Chemical & Engineering News Digital Edition ... - IMM@BUCT

FEBRUARY 2, 2009 

LOW-COST TANNERIES 

Unsafe for humans 

and the environment P.18 

FOILING FOOD FRAUD 

DNA helps authenticate 

upscale products P.30 

MATERIALS FOR NASCAR 

Keeping drivers safe at 200 mph P.12 

PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

www.acs.org 

PLAN NOW TO ATTEND 

THE SPRING 237TH ACS NATIONAL MEETING & EXPOSITION 

IN SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, MARCH 22-26, 2009 

For the first time, Salt Lake City will host the ACS National Meeting & Exposition 

p Hotel rates range between $90 - $229 a night and includes in-room internet access. 

p All the hotels are within 7 blocks of the convention center. 

p A free city light rail is available that travels through all of downtown including 

the convention center area. 

PRESIDENTIAL KEYNOTE ADDRESS 

Sunday, March 22nd from 5:00pm – 6:00pm 

Professor Angela Belcher from MIT will deliver the meeting’s Keynote Address sponsored 

by ACS President – Elect Dr. Thomas H. Lane 

PLENARY SESSION 

Monday, March 23rd from 4:00pm – 7:00pm 

Professors Vicki Colvin (Rice University), Jim Hutchison (University of Oregon), 

George Whitesides (Harvard University), and Grant Willson (University of Texas, Austin) 

will deliver their perspectives on the future of nanoscience in the Plenary Session 

sponsored by The Kavli Foundation. 

In addition to the Keynote Address and Plenary Session, there will be seven in-depth symposia 

organized by leading researchers in nanoscience and sponsored by the ACS Technical Divisions. 

NEW EXPOSITION HOURS 

The National Exposition will now open on Sunday, March 22nd from 6:00pm-8:30pm 

with a Welcome Reception for all attendees immediately following the Keynote Address. 

The Exposition hours have been extended on Wednesday, March 25th from 9:00am-2:00pm. 

FOR FURTHER MEETING DETAILS VISIT www.acs.org/saltlakecity2009 

American Chemical Society

VOLUME 87, NUMBER 5 

FEBRUARY 2, 2009 

Serving the chemical, 

life sciences, 

and laboratory worlds 

COVER STORY 

NASCAR 

SCIENCE 

Advances in materials 

science drive improvements 

in stockcar design, flameresistant 

clothing, and track 

barriers. PAGE 12 

22 INSIGHTS 

During tough economic times, companies 

change the way they convey information to their 

employees and the public. 

GOVERNMENT & POLICY 

23 CONCENTRATES 

24 NEW NIEHS DIRECTOR 

Linda Birnbaum, first toxicologist to head the 

institute, hopes to strengthen relationships with 

other agencies and groups. 

27 KATHRYN L. BEERS 

C&EN talks with the NIST chemist and former 

Bush Administration science adviser. 

QUOTE 

OF THE WEEK 

“I don’t think 

chemists are 

represented 

strongly enough 

in the policy 

community.” 

KATHRYN L. BEERS, 

POLYMER CHEMIST, 

NATIONAL INSTITUTE 

OF STANDARDS & 

TECHNOLOGY PAGE 27 

24 

NEWS OF THE WEEK 

7 PFIZER BUYS WYETH 

Creating a broad product portfolio is the goal of a 

deal that will create the largest prescription drug 

company. 

8 FINE CHEMICALS FORTITUDE 

At Informex, makers of pharmaceutical chemicals 

indicate they are moving ahead with investments, 

despite the economy. 

8 SCIENCE STIMULUS 

House passes economic stimulus bill with more 

than $13 billion for R&D; Senate is still at work. 

9 DOW, ROHM AND HAAS DEAL SOURS 

Dow wants to delay acquisition; Rohm and Haas 

has sued for it to proceed. 

9 NEW FORM OF BORON 

Entity has significant ionic character, a first for a 

material made from a single element. 

10 GREEN LIGHT FOR STEM CELLS 

FDA approves the first clinical trial of a therapy 

that uses embryonic stem cells. 

10 MAKING A TOXIC LIPID 

Chemical oddity isolated from mussels features 

both a sulfate group and six chlorine atoms. 

11 IRREVERSIBLE CLIMATE CHANGE 

Models predict a hotter, drier world for a 

millennium, even if CO 2 emissions stop. 

11 MAPPING EARTH’S CO 2 

NASA’s soon-to-be-launched Orbiting Carbon 

Observatory will help map sources and sinks of the 

greenhouse gas. 

BUSINESS 


18 BANGLADESH’S ARCHAIC TANNERIES 

Leather operations in the Hazaribagh district of 

Dhaka may soon relocate to improve worker and 

environmental safety. 

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 


30 DISCERNING FOOD DNA 

Researchers are developing techniques to 

find suspect DNA in food as evidence of 

contamination or adulteration. 

BOOKS 

33 “MOLECULES OF MURDER” 

John Emsley’s latest book recounts true crimes in 

which victims were poisoned. 

ACS NATIONAL AWARDS 

36 2009 WINNERS 

Carr, Coates, Gordon, Grubbs, Karlin, Mitchell, 

Moody, Selig, and Tolbert. 

THE DEPARTMENTS 

3 EDITOR’S PAGE 

4 LETTERS 

32 DIGITAL BRIEFS 

35 ACS COMMENT 

42 OBITUARIES 

44 EMPLOYMENT 

48 NEWSCRIPTS 

COVER: Aerial image of Darlington Raceway, in South 

Carolina, at night. Bo Nash 

THIS WEEK ONLINE 

WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 

CHEMICAL SAFETY 

Latest News: Manhattan Project-era Pu- 

239 is found in a glass jug during Hanford 

Site cleanup. UCLA research 

assistant dies from injuries 

sustained in an incident with 

tert-butyllithium. 

ANAL. CHEM. 

CENEAR 87 (5) 1–48 • ISSN 0009-2347

y? Is it about medicine? Is it about electronics? Is it about energy? Is it about global economics? Is it about grey goo? Is it about environmen 

w would you explain it to your friends? Your kids? Your advisor? Is it about 10 -9 ? Is it about technology? Is it about medicine? Is it about electr 

gy? Is it about global economics? Is it about grey goo? Is it about environmental impact? How would you explain it to your friends? Your kids? Y 

-9 

? Is it about technology? Is it about medicine? Is it about electronics? Is it about energy? Is it about global economics? Is it about grey g 

vironmental impact? How would you explain it to your friends? Your kids? Your advisor? Is it about 10 -9 ? Is it about technology? Is it about me 

tronics? Is it about energy? Is it about global economics? Is it about grey goo? Is it about environmental impact? How would you explain it 

Your kids? Your advisor? Is it about 10 -9 ? Is it about technology? Is it about medicine? Is it about electronics? Is it about energy? Is it about glob 

nomics? Is it about grey goo? Is it about environmental impact? How would you explain it to your friends? Your kids? Your advisor? Is it about 10 -9 




-9 

? Is it about technology? Is it about medicine? Is it about electronics? Is it about energy? Is it about global economics? Is it about grey goo 

vironmental impact? How would 

What 

you explain it to your friends? Your kids? Your advisor? 

is 

Is it about 10 -9 ? Is it about technology? Is it about me 







-9 


“nano”? 








-9 









-9 




Your kids? Your advisor? Is In it about a 10video -9 ? Is it about technology? three Is it about minutes medicine? Is it about or electronics? less Is it about energy? Is it about glob 


y? Is it about medicine? Is explain it about electronics? Is “What it about energy? Is is it about nano?” global economics? in Is it about an grey goo? Is it about environmen 


gy? Is it about global economics? entertaining/informative Is it about grey goo? Is it about environmental impact? How would you way explain it to your friends? Your kids? Y 

-9 


vironmental impact? How would you for explain two it to your $500 friends? Your kids? cash Your advisor? prizes. 

Is it about 10 -9 ? Is it about technology? Is it about me 




y? Is it about medicine? Is 

Go 

it about 

to 

electronics? 

www.acsnanotation.org 

Is it about energy? Is it about global economics? Is it about grey goo? Is it about environmen 



-9 

for contest details. 






y? Is it about medicine? Is it about electronics? Is it about energy? Is it about global economics? Is it about grey goo? Is it about environmen

CHEMICAL & ENGINEERING NEWS 

1155—16th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20036 

(202) 872-4600 or (800) 227-5558 

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Rudy M. Baum 

DEPUTY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: A. Maureen Rouhi 

MANAGING EDITOR: Ivan Amato 

DESIGN DIRECTOR: Nathan Becker 

SENIOR ART DIRECTOR: Robin L. Braverman 

SENIOR DESIGNER: Yang H. Ku 

STAFF ARTIST: Monica C. Gilbert 

NEWS EDITOR: William G. Schulz 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER: Marvel A. Wills 

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: Marilyn Caracciolo 

BUSINESS 

Michael McCoy, Assistant Managing Editor 

NORTHEAST: (732) 906-8300. Lisa M. Jarvis (Senior 

Editor), Rick Mullin (Senior Editor), Marc S. Reisch (Senior 

Correspondent), Alexander H. Tullo (Senior Editor), 

Rachel Eskenazi (Administrative Assistant). HONG 

KONG: 852 2984 9072. Jean-François Tremblay (Senior 

Correspondent). HOUSTON: (281) 486-3900. Ann M. Thayer 

(Senior Correspondent). LONDON: 44 20 8870 6884. 

