Metal Detoxification in Nature and Its Translation into Functional Adsorbent Materials

Nature has a remarkable strategies to overcome the unfavoring environmental condition by producing a unique chemical compounds, including polyphenol. Polyphenol residues in many living organism have been documented to express numerous biological function ranging from antioxidant, mechanical reinforcement as well as metal anchoring substances. This gave us insight of how nature converts toxic metal compound and deposits it into a harmless form. This review will discuss some natural strategies of living organism to metabolize metal in a safe manner so that the metal no longer harmful to them. Example taken from aluminum accumulating plants, vanadium accumulating marine tunicate and iron-reinforced mussel byssus, which all three utilized phenol derivative compound to chelate the metal. Advances made by incorporating cutting edge characterization tools allowed us to understand the exact mechanism of metal chelation at the atomic level. A comprehensive discussion of molecular mechanism governing the complexion between the phenolic compound and metal will be beneficial for further study to fabricate functional materials, for example adsorbent, to remediate contaminated water. Translating these natural strategies into an engineered polyphenol based adsorbent materials will be prospective to be further applied as a remediation agent as it is easily found in nature, cost effective and highly efficient.