday and turn the whole lot lurid shades of pink can now be thwarted with an
enzyme. Originally extracted from the inkcap fungus Coprinus cinereus,
the enzyme bleaches dyes only when they have bled from stowaway socks and pants
into water.
鈥淥ur system will bleach virtually any dye,鈥� says the enzyme鈥檚 discoverer,
Anders Pedersen, a researcher at Danish biotechnology company Novo Nordisk鈥檚
enzyme division in Bagsvaerd, north of Copenhagen. The fungal enzyme works in
conjunction with hydrogen peroxide and an organic compound,
phenothiazine-10-propionic acid. All three would be mixed with washing powder to
create a detergent that bleaches water as it cleans clothes.
In the wash, hydrogen peroxide would oxidise the enzyme, which in turn
oxidises the organic acid. The acid then goes on to bleach any dye lurking in
the water. Pedersen says that at the doses proposed, the system is unlikely to
bleach coloured items themselves.
Advertisement
Pedersen stresses, however, that introduction of the enzyme system into
washing powders will not allow whites and coloureds to be washed together. 鈥淲e
would never go so far as to say you could throw everything in together,鈥� he
says. 鈥淏ut it would help in cases where people haven鈥檛 sorted garments properly,
so a single red sock ends up in the wash,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t takes care of these
simple, everyday mistakes.鈥�
Novo is talking to washing powder makers about its discovery. Pedersen says
although some washing powders contain polymers designed to mop up dissolved
dyes, the enzyme system outperformed these in company tests.