Patricia L. Short (Senior Correspondent). WASHINGTON: 

(202) 872-4406. Melody Voith (Senior Editor) 


Susan R. Morrissey, Assistant Managing Editor 

Rochelle F. H. Bohaty (Assistant Editor), Britt E. Erickson 

(Associate Editor), David J. Hanson (Senior Correspondent), 

Glenn Hess (Senior Editor), Cheryl Hogue (Senior 

Editor), Jeffrey W. Johnson (Senior Correspondent) 

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY/EDUCATION 

BOSTON: (617) 395-4163. Amanda Yarnell, Assistant Managing 

Editor. WASHINGTON: (202) 872-6216. Stuart A. Borman 

(Deputy Assistant Managing Editor), Celia Henry Arnaud 

(Senior Editor), Carmen Drahl (Assistant Editor), Stephen K. 

Ritter (Senior Editor), Sophie L. Rovner (Senior Editor). 

BERLIN: 49 30 2123 3740. Sarah Everts (Associate Editor). 

CHICAGO: (847) 679-1156. Mitch Jacoby (Senior Editor). 

NORTHEAST: (732) 906-8302. Bethany Halford (Associate 

Editor). WEST COAST: Jyllian Kemsley (Associate Editor) (510) 

991-6574, Rachel A. Petkewich (Associate Editor) (510) 991- 

7670, Elizabeth K. Wilson (Senior Editor) (510) 870-1617. 

BEIJING: 150 1138 8372. Jessie Jiang (Contributing Editor) 

ACS NEWS & SPECIAL FEATURES 

Linda Raber, Assistant Managing Editor 

Susan J. Ainsworth (Senior Editor), Corinne A. Marasco (Senior 

Editor), Linda Wang (Associate Editor) 

EDITING & PRODUCTION 

Robin M. Giroux, Managing Editor for Production 

Alicia J. Chambers (Assistant Editor), Arlene Goldberg- 

Gist (Senior Editor), Faith Hayden (Assistant Editor), 

Kenneth J. Moore (Assistant Editor), Tonia E. Moore 

(Assistant Editor), Kimberly R. Twambly (Associate 

Editor), Lauren K. Wolf (Assistant Editor) 

C&EN ONLINE 

Rachel Sheremeta Pepling, Editor 

Tchad K. Blair (Visual Designer), Luis A. Carrillo (Production 

Manager), Ty A. Finocchiaro (Web Assistant), William B. 

Shepherd (Manager, Online Recruitment), Noah Shussett 

(Associate Web Content Manager) 

JOURNAL NEWS & COMMUNITY 

Elizabeth Zubritsky, Assistant Director 

Rhitu Chatterjee (Associate Editor), Catherine M. Cooney 

(Senior Associate Editor), Katie Cottingham (Senior Editor), 

Erika Engelhaupt (Senior Associate Editor), Jennifer S. 

Griffiths (Senior Associate Editor), Daniella Jaeger (Editorial 

Associate), Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay (Senior Associate 

Editor), Karen Müller (Assistant Managing Editor for 

Production), Christine A. Piggee (Associate Editor), Jennie 

Reinhardt (Senior Associate Copy Editor), Felicia Wach (Senior 

Associate Editor), Mel Waters (Senior Associate Copy Editor) 

PRODUCTION & IMAGING 

Renee L. Zerby, Lead Digital Production Specialist 

Krystal E. King (Lead Digital Production Associate) 

SALES & MARKETING 

Elise Swinehart, Assistant Director 

Elaine Facciolli Jarrett (Marketing Manager) 

ADVISORY BOARD: Magid Abou-Gharbia, David N. Beratan, 

Jim Birnie, Gary Calabrese, David Clary, Rita R. Colwell, Daryl W. 

Ditz, Michael P. Doyle, Arthur B. Ellis, James R. Heath, Rebecca 

Hoye, Harry Kroto, Roger LaForce, Aslam Malik, Andrew D. 

Maynard, Thomas R. Tritton, Pratibha Varma-Nelson, Paul A. 

Wender, George Whitesides, Frank Wicks 

Published by the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 

Madeleine Jacobs, Executive Director & CEO 

Brian Crawford, President, Publications Division 

EDITORIAL BOARD: John N. Russell Jr. (Chair); 

ACS Board of Directors Chair: Judith L. Benham; 

ACS President: Thomas H. Lane; Ned D. Heindel, 

Madeleine M. Joullié, Leah Solla, Peter J. Stang 

Copyright 2009, American Chemical Society 

Canadian GST Reg. No. R127571347 

Volume 87, Number 5 

AS PARENTS AND CITIZENS, we all 

know how vitally important education is. 

As chemists and scientists, we are painfully 

aware of the multiple deficiencies that exist 

in science education in the U.S. at all levels. 

Those deficiencies have been documented 

in endless reports and quantified in the results 

of numerous international standardized 

tests that show American students 

falling behind much of the rest of the world 

in their understanding of fundamental science 

and mathematics concepts. 

It remains difficult, however, to wrap 

one’s mind around education issues, especially 

how to improve science education. 

Perhaps it’s just because science is so broad 

and the issues confronting successful reform 

of science education are so intractable. 

The American Chemical Society has 

been deeply involved in education issues 

throughout its history. Late last year, ACS 

formed a Board-Presidential Task Force 

on Education chaired by Richard N. Zare, 

who is chair of the chemistry department at 

Stanford University and one of the most innovative 

chemistry educators in the U.S. 

The charter of the task force states that it 

is charged with “1) reviewing recommendations 

contained in national STEM (Science, 

Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) 

education reports released during 

the past five years; 2) identifying specific 

actions that the Society could undertake in 

response to these recommendations; and 

3) creating a priority list of actionable items 

where the Society can have a unique impact 

on STEM education.” 

The task force’s charge extends across all 

levels of education, from primary (starting 

at pre-K) through graduate and postgraduate 

programs, and includes continuing 

professional development and informal 

educational institutions such as museums. 

As a reflection of this broad focus, the task 

force has formed subcommittees for primary, 

secondary, and tertiary education 

and for outreach. 

The charter states: “Solving the challenges 

the world faces in the 21st century 

will require synergy among new scientific 

knowledge, policy makers who understand 

its use, and a public that embraces the results. 

Education is by far the most critical 

ingredient for creating this synergy and 

FROM THE EDITOR 

ACS And Science Education 

needs to be a top priority for all nations 

and their component institutions. As the 

largest scientific society in the world, the 

American Chemical Society has a special 

opportunity and obligation to provide 

leadership in education that is both an end 

in itself and a model to encourage others to 

bring their perspectives and resources to 

the task.” 

I know that Zare has specific ideas about 

involving the ACS local sections and a large 

number of ACS members in a commitment 

to improving chemistry education at all 

levels. In sharing some of his still-forming 

ideas with me, he wrote, “I am determined 

to make sure that this task force does not 

generate another space-filling report that 

collects dust. There have been enough of 

them already.” 

Mary Kirchhoff, the director of the ACS 

Education Division, is the staff liaison to 

the task force. “The work of the task force 

can play a significant role in shaping the 

society’s impact on science education for 

years to come,” Kirchhoff says. 

Zare and Kirchhoff are soliciting input 

from ACS members and the chemistry 

community in general. You can offer suggestions 

at educationtaskforce@acs.org. 

They note that you can have the most influence 

on the task force’s deliberations by 

submitting your ideas before the spring 

ACS national meeting in Salt Lake City 

(March 22–26). “Concise suggestions with 

plans of implementation would be warmly 

welcomed,” they add. 

The ACS vision statement—“Improving 

people’s lives through the transforming 

power of chemistry”—implies a focus 

outside the chemistry enterprise that I’m 

not sure ACS has yet to entirely embrace. 

The charter of the Board-Presidential Task 

Force on Education clearly charges the 

group with bringing the strengths of ACS to 

bear on transforming science education in 

the U.S. Please think about what the society 

can do to make this a reality and communicate 

your ideas to the task force. 

Thanks for reading. 

Editor-in-chief 

Views expressed on this page are those of the author and not necessarily those of ACS. 

WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 3 FEBRUARY 2, 2009

LETTERS 

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT 

I AM WRITING this letter to correct a 

major misrepresentation of a fact that was 

made in “The Art of Science” concerning 

the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) 

exhibit (C&EN, Oct. 27, 2008, page 34). 

The article erroneously claims that “the 

project is the culmination of an idea conceived 

10 years ago by Arnold Thackray, 

chancellor and founding president of CHF.” 

The simple truth is that the inspiration for 

this project was first discussed by John Ferarro 

of Argonne National Laboratory and 

me in Beckman Instrument’s booth at the 

1990 Pittsburgh Conference nearly 19 years 

ago, not 10 years ago as claimed. 

The inspiration for the scientific exhibit 

was Ferraro’s alone, and he worked 

very hard with the scientific community, 

including forming a Soceity for Applied 

Spectroscopy committee to ensure that 

an educational display of pioneering and 

landmark instruments was eventually 

implemented. Since this discussion, Ferraro 

actively worked with Pittcon (note 

their popular “historical museum” at each 

meeting that began more than a decade 

ago) and we met with officials at the Museum 

of Science & Industry in Chicago. As 

a member of the Beckman Historical Committee 

(now Beckman Heritage Council) 

from 1986 through 1993, I strongly encouraged 

Ferraro to communicate his ideas 

directly to Arnold O. Beckman, first in the 

form of a letter seeking Beckman’s support 

and requesting an instrument exhibit at 

CHF. 

I can relate personally that Beckman was 

very happy to support these educational 

opportunities. Needless to say, Ferraro also 

worked in the early 1990s with officials at 

CHF to implement the museum of which 

we are all so proud. 

I hope you set the record straight and to 

give Ferarro due credit for his inspiration 

and all of his subsequent efforts to make 

sure that his idea was implemented. 

Robert J. Jarnutowski 

Stephenson, Mich. 

