International. The commercial pharmaceutical company "Imodium", which contains the active ingredient loperamide hydrochloride, has been shown to have biofouling control properties.
However, due to concerns associated with the safety and persistence of this active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in the environment, the development of loperamide as an anti-fouling additive is not desirable. In one study, a team of Singapore researchers from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research and the Pharmaceutical Department reported their efforts directed towards the design and synthesis of small molecule antifouling agents using the original compound loperamide as the main one.
These loperamide-based compounds can be easily and economically synthesized. Several of the compounds identified are potentially useful as additives in marine antifouling coatings as they control the binding of limpets in laboratory tests and an estimation program (BIOWIN) developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that predicts they will be completely degraded in weeks or months.
The full studio can be purchased in the following by clicking here.