Thackray responds: 

THE CHEMICAL HERITAGE Foundation, 

and most recently its new exhibit galleries 

and conference center, has enjoyed widespread 

recognition and success. This is 

exemplified in C&EN’s fine article on “The 

Art of Science.” Unfortunately, that article 

attributes to me a claim I have no wish to 

make. 

A folk-saying states that “success has a 

thousand fathers (parents?).” As founding 

president of CHF and its director for over 

a quarter of a century, I can surely testify 

to the truth of that saying. CHF owes its 

growth and present usefulness to many, 

many dedicated individuals among whom 

John Ferraro holds a special pride of place 

for first articulating the idea of a scientific 

instrumentation museum, at the 1990 

Pittsburgh Conference. That idea found 

resonance during the 1991 celebration in 

California of the 50th anniversary of the 

Beckman DU spectrophotometer, at which 

I was one of several speakers. One good 

account of parts of the long, complex road 

forward from that time can be found in 

“History of the Chemical Heritage Scientific 

Instrumentation Museum,” by John R. 

Ferraro and Edward G. Brame” (Spectroscopy 

2002, 17, 34). 

Ferraro’s zeal for, and steadfast support 

of, “the scientific instrument idea” is 

an important part of the history of CHF. 

Many thanks are due to him, to Robert 

Jarnutowski, and to all those many other 

individuals who together created CHF as a 

living testament to the chemical and molecular 

sciences and industries—that is, to 

“the greatest human adventure ever.” 

Arnold Thackray 

Philadelphia 

FREEZE-DRIED COFFEE 

C&EN PUBLISHED two very interesting 

items concerning freeze-dried coffee (Sept. 

29, 2008, page 42; Nov. 3, 2008, page 4). I’d 

like to provide additional information that 

should be of interest because it places the 

development of the high-vacuum freezedrying 

of coffee back to 1945–54 by the National 

Research Corp. (NRC). 

Richard Morse founded NRC as a process 

development company for exploiting 

high-vacuum technology. Initially located 

in Boston, the company was later relocated 

to nearby Cambridge, Mass. During the war, 

NRC developed high-vacuum dehydration 

processes to produce penicillin, blood plasma, 

and streptomycin for the war effort. 

In 1945, NRC formed Florida Foods 

Corp., which used the high-vacuum dehydration 

process to develop concentrated 

orange juice powder for the Army. Florida 

Foods later changed its name to Minute 

Maid. However, the concentrated orange 

juice powder was not considered a suitable 

commercial product, and the process was 

modified to produce frozen orange juice 

concentrate, which was marketed under 

the Minute Maid name. 

The high-vacuum freeze-drying process 

was also adapted to freeze-drying of coffee 

for an instant-coffee product application, 

CORRECTION 

■ Jan. 12, page 44: The photo was taken by 

Carway Communications. 

HOW TO REACH US 

CHEMICAL & ENGINEERING NEWS 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 

■ Our e-mail address is edit.cen@acs.org. 

■ Our fax number is (202) 872-8727. 

■ Or you can send your letter to: 

C&EN Editor-in-Chief 

1155—16th St., N.W. 

Washington, DC 20036 

■ Letters should generally be 400 words or 

fewer and should include the writer’s full name, 

address, and home telephone; letters may be 

edited for purposes of clarity and space. Because 

of the heavy volume of mail received at 

C&EN, writers are limited to one letter in a sixmonth 

period. No attachments, please. 

SUBSCRIPTIONS 

■ Send all new and renewal subscriptions 

and requests for subscription rates to ACS, 

Dept. L-0011, Columbus, OH 43268-0011. 

■ Changes of address, claims for missing issues, 

subscription orders, status of records, 

and accounts should be directed to Manager, 

Member & Subscriber Services, ACS, P.O. Box 

3337, Columbus, OH 43210; telephone (800) 

333-9511 or (614) 447-3776; or send an e-mail 

to service@acs.org. 

REPRINTS AND PERMISSIONS 

■ Information on obtaining permission 

for copying articles is available at 

pubs.acs.org/cen/copyright.html. 

■ For quotes and information on ordering 

bulk reprints, call CJS Reprint Services at 

(888) 257-2134 or (410) 819-3995, e-mail: 

cloughe@cadmus.com. 

ADVERTISING 

■ For advertising rates and our editorial calendar, 

contact ACS Publications’ Advertising 

Sales Group, 676 East Swedesford Rd., Suite 

202, Wayne, PA 19807-1612; telephone (610) 

964-8061; or fax (610) 964-8071. 

ACS INFORMATION 

■ For more information about American 

Chemical Society activities and departments, 

call (800) 227-5558. When prompted, ask for 

operator assistance. Or visit the ACS website, 

www.acs.org. 


and a number of patents were issued for 

development of the process. A coffee pilot 

plant was installed in Cambridge by 1949 

under the supervision of Edward Hellier. 

By 1951, the high-vacuum freeze-dried coffee 

process was well developed. Hellier 

formed and headed Holiday Brands to 

manufacture the vacuum freeze-dried coffee. 

This was marketed as Holiday Brand 

Coffee, but it did not become a national 

brand, and the company was later acquired 

by Minute Maid. 

Charles A. Baer 

Frederick, Md. 

DON’T SWEEP PHARMA’S 

PAST UNDER THE RUG 

AS A LONG-AGO-retired organic chemist, 

I read the article on contract research 

organizations with interest (C&EN, Dec. 

8, 2008, page 38). It is pleasing to find out 

that chemists who lost their jobs in big 

coming soon 

the new spectrum catalog 

WRONG STRUCTURE 

NO DOUBT OTHERS have pointed out that 

your structure of hemicellulose in “Genes 

to Gasoline” is wrong (C&EN, Dec. 8, 2008, 

page 14). An oxygen is missing between the 

arabinose and the xylose it is attached to. 

When adding the oxygen it would look far 

better if the bond from the xylose pointed 

in a realistic direction. It should be parallel 

to the 4-5 bond of the xylose. 

Gerry Moss 

London 

ON-CALL FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 

THANK YOU for introducing “On-Call 

Scientists” to your readers (C&EN, Dec. 8, 

2008, page 9). The article cites Zafra Lerman’s 

observation that “the expertise the 

program provides is already available.” I 

want to clarify why this project is necessary. 

As the human rights community has 

expanded and evolved, so too has the range 

of specialized expertise required by human 

rights organizations, national human 

rights institutions, and even by the United 

Nations Development Program country offices 

working on a human-rights-based approach 

to development. Because of a lack 

of resources, lack of connections, or lack of 

comfort with “science,” many fail to obtain 

the scientific expertise that will enhance 

their work. On-Call Scientists will make it 

possible for scientists, including chemists 

and chemical engineers, to respond to the 

needs of these groups, in the process cultivating 

volunteerism among scientists in 

the service of human rights. 

Mona Younis 

Director, Science & Human Rights 

Program 

Washington, D.C. 

HDV\WRUHDGSDJHV 

FKHPLFDOV 

ODERUDWRU\VXSSOLHVDQGHTXLSPHQW 

QHZSURGXFWV 

YLVLWRXUZHEVLWHWRUHJLVWHUDQGUHFHLYH\RXUFRS\ 

pharma have found employment in independent 

laboratories. On the other hand, 

the article left me feeling that some of my 

past is being swept under the rug. 

The Pfizer location in Ann Arbor, Mich., 

was better known to chemists of my 

generation first as Parke-Davis and later 

Warner-Lambert. The labs in Kalamazoo, 

Mich., that Pfizer acquired from Pharmawhen 

it comes to chemicals and 

laboratory products, 

you do have choices... 

:HPDQXIDFWXUHDQGGLVWULEXWH¿QHFKHPLFDOVDQGODERUDWRU\ 

SURGXFWVZLWKTXDOLW\DQGGHOLYHU\\RXFDQFRXQWRQHYHU\WLPH 

800-772-8786 www.spectrumchemical.com 


LETTERS 

cia—where I plied my craft for some 17 

years—were known as Upjohn. That company, 

founded in the late-19th century, 

represented an admirable provider of 

drugs as well as a leader in pharmaceutical 

research. 

Dan Lednicer 

Rockville, Md. 

‘STUPIDITY VERGING 

ON MADNESS’ 

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY AGREE with William 

Boulanger’s concern about the growing 

dependence on books and journals 

online, but I could hardly believe it when 

I read in his letter that there has been a 

“wholesale destruction of entire collections 

of hardbound Chemical Abstracts” 

(C&EN, Dec. 1, 2008, page 7). 

Relatively few people now make do 

without the convenience and accessibility 

of the World Wide Web, but I always 

thought that its sensitivity to virus and 

electromagnetic disruption would ensure 

that hard copy of absolutely vital information 

and data would always remain as 

backup. Very little compares in importance 

with scientific and technological 

information and data, and exposing it to 

risk of this magnitude is stupidity verging 

on madness—it is a time bomb threatening 

all of industrially developed society. 

If anyone wants to give away hardbound 

Chemical Abstracts, especially early sets, 

let me know. 

Michael Parrish 

Northumberland, England 

DEFINING ‘GREEN’ BUILDINGS 

“HIGH-PERFORMANCE Buildings” 

ignores what the term “green” implies: 

A green design should also be a healthy 

design (C&EN, Nov. 17, 2008, page 15). 

A healthy design does not use materials 

like polyurethane insulation, isocyanates, 

polyols, fire-retardants, coatings, or adhesives, 

unless such buildings wish to contribute 

to the national incidence of cancer 

and debilitation from low-level chemical 

exposures. 

Look at the cancer rate and the proportion 

of the population with disability 

caused by lifetime exposures to the chemical 

soup we live in. For example, look at the 

risk calculations and resulting numbers of 

cancer incidences and other health conditions 

related to formaldehyde emissions 

and resulting exposures in new homes— 

McMansions that cost a lot and are so 

beautiful. They also cause disease and 

death. Add in a few isocyanates and other 

sensitizers and there is a real witch’s brew 

for the unsuspecting public. 

Isn’t it too bad that industry leaves one 

mess and moves on to the next? I hope the 

public will be smarter and not buy these 

chemical-laden homes. Energy efficiency 

should not have a definable cost in terms 

of cancer and other chemical-exposurerelated 

disability. If nothing else, throw 

out toxics, build smaller, have less, and 

enjoy life and excellent health. The era of 

“Better Living through Chemistry” is over. 

Don’t support this type of harmful “green” 

nonsense. 

C. Bass 

Alexandria, Va. 

www.acs.org 

HO O 

Cl 

N 

N 

H 

Cl 

CH 3 

N 

N 

H 

Cl 

I 

N 

N 

H 

Here’s to. . . 

4-280 

4-281 

4-277 

H 

O 

Cl 

HO 

Cl 

Cl 

OH 

N 

N 

H 

N 

N 

H 

N 

N 

H 

4-263 

4-279 

4-278 

H 

O 

OCH 3 

N OCH 3 

2-596 

H 3 CO 

Cl 

NHBoc 

N 

2-528 

H 3 CO 

H 3 CO 

N 

2-595 

O 

OH 

Technicians, Operators, Analysts 

…and all the other applied chemical 

professionals who play a vital role in 

ACS and the chemical enterprise. 

Br 

OCH 3 

N CN 

2-578 

H 3 CO 

I 

NHBoc 

N 

2-523 

H 3 CO 

H 3 CO N 

2-587 

Cl 

Join the ACS Committee on Technician 

Affairs (CTA) as it celebrates its 45th 

anniversary with a reception at the 238th 

ACS national meeting in Washington, DC. 

See meeting program for details. 

CTA: supporting applied chemical professionals for 45 years. 

American Chemical Society 


news of the week 

FEBRUARY 2, 2009 EDITED BY WILLIAM G. SCHULZ & KENNETH J. MOORE 

PFIZER 

PFIZER BUYS WYETH 

MERGER: Deal will make Pfizer 

the biggest prescription drug 

company in the world 

PFIZER HAS AGREED to buy Wyeth in a $68 billion 

deal that will create a pharmaceutical behemoth 

with strengths in small-molecule drugs, biologics, 

and vaccines. The combined company will have 

roughly $71 billion in annual revenues from businesses 

spanning prescription drugs, consumer products, and 

animal health. 

Pfizer says the purchase, which it expects to complete 

in the third or fourth quarter, will bring diversification 

and reduced dependence on small-molecule drugs, 

which currently represent 90% of its business. “This is 

very, very different from prior pharma mergers,” Pfizer 

CEO Jeffrey B. Kindler told reporters last week. “This is 

not about a single product, this is 

Kindler 

not about cost-cutting, although 

there will be productivity improvements. 

It is about creating a 

broad portfolio.” 

With the Wyeth acquisition, 

Pfizer is sticking to its mantra of 

“bigger is better,” despite industrywide 

evidence to the contrary. 

Although mega-mergers swept 

through the drug industry from 

the late 1990s through 2003, 

companies still struggled to keep 

their pipelines full of innovative products. New drug 

approvals reached a 24-year low in 2007. 

Yet Pfizer sees little choice but to think big: The 

company has been scrambling to avoid the revenue 

cliff it will reach in late 2011, when its top-selling drug, 

Lipitor, is scheduled to lose patent protection. In 2008, 

Lipitor brought in $12.4 billion, more than 25% of the 

company’s sales. Shareholders expect a solution, and 

as Deutsche Bank analyst Barbara Ryan put it last year, 

Pfizer is “very much between a rock and a hard place.” 

Wyeth does not add any one blockbuster product of 

the type Pfizer sought in earlier deals. Rather, Wyeth’s 

$23 billion in annual sales will diversify Pfizer’s portfolio 

further into biopharmaceuticals and animal health, two 

areas that it has earmarked for growth. With the acquisition 

barely filling the gap left by Lipitor and other product 

challenges the two companies face, 2012 sales are 

expected to be on par with their combined 2008 results. 

Deutsche Bank’s Ryan estimated that Wyeth’s biologics 

and vaccines portfolio will add about $5 billion 

in sales in 2012. In addition to 

diversifying revenues, biologic 

products also have a longer life 

span because generic competitors 

currently have no easy route 

for approval. Ryan noted that 

Wyeth’s biologics-manufacturing 

capabilities could also enable 

Pfizer to enter the biosimilars 

business in coming years, a strategy 

several of its competitors are 

pursuing. 

Along with the acquisition, 

Pfizer plans to cut 10% of its 

workforce, or some 8,000 jobs, 

and shed five manufacturing sites 

by 2011. Combined with further 

cuts after the deal closes, Pfizer 

expects to eliminate 15% of the 

companies’ combined workforce 

3% 

Consumer 

4% 

Vaccines 

5% 

Animal 

health 

6% 

Biologics 

11% 

Nutritional 

of about 128,000. The measures will contribute to the 

roughly $4 billion in savings that Kindler plans by 2012. 

Pfizer does not have the best track record when it 

comes to smoothly integrating big businesses. Many 

scientists privately complained that innovation and 

productivity were hindered by bureaucracy after its 

earlier purchases of Warner-Lambert and Pharmacia. 

In the past two years, however, Pfizer has worked to revamp 

its research organization to become more nimble 

and effective (C&EN, Sept. 1, 2008, page 27). 

The question is whether this latest acquisition will 

undo that progress. “We obviously learned a lot from 

our prior acquisitions,” Kindler said. He conceded that 

the turmoil following the earlier deals “definitely hurt 

morale and productivity” among scientists. However, he 

said, recent efforts to restructure the research organization 

with fewer layers of bureaucracy will not go to waste. 

“We have no intention of changing that model,” he 

said of Pfizer’s new approach to R&D. Indeed, Kindler 

claimed that the newly streamlined science team will 

enable Pfizer to bring Wyeth into the fold with minimal 

disruption.—LISA JARVIS 

PFIZER IN 2012 

Biologics from Wyeth will help 

diversify Pfizer’s business 

Formulations 

1% 

Small 

molecules 

70% 

Estimated 2012 revenues = $70 billion 

SOURCE: Pfizer 

Wyeth’s Collegeville, 

Pa., campus. 

NEWSCOM 



RICK MULLIN/C&EN 

FINE CHEMICALS 

SHOW FORTITUDE 

TRADE SHOW: Pharmaceutical 

chemical manufacturers at Informex 

are proceeding with investments 

THE FINE AND CUSTOM chemicals industry 

arrived at the annual Informex trade show in 

San Francisco late last month undaunted by the 

worldwide economic crisis. In a week when the world’s 

largest drug company, Pfizer, announced a $68 billion 

bid to buy Wyeth (see page 7), many of the suppliers to 

the pharmaceutical industry indicated they, too, were 

ready to proceed with investments in capacity and, in at 

least one case, an acquisition. 

Several exhibitors are moving forward with investments 

on new biologics ventures, including SAFC, which 

will spend $12 million on an expansion at its recently 

opened Carlsbad, Calif., biologics facility. The firm is 

currently investing $50 million on expanding operations, 

according to Gilles Cottier, president of SAFC, 

which is the fine chemicals division of Sigma Aldrich. 

Novasep has invested $55 million over the past year 

in new highly potent active ingredients production 

at its plant in Le Mans, France, and at a new biologics 

manufacturing facility in Pompey, France. The company 

is pushing ahead with plans to apply its continuouschromatography 

technology to processing monoclonal 

antibodies and other biologics. 

Jean Blehaut, director of marketing and business 

development for Novasep, said that business remains 

secure with customers whose compounds are moving 

into the clinic. “There are products that have to advance,” 

he said, “economic crisis or not.” 

Helsinn, the privately held Biasca, Switzerland-based 

contract manufacturer, announced its acquisition of 

Sapphire Therapeutics, in Bridgewater, N.J. The acquisition 

will give Helsinn access to three products in clinical 

trials. More important, according to Waldo Mossi, head 

of business development, the deal will give Helsinn a 

U.S.-based marketing and research organization, a longtime 

goal of the company. “Now is the time to buy,” he 

said. “You will get a better deal now if you have liquidity.” 

Overall, the fine chemicals industry remains cautiously 

optimistic this year, according to Joseph Acker, 

president of the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers 

Association, the former sponsor of Informex. 

Acker said at a press briefing that a recent survey of 

SOCMA members indicates that 37% think the current 

state of the market for fine chemicals remains very 

good or excellent, compared with 54% last year. The 

same survey showed that 27% saw a net decrease in 

sales in 2008, a trend that started in 2007, when that 

figure rose from 13% to 18%. 

The organizer, CMP Information, reported attendance 

at approximately 3,700 people on the first day. 

Last year’s total attendance was 4,000 people.—RICK 

MULLIN 

SCIENCE FUNDING 

House, Senate stimulus packages 

differ for some agencies 

APPROPRIATIONS 

$ MILLIONS HOUSE a SENATE b 

NIH $3,900 $3,900 

NSF 3,000 1,400 

DOE Office of Science 2,000 430 

NOAA 1,000 1,222 

NASA 600 1,500 

NIST 520 595 

NOTE: Funds are expected to be used through 

fiscal 2010. a As released on Jan. 15. b As released 

on Jan. 23. NIST = National Institute of Standards 

& Technology. NOAA = National Oceanic & 

Atmospheric Administration. SOURCE: American 

Association for the Advancement of Science 

SCIENCE WINDFALL 

FROM LEGISLATORS 

STIMULUS: House passes package; 

Senate is still working on its version 

THE HOUSE passed an $819 

billion stimulus package 

(H.R. 1) last week that 

contains more than $13 billion for 

research and development. At the 

same time, the Senate was working 

on its version of the bill (S. 1), an 

estimated $888 billion package that 

has some $12 billion for R&D. 

“The investments in science and 

technology in the recovery package 

are timely and targeted. They 

will create high-quality jobs in the 

short term while making strides to 

strengthen American competitiveness 

over the long-term,” said Rep. 

Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), chairman 

of the House Committee on Science & Technology, in 

support of H.R. 1. 

Thomas H. Lane, president of the American Chemical 

Society, which publishes C&EN, sent a letter to Congress 

encouraging them to “move swiftly to pass legislation 

with the science and technology portions intact.” 

Members of Congress used letters like Lane’s to support 

the bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told 

members of the House that she received lots of letters 

supporting the bill, including one from Nobel Laureates. 

Despite such support, no Republican voted for the bill. 

On the Senate side, Republican support is needed to 

pass S. 1. As the leadership works to get bipartisan support, 

science advocates are watching the R&D funding 

in the Senate bill, which is different from that in H.R. 1. 

In S. 1, NASA is set to get $1.5 billion, more than twice 

the funds allocated by the House. On the other hand, 

NSF would receive $1.4 billion, which is about half of 

the amount set by the House. The Department of Energy’s 

Office of Science would get nearly $500 million, 

75% less than in H.R. 1. R&D funding for other science 

agencies also varies. 

The Senate is expected to vote on S. 1 soon. If the bill 

is passed, a conference committee with representatives 

from both governing bodies will meet to iron out differences 

in their bills.—ROCHELLE BOHATY 



DOW, ROHM AND HAAS 

DEAL GETS UGLY 

ACQUISITION: Rohm and Haas says a 

deal is a deal, despite Dow’s woes 

ANOTHER Dow Chemical deal is in trouble. The 

Midland, Mich.-based chemical giant says it 

didn’t close its $15 billion acquisition of Rohm 

and Haas by the deadline the parties had agreed to for 

completing the transaction. Rohm and Haas has responded 

by suing Dow to force it to consummate the 

deal, which was announced last July. 

Rohm and Haas says that under the agreement, Dow 

was obligated to close the deal two business days after 

all conditions were met. The final obstacle was Federal 

Trade Commission (FTC) clearance, which was granted 

on Friday, Jan. 23, and requires Dow to sell off some acrylics 

operations. On Monday, Jan. 26, Dow announced that 

it wouldn’t complete the transaction the following day. 

Dow blames its failure to close the deal on the global 

financial crisis and another failed deal: the sale of half 

of its commodity chemical and plastics business to 

Petrochemical Industries Co. of Kuwait (C&EN, Jan. 12, 

page 8). That deal would have given Dow some $9 billion 

in pretax revenues to help pay for Rohm and Haas. 

In an interview last week with the financial news 

channel CNBC, Dow CEO Andrew N. Liveris stressed 

that he would like to conclude the deal eventually but 

can’t just yet. “It would be foolhardy to put these two 

companies together and create an economic disaster 

for the combination,” he said. 

Rohm and Haas filed its lawsuit with the Delaware 

Court of Chancery, the same court that last year heard 

Hexion Specialty Chemicals’ plea to get out of its purchase 

of Huntsman Corp., also for economic reasons. In 

that case, the court ruled that Hexion would face substantial 

damages if it didn’t close the transaction, and the 

two parties ultimately settled for $1 billion. The trial in 

the Rohm and Haas case is set to begin on March 9. 

In its filing, Rohm and Haas said Dow’s excuses 

are irrelevant. “By July 2008, the credit markets were 

already in turmoil, and the risk that the U.S. and world 

economies could be entering a deep and prolonged recession 

was widely acknowledged,” the suit said. Moreover, 

Rohm and Haas said, Dow has secured $17 billion 

in financing to complete the purchase, $2 billion more 

than is needed. 

Joel I. Greenberg, a partner with the law firm Kaye 

Scholer, says that unlike in the Huntsman case, the Rohm 

and Haas merger agreement allows the Delaware court 

to compel Dow to close the deal. “The Delaware courts 

are likely to be willing to order a party to complete the 

deal if that is what the contracts tell them to do,” he says. 

Rohm and Haas added that Dow’s Kuwaiti deal was 

not a condition to its acquisition, something that both 

Liveris and Geoffery E. Merszei, Dow’s chief financial 

officer, acknowledged to analysts when the Rohm and 

Haas deal was originally announced. 

Rohm and Haas’s suit paints Dow as desperate to delay 

the transaction. The Philadelphia-based firm says Liveris 

personally visited three FTC commissioners seeking a 

delay in their approval of the merger to buy more time. 

In mid-January, after Rohm and Haas executives 

learned about his efforts, Liveris and Rohm and Haas 

CEO Raj Gupta met in Philadelphia. According to 

Rohm and Haas, Liveris asked Gupta to allow the deadline 

for closing the merger to slide to June 30, a request 

Gupta denied.—ALEX TULLO 

Liveris 

Gupta 

PETER CUTTS PHOTOGRAPHY 

ROHM AND HAAS 

SOLID-STATE CHEMISTRY Boron has an ionic phase at high pressure, calculations show 

ARTEM OGANOV 

High-pressure tactics have uncovered a neverbefore-seen 

form of the element boron. The 

new entity has significant ionic character, a 

first for a material made from a single element. 

“Boron seems to break all the rules and 

stereotypes of chemical bonding,” says 

Artem R. Oganov, a theoretical crystallographer 

at the State University of New 

York, Stony Brook. Wedged between metals 

and nonmetals on the periodic table, boron 

adopts a range of structures, all of which are 

sensitive to impurities. As a result, researchers 

don’t have a complete picture of boron’s 

elemental forms. 

Oganov led a multi-institution team that 

synthesized the new entity (Nature, DOI: 

10.1038/nature07736). Although it takes 

shape only at elevated pressure, this new 

form remains stable under a wide range of 

temperatures and pressures. 

The structure of the all-boron lattice is 

shown to the left. The team determined 

through computer simulations that it comprises 

clusters of 12 boron atoms interspersed 

with pairs of boron atoms. Each piece 

of the lattice transfers charges to the other, 

with the B 12 units (purple) carrying a partial 

negative charge and the B 2 (orange) units a 

partial positive charge. 

“The work not only enriches our understanding 

of boron chemistry, it also strengthens 

parallels with gallium chemistry—the new 

structure’s B 2 units are reminiscent of Ga 2 

units found in gallium,” comments François 

P. Gabbaï, a boron chemistry expert at Texas 

A&M University.—CARMEN DRAHL 



Human embryonic 

stem cells are 

grown in nutrientrich 

culture media, 

shown here being 

changed inside a 

biological safety 

hood. 

GERON 

FDA CLEARS STEM 

CELL CLINICAL TRIAL 

BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH: Testing 

in humans is a milestone in a 

field fraught with controversy 

T 

HE FOOD & DRUG Administration has given 

Geron, a small California-based biotech company, 

the green light to inject living cells manufactured 

from human embryonic stem cells into a handful 

of patients with spinal cord injuries. 

The trials, set to begin this summer, will be the first 

in the world to test the safety of a therapy derived from 

human embryonic stem cells in people. 

A lot of hope is riding on the outcome of the trials. 

If the product, called GRNOPC1, proves safe, it could 

open the door for other embryonic-stem-cell-based 

therapies to treat conditions such as juvenile diabetes, 

cancer, multiple sclerosis, and stroke, experts say. 

FDA’s decision “marks the dawn of a new era in 

medical therapeutics,” Thomas B. Okarma, president 

and CEO of Geron, said during a briefing. GRNOPC1 is 

intended to “permanently reverse disease pathology, 

not merely to temporarily relieve symptoms,” he noted. 

The therapy involves the use of growth factors that 

turn embryonic stem cells into oligodendrocyte precursor 

cells. Those precursor cells have been shown to 

repair myelin, or insulation, around nerve cells and to 

stimulate nerve fibers of laboratory animals with spinal 

cord injuries, thereby leading to restoration of function, 

Okarma said. 

Geron’s announcement marks a new chapter in 

the history of embryonic stem cell research, which 

has been fraught with controversy over how the cells 

are derived. Scientists have also disagreed over how 

to create highly purified products from cells that can 

turn into any type of human cell, says Michael D. West, 

founder of Geron and CEO of BioTime. 

But some critics say it is premature to test embryonic-stem-cell-based 

therapies in humans. “I think 

this decision plays on the desperateness of people with 

spinal cord injuries. It’s pretty hard looking at the rat 

research to say this is going to be a slam dunk,” says 

Jaydee Hanson, policy director of the nonprofit International 

Center for Technology Assessment. 

FDA’s approval comes as proponents of this area of 

research are eagerly awaiting the Obama Administration’s 

promised repeal of the current limitation on federal 

funding for human embryonic stem cell research.— 

BRITT ERICKSON 

Cl 

Cl 

OSO 3 H 

Cl 

Cl 

Cl 

Chlorosulfolipid 

MAKING A TOXIN 

SYNTHESIS: Researchers build a 

poisonous lipid found in mussels 

A 

QUIRKY LIPID that is associated with seafood 

toxicity has been constructed in a lab for the 

first time. The work opens the possibility of developing 

tools to detect and study the molecule. 

First isolated from mussels in the Adriatic Sea, the 

compound is “a chemical oddity” because it’s a lipid 

that features both a sulfate group and six chlorine atoms, 

which is unusual, says Erick M. Carreira, a chemist 

at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, 

Cl 

who led the research. He and coworkers 

report the synthesis in 

Nature (2009, 457, 573). 

The toxin probably originates from algae 

that are consumed by the mussel, explains 

Ernesto Fattorusso, a pharmacologist at 

the University of Naples Federico II who isolated 

the chlorosulfolipid in 1999. “But we were only able 

to extract a few milligrams,” Fattorusso says. “This 

synthesis appears relatively simple, considering the 

stereochemical complexity of the molecule,” so there 

are hopes of obtaining enough of it for extensive biological 

studies. 

Researchers are uncertain whether this compound is 

a direct toxic agent in cases of seafood poisoning. The 

synthesis could help them make this determination. 

Moreover, the synthesis will allow investigators to 

examine other biological roles of chlorosulfolipids, 

such as being a component of algae cell membranes, 

writes Christopher D. Vanderwal of the University of 

California, Irvine, in an associated Nature commentary. 

“I’m interested in finding out why nature would put 

chlorines in a lipid at all,” Carreira says. 

Vanderwal also notes that the 10-step synthetic 

strategy that produced the unusual lipids is “simple 

and direct, but seems to be the result of painstaking 

experimentation.” 

“There were a lot of dead ends,” Carreira says. But students 

Christian Nilewski and Roger W. Geisser reached 

their synthetic goal by employing alkene dichlorination 

reactions and an epoxide ring-opening sequence. 

The ring-opening step led to a “chemical surprise,” 

Carreira notes. Normally, epoxides undergo ring opening 

with an inversion of configuration at the carbon that 

is being attacked, but here the team observed retention 

of configuration. It turns out that the chloride-induced 

epoxide opening proceeds by double inversion, Carreira 

explains. “There are many interesting mechanistic curiosities 

to be explored in this system,” he adds. 

Because the synthesis is not enantioselective, Carreira 

says that he and his colleagues will next work to 

develop an enantioselective version of the procedure, 

as well as syntheses of other chlorosulfolipids.—SARAH 

EVERTS 



IRREVERSIBLE 

EFFECTS 

CLIMATE CHANGE: Sea-level rise, 

drying of some regions may continue 

for centuries, study finds 

D 

EBATES OVER whether and how to reduce 

emissions of greenhouse gases should take into 

account that some effects of climate change are 

irreversible, according to a new scientific study. 

The study, led by Susan Solomon, senior scientist 

at the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration 

(NOAA), finds that even if emissions of carbon 

dioxide from human activity stopped, some effects will 

be largely unalterable for more than 1,000 years (Proc. 

Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0812721106). 

These effects include sea-level rise and drying of some 

already arid regions of the world. 

Global atmospheric CO 2 concentrations are now approximately 

385 parts per million, compared with about 

280 ppm before industrialization began to ramp up in 

the mid-1800s. If current emission trends continue unabated, 

the level is expected to reach 550 ppm by 2035. 

The study was based on computer models that projected 

what would happen if atmospheric CO 2 levels 

peak between 450 and 600 ppm and all anthropogenic 

emissions of CO 2 stopped. The assumption that humancaused 

emissions would stop is unrealistic for policy, 

but it is a conservative one for examining the effects of 

maximum levels. 

If CO 2 peaks between these levels, the study finds, 

currently arid subtropical regions, including the U.S. 

Southwest, Southern Europe, Northern Africa, Southern 

Africa, and Western Australia, would get even drier. 

In addition, if atmospheric CO 2 levels reach their 

zenith at 600 ppm, the resulting global warming would 

cause a rise of 1.3 to 3.2 feet in the level of the world’s 

oceans because of thermal expansion alone, the study 

estimates. This projection excludes any sea-level rise 

due to melting of polar ice sheets or glaciers. The study 

says the projected rise in sea level from the heating of 

the oceans would leave low-lying islands and coastal 

areas underwater for a millennium. 

The findings have important implications for debates 

over whether, when, and 

how countries should curb their 

CO 2 emissions, according to the 

study’s authors. “Current choices 

regarding carbon dioxide emissions 

will have legacies that will 

irreversibly change the planet,” 

Solomon says. 

For instance, some policy 

analysts, including Cass Sunstein, 

President Barack Obama’s choice 

as the White House’s overseer 

of regulations, have argued that 

investing in emission reductions 

now may not be the best climate 

policy for future generations. They 

contend it may be better policy to 

ensure that future generations are 

wealthier and more able to adapt to a changing climate. 

Arguments that CO 2 emission reductions can be put 

off don’t consider impacts, such as sea-level rise, that 

last 1,000 years or more, says Mary-Elena Carr, associate 

director of the Columbia Climate Center at Columbia 

University’s Earth Institute. A millennium is well beyond 

the usual time span for human planning, she points out. 

These sorts of arguments, according to the study, 

“assume that more efficient climate mitigation can 

occur in a future, richer world but neglect the irreversibility” 

of the effects predicted by the computer 

models.—CHERYL HOGUE 

SHUTTERSTOCK 

Arid subtropical 

regions, including 

the U.S. Southwest, 

are projected to 

become drier and 

stay that way for a 

millennium. 

ENVIRONMENT Satellite will help map Earth’s CO 2 sources and sinks 

After months of delays, a satellite designed 

to help generate the first detailed, 

time-resolved global maps of carbon 

dioxide sources and sinks is slated for 

launch on Feb. 23. 

The daily detailed measurements from 

NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory 

(OCO) will give vastly more information 

than the sparse CO 2 -monitoring stations 

that now dot Earth. By knowing where 

and when CO 2 is being emitted and taken 

up, scientists may be able to understand 

how the gas influences climate change 

and, in particular, global warming. 

The orbiting observatory is “a huge 

stepping stone toward answering these 

questions,” said Anna M. Michalak, OCO 

scientist and engineering and atmospheric 

sciences professor at the University 

of Michigan, at a press conference at 

NASA headquarters on Jan. 29. 

Previously set to launch last fall, OCO 

was postponed after a series of technical 

problems. The craft carries near-infrared 

absorption spectrometers designed to 

monitor, in high resolution, concentrations 

of CO 2 from Earth’s surface to the 

top of its atmosphere. 

Humans produce, via fossil fuel and 

biomass burning, about 2% of the 300 

billion tons of CO 2 emitted into the atmosphere 

each year. About 50% of this 

human-generated CO 2 remains in the 

atmosphere, and 30% is taken up by the 

ocean, but the global distribution of the 

remaining CO 2 , presumed to be taken up 

by plants and soil, is unknown. 

Data from the satellite are “going to be 

very useful for understanding the carbon 

cycle,” says Atul Jain, an atmospheric 

sciences professor at the University of 

Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, who develops 

computer models of carbon cycling. 

“We don’t understand where the sources 

and sinks are.”—ELIZABETH WILSON 


COVER STORY 

SPECTACULAR CRASH 

This composite image 

shows McDowell’s 

wreck as his car 

tumbled down the 

track of the Texas 

Motor Speedway on 

April 4, 2008. 

BO NASH 

MATERIALS FOR THE 

MODERN GLADIATOR 

Thanks to innovations in materials science and engineering, NASCAR DRIVERS 

can crash at 200 mph and walk away from the wreckage 

BETHANY HALFORD, C&EN NORTHEAST NEWS BUREAU 

MICHAEL MCDOWELL owes his life to 

materials science. On April 4, 2008, the 

23-year-old rookie driver was speeding 

though a qualifying run for the Samsung 500 

at the Texas Motor Speedway, one of the 

major events for the National Association 

for Stock Car Auto Racing—better known as 

NASCAR—when he lost control of his car. 

As McDowell turned into his second lap, 

the vehicle hooked and slammed into the 

track’s outer wall at around 180 mph. The 

impact spun the car upside down and then 

sent it barrel-rolling eight times down the 

track, bursting into flames and shedding 

bumpers, wheels, and stray scraps of metal 

into the air before finally coming to a rest. 

“Oh my gosh, I have never seen anything 

like that in my life,” said NASCAR commentator 

and veteran driver Darrell Wal- 

trip as he watched the quarter-million-dollar 

machine crumple into a mass of metal. 

The speedway crowd collectively held its 

breath until moments later, when McDowell 

emerged from the vehicle, waving to 

fans as he walked to a waiting ambulance. 

“I feel very grateful and blessed that I’m 

sitting here right now,” McDowell said at a 

press conference two days later, “because 

five years ago, four years ago, maybe even 

just a year ago, I don’t think that would be, 

probably, possible.” 

That McDowell was able to walk away 

from that horrendous wreck with just a few 

bruises “was a culmination of all of the systems 

designed around safety that NASCAR 

has put in place over the last six or seven 

years,” says Mike Fisher, managing director of 

the NASCAR R&D Center, in Concord, N.C. 

Those new systems, which range from 

the league’s new car to the drivers’ clothes 

to the barrier that surrounds the track, 

save lives because of advances in materials 

science. As NASCAR’s 2009 racing season 

kicks off this week at Florida’s Daytona International 

Speedway, NASCAR’s drivers— 

effectively gladiators for the 21st century— 

will once again be counting on advanced 

materials to cheat death. 

Diandra Leslie-Pelecky, a physics professor 

at the University of Texas, Dallas, 

and author of the book “The Physics of 

NAS CAR” and the blog “Stock Car Science,” 

says materials science is something 

that NASCAR has rediscovered in the past 

few years. Until the 1980s, innovations in 

NASCAR were mainly made by mechanics 

and engineers tinkering in the garage. 


“Then racing teams started realizing 

that they could really get ahead by capturing 

the expertise of people who had been to 

school and had been formally trained,” she 

explains. Chemical engineers who could 

maximize efficiency from combustion processes 

were sought out, as well as mechanical 

engineers and aerodynamics experts. 

Cars got a lot faster. 

BUT INNOVATIONS in safety didn’t keep 

pace with innovations in speed. Between 

May 2000 and February 2001, crashes 

claimed the lives of four NASCAR drivers. 

Nineteen-year-old Adam Petty and 

30-year-old Kenny Irwin Jr. had eerily similar 

fatal accidents just eight weeks apart at 

the New Hampshire International Speedway. 

Tony Roper, 35, died during a race at 

the Texas Motor Speedway. The sport’s 

highest profile fatality was that of its star 

Dale Earnhardt Sr., after a collision in the 

last lap of the Daytona 500 in 2001. 

NASCAR’s 75 million fans expect to see 

spectacular crashes, but they also expect 

the drivers they loyally cheer for, week after 

week, to walk away from the wreckage. 

“NASCAR has been doing things since its 

inception to improve the safety of racing,” 

Fisher says, “but we recognized with that 

string of fatalities that we needed to step 

our game up.” 

The NASCAR R&D Center was established, 

in part, to guide these safety innovations, 

including the redesign of the 

stockcar. When researchers at the center 

started looking around to see how to make 

the new car so that drivers could continue 

to race at breakneck speeds but still be 

safe, Leslie-Pelecky says, “that’s when they 

realized materials science was important.” 

NASCAR introduced the Car of Tomorrow—now 

known as the CoT or “the new 

car”—in 2007, when it ran in a few races. 

Since 2008, it’s the only racecar to run in 

NASCAR’s major series. 

The R&D center engineers designed the 

new vehicle with a splitter—a shelf, about 

half an inch thick, under the car’s nose. 

“It’s called a splitter because it splits the air 

hitting the front of the car,” Leslie-Pelecky 

explains. “Some of the air goes up on top, 

some goes on the bottom, and that differential 

is what pushes the car down into the 

ground and gives it grip.” 

While choosing a material for the splitter, 

“NASCAR’s biggest contribution 

to you and me is safety.” 

WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 13 FEBRUARY 2, 2009 

NASCAR looked at everything from plywood 

to expensive advanced carbon-fiber 

composites. In 2005, Steve Peterson, who 

was technical director of the R&D center 

until his death last year, was reading trade 

magazines when he saw a short article announcing 

a material from Milliken called 

Tegris. Milliken is only a 90-minute drive 

from the R&D center, so Peterson called the 

company and asked to see the material. 

Tegris is a polypropylene composite that 

weighs roughly the same as carbon fiber. 

It comes close to carbon fiber’s strength 

at a fraction of its cost. “Anytime NASCAR 

finds a material that can do the same job 

for less money, they’re going to use it because 

that’s more money that can be put 

into making the car go fast,” Leslie-Pelecky 

explains. Peterson saw it and decided it was 

the right stuff for the splitter. 

Heather Hayes, a senior development 

chemist at Milliken, says the secret to Tegris’ 

strength is in its structure. “It starts 

with a polypropylene tape that has a surface 

layer that melts at a lower temperature 

than the bulk,” she says. “The core of tape 

is highly oriented, which gives it stiffness, 

and the surface layers of the tape act as 

the matrix or the glue that holds the whole 

thing together.” 

To make Tegris, the tape is woven into 

a fabric, which is then stacked into layers 

and subjected to heat and pressure. The

COVER STORY 

DOW AUTOMOTIVE 

resulting material is still composed of layers 

of fabric, Hayes explains, but they’re all 

bonded together so well that the final product 

is very rigid. 

Tegris has a very high impact resistance. 

On the rare occasions that it does fail, it 

breaks cleanly; it doesn’t fail in a brittle fashion, 

which was important to NASCAR. “You 

don’t have anything that ends up as debris 

on the track or that may fly into a driver’s 

path or into the stands,” Hayes says. 

“The reason for that is Tegris is made of 

a bunch of different layers of fabric. Even 

after it’s been consolidated under heat and 

pressure, it still maintains the individual 

fabric characteristics,” she explains. “So, 

you can’t drive a crack through the thickness 

of the layers. You have to tear each 

individual layer in order to break through 

it. In standard plastic materials, if you get 

a crack started, it can propagate all the way 

through the thickness and shatter.” 

NASCAR uses Tegris for the splitter and 

to reinforce other parts of the stockcar. 

Its impact resistance makes it attractive 

for military applications, such as vehicle 

armor. It’s also being used to make kayaks. 

When a Tegris boat was introduced at a 

sporting goods expo, visitors were invited 

to test its impact resistance by whacking it 

with a sledgehammer. 

One of the most substantial materialsrelated 

changes to the new car is the addition 

of energy-absorbing Impaxx foam in 

the car doors. “The old car was pretty good 

in front and rear impact crashes, but one of 

the worst kind of crashes is when you get T- 

boned—when a car comes in perpendicular 

to the drivers’ side door,” Leslie-Pelecky 

says. There’s just less stuff between the 

driver and whatever is hurtling toward him 

in side-impact crashes. 

SIDE PROTECTION Schematic 

shows Impaxx foam reinforcement of 

the new stockcar’s doors. 

Leslie-Pelecky says the R&D center 

evaluated more than 200 materials before 

settling on Impaxx, made by Dow Automotive. 

The material itself is polystyrene—the 

same polymer in disposable coffee cups— 

that’s blown into a foam with carbon dioxide. 

The gas introduces air pockets into 

the polymer. Some foams have a so-called 

open-cell structure, in which these air 

pockets interconnect, making the material 

flexible and squishy because air is easily 

compressed through the foam. 

Impaxx, on the other hand, has a closedcell 

structure. Each air bubble is isolated, 

so compressing the material beyond a 

certain point requires breaking the polystyrene 

walls 

between cells. 

“We’ve designed 

the foam so that 

when it is impacted 

it compresses 

and buckles, 

thereby absorbing 

the maximum 

amount of energy 

possible,” says 

Marie Winkler- 

Sink, global R&D 

director for Dow 

Automotive. 

The material, 

which was first 

commercialized in 

2006, was invented as an impact-resistant 

foam for passenger vehicles. Impaxx foam 

is used in more than 2 million automobiles, 

including the Chevy Malibu, Ford Crown 

Victoria, and Honda Pilot. 

“Stockcars need significantly more energy 

absorption than a typical passenger 

car would need,” Winkler-Sink notes, but 

the material proved to be strong enough for 

the CoT, as McDowell’s crash so dramatically 

demonstrated. 

Leslie-Pelecky has examined what remains 

of McDowell’s crashed car. “You can 

see the Impaxx foam in the door,” she says. 

“It crushed exactly the way it was supposed 

to. The front of the car is smushed. The 

back of the car is almost gone. That area 

around the driver, which is the part that 

has the strongest construction and all the 

foam, that’s still almost entirely intact.” 

“I feel that the car is safer from a structural 

standpoint with the added foam and 

the things they have done to protect drivers 

during side impacts and angular impacts,” 

NASCAR driver Ryan Newman tells C&EN. 

In addition to having had a long career in 

racing, Newman also holds a bachelor’s degree 

in vehicle structure engineering from 

Purdue University. 

The CoT’s safety has come at a cost, 

however. “The car is definitely slower, and 

from a driver’s standpoint, that’s a disappointment,” 

Newman says. “The next 

evolution of whatever you build should be 

higher performing, whether it’s a computer 

or a racecar. But NASCAR is still working to 

give us the best of both worlds—safety and 

a better performing racecar on the track.” 

FROM A DRIVER’S perspective, though, 

the biggest safety concern is fire, Newman 

says. “Fire is relatively uncontrollable in a 

worst-case scenario,” he says. 

NASCAR drivers, along with their pit 

crews and racetrack emergency workers, 

all wear flame-resistant clothing. Firesuits 

made from DuPont’s Nomex have been 

popular at racetracks for decades. Firefighters, 

utility workers, petrochemical industry 

workers, and military personnel also 

wear garments made from the material. 

Nomex has been around for more than 

40 years. It’s an isomeric sibling of a more 

famous DuPont fiber, Kevlar. Both Nomex 

and Kevlar are aramids or polymeric 

aromatic amides. Kevlar is a para-aramid 

and Nomex is a meta-aramid. Simply moving 

the amide from the para to the meta 

position of the material’s aromatic rings 

transforms it from a very strong polymer to 

one that has excellent fire-resistance and is 

comfortable enough for use in clothing. 

“It has a very high glass transition temperature,” 

the temperature at which it gets soft, 

“so its resistance to high temperature is very 

good,” says Vlodek Gabara, a DuPont scientist 

who works on advanced fibers. Nomex’ 

fire-resistance is based on the nature of the 

FIRE TESTING 

Goulet 

demonstrates 

CarbonX’s 

fire-resistant 

properties. 


NASCAR 

CAR OF TOMORROW 

NASCAR officials 

inspect the new 

stockcar. 

fiber itself rather than 

a coating, so you can’t 

wash away its flameprotection 

properties 

in the laundry. 

Over the years, 

Nomex firesuits have been improved by 

blending the material with Kevlar fibers, 

adds Norfleet N. Smith Jr., a manager for Du- 

Pont Personal Protection. “Kevlar is a very 

mechanically stable fiber, so when it’s exposed 

to high temperatures it doesn’t shrink 

or move, but it’s not very textilelike,” Smith 

explains. “It’s not the softest fiber, whereas 

Nomex is very textilelike. Pure Nomex 

would tend to break away from the flame, so 

we put Kevlar into it to keep the fabric from 

breaking open.” 

In the past decade, 

another flame-resistant 

material, CarbonX from 

Chapman Innovations, 

has become popular. 

CHAPMAN INNOVATIONS 

CarbonX was originally 

conceived for the motor 

sports world by Mike 

Chapman, the company’s 

founder and a racing-engine 

specialist. After seeing 

a number of his racing 

buddies seriously injured 

by fire, Chapman started 

experimenting with fireresistant 

textiles. 

CarbonX is made 

from fibers of oxidized polyacrylonitrile 

(OPAN). As the name suggests, it’s made 

by heating an acrylic precursor until it becomes 

fully oxidized and no longer has any 

melting characteristics at all. Essentially, 

it’s preburnt, explains Bob Goulet, chief 

operating officer at Chapman Innovations. 

“You can take a blowtorch to it and the material 

doesn’t shrink, it doesn’t disappear, it 

doesn’t support combustion,” he says. 

The preburnt fibers are black, which is 

something of a problem in a sport like NAS- 

CAR, where flashy firesuits emblazoned 

with sponsor logos are the standard uniform. 

But CarbonX undergarments, gloves, 

and shoe liners are popular. The material is 

also used as heat shields and to cover flammable 

foam components in stockcars as 

well as in helmets. 

Like Nomex, CarbonX’s biggest market 

is in the industrial sector. Goulet says he’s 

frequently regaled with tales of how CarbonX 

kept molten metal from burning steel mill 

workers when he goes on site visits. He’s even 

tried the stuff himself, suiting up in CarbonX 

and walking through fire for 22 seconds. 

OPAN is somewhat fragile, Goulet notes, 

so it’s typically woven with some other 

fiber, depending upon the application. 

The company has also looked into making 

flame-resistant covers for homes threatened 

by forest fires. Combining CarbonX 

with stainless steel fibers reinforces the material 

and lets it resist heat for longer periods 

of time without losing tensile strength. 

If NASCAR drivers are lucky, they’ll 

never even come into contact with one of 

the biggest safety innovations the league 

has introduced—the Steel & Foam Energy 

Reduction (SAFER) barriers that have been 

placed in front of the concrete walls that 

surround the tracks. 

CONCRETE DOESN’T absorb energy very 

well, so when stockcars plow into it, all 

the energy bounces right back into the vehicle, 

propelling it back onto the track. The 

SAFER barrier, which is made of structural 

steel tubes welded together and backed by 

stacks of foam, moves when a car hits is, 

dissipating the energy somewhat and drawing 

out the duration of the collision. 

Dean Sicking, an engineering professor at 

the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and director 

of the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility, 

led the team that developed the barrier. 

The Indy Racing League initiated the project, 

but NASCAR became involved later on, in 

part because both leagues use the Indianapolis 

Motor Speedway. Stockcars weigh about 

twice as much as Indy cars, so Sicking’s team 

needed to design a barrier that could be used 

with both types of vehicle. 

Sicking says he chose steel because he 

needed a smooth, low-friction surface, 

as well as something that was tough and 

durable. Finding a foam material was more 

difficult. “Most high-efficiency foams turn 

to dust when impacted,” he says. That’s a 

problem in racing because the dust gets on 

the track and causes more wrecks. 

After testing more than 100 foams, 

they settled on Owens Corning Formular 

150, which is a common building insulation 

material. “It’s kind of ironic that the 

cheapest foam we could find was the one 

that worked the best,” Sicking says. The 

material is a closed-cell polystyrene similar 

to Impaxx, which wasn’t around when the 

SAFER barrier was developed. 

Sicking is currently hoping to find some 

funding to develop similar barriers for 

high-risk areas of highways. “We are very 

confident that we can make this barrier 

improve safety along all highways that have 

concrete barriers,” he says. “We think we 

can dramatically reduce fatality rates.” 

Such innovations, which have been 

spurred or popularized by NASCAR, could 

ultimately transform the reputation of a 

sport that’s known for danger. When it 

comes to our cars and the roads we drive 

on, University of Texas’ Leslie-Pelecky 

points out, “NASCAR’s biggest contribution 

to you and me is safety.” ■ 


BUSINESS CONCENTRATES 

DUPONT POSTS 

$249 MILLION LOSS 

Declines in construction, auto sales, and 

consumer spending led to a drop in earnings 

for DuPont in the fourth quarter of 2008. 

The net loss of $249 million versus income 

of $522 million last year does not include 

a $535 million charge before taxes for job 

cuts and other restructuring costs. The firm 

also said it would eliminate an additional 

4,000 contractor positions, on top of 2,500 

employees and 4,000 contractors cut in 

December.—MV 

ASHLAND PLANS 

NEW CUTS … 

Wrestling with the combined effects of the 

economic downturn and its recent acquisition 

of Hercules, Ashland revealed a new 

round of cost-cutting initiatives after the 

release of fourth-quarter results showing 

a net loss of $119 million. To save $80 million, 

the firm will freeze wages and salaries 

globally, implement a two-week furlough 

program for nonhourly U.S. and Canadian 

employees, and cut travel and entertainment 

costs. Earlier cutbacks plus a few 

other new ones valued at $210 million have 

meant the elimination of 500 employees 

through the end of December. By the end of 

2010, the firm expects to have reduced its 

global workforce by 1,300.—MSR 

… AS CLARIANT PLANS 

CUTS OF ITS OWN 

Tough economic conditions are also forcing 

Clariant to cut 1,000 jobs and eliminate 

a dividend payment for 2008. The 

job reduction follows cuts of 2,200 jobs 

begun in 2006 and concluded last year. In 

a preliminary report on its 2008 results, 

Clariant also revealed that it took a charge 

of approximately $160 million to prepare 

for further restructuring measures in 2009, 

particularly in its leather- and textilechemicals 

businesses.—PLLS 

CABOT TO CLOSE 

FOUR PLANTS 

On the heels of slumping earnings, carbon 

black and silica maker Cabot says it will 

close four plants and one regional office 

this year. It is also mothballing two plants, 

VENTURE CAPITALISTS PUT 

BIG BUCKS IN ‘CLEANTECH’ 

U.S. venture capitalists spent $28.3 billion on investments in start-up 

firms in 2008, or 8% less than in 2007. But money for “cleantech” companies 

shot up by 52% in 2008 to $4.1 billion, according to the latest “MoneyTree 

Report,” by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture 

Capital Association. The report relies on data from Thomson Reuters. The 

cleantech sector, which includes alternative energy, pollution control and 

recycling, power storage, and conservation, represented seven of the 10 

largest deals of 2008. Overall, cleantech grabbed 15% of all venture capital 

in 2008. Investments in the life sciences sector, including biotechnology 

and medical devices, slipped 15% to $8 billion. Even so, it remained 

the number one investment sector in 2008, accounting for 28% of all venture 

capital invested. However, all start-ups struggled for funding as the 

economy worsened in the last quarter when investments slowed by 26%, 

according to the report.—MV 

reducing working hours at another, and delaying 

the start-up of a new plant in China. 

The plan will eliminate some 500 jobs, 12% 

of Cabot’s total, and cost the company 

$150 million in charges, mostly in 2009. It 

will save the company some $80 million in 

2010. The company’s fiscal first-quarter 

earnings declined to $4 million from $36 

million in the year-ago period.—AHT 

EQUIPOLYMERS TO 

DIVEST IN ITALY 

Equipolymers, the joint venture between 

Dow Chemical and Petrochemical Industries 

Co. of Kuwait plans to divest its polyethylene 

terephthalate resins and purified 

terephthalic acid operations in Ottana, 

Italy, because of disappointing financial 

results. The partners have formed a task 

force to explore divestiture options, says 

Graham Fox, president and CEO of Equipolymers. 

The sale will leave the venture 

with only two PET plants in Schkopau, 

Germany.—PLLS 

BATTELLE CREATES 

SMART COATING 

Battelle coating can 

reveal rust damage 

before it becomes visible. 

Scientists at Battelle, an Ohio-based research 

institution, have developed a coating 

that can reveal rust before it becomes 

visible to the naked eye. Applied between 

a primer and topcoat, the nanomaterialbased 

coating fluoresces under a scanning 

device to reveal early evidence of corrosion. 

Quick 

repairs could 

save industry 

and government 

millions of dollars annually, Battelle 

says.—MSR 

ASTELLAS BIDS FOR 

CV THERAPEUTICS 

Astellas Pharma has made a hostile bid for 

CV Therapeutics, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based 

biotech that develops small-molecule 

drugs to treat cardiovascular diseases. The 

Japanese company says CV Therapeutics’ 

board of directors rejected an all-cash offer 

made last November of $16.00 per share, 

valuing the company at $1 billion, and has 

since refused to engage in talks.—LJ 

GSK BUYS UCB UNIT 

GlaxoSmithKline will pay $680 million in 

cash for the commercial operations and 

distribution rights for UCB’s marketed 

product portfolio in certain parts of Africa, 

ISTOCK 


BUSINESS CONCENTRATES 

the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, and Latin 

America. The deal gives GSK rights to sell 

the epilepsy drug Keppra and the allergy 

drugs Xyzal and Zyrtec, among other drugs. 

It also ties into GSK’s recently launched 

strategy to strengthen its position in 

emerging markets, which the company 

says will represent 40% of growth in pharmaceuticals 

by 2020, in order to reduce its 

reliance on blockbuster drugs.—LJ 

TERRA REJECTS CF 

TAKEOVER BID 

Terra Industries has rejected an unsolicited, 

all-stock bid worth $2.1 billion from 

rival fertilizer maker CF Industries. Terra’s 

board said that the offer “substantially 

undervalues” the company and that a deal 

would not be in the best interests of its 

shareholders. However, CF says it is “committed 

to a combination and will now consider 

its options.” If a deal is completed, it 

would create the world’s largest producer 

of nitrogen fertilizers, with capacity of 6.3 

million tons per year.—MV 

FORMA AND CUBIST 

TARGET ANTIBACTERIALS 

Forma Therapeutics and Cubist Pharmaceuticals 

will work together to discover 

novel antibacterial compounds for development 

by Cubist. Forma was created just 

last month by scientists from the Broad 

Institute of Harvard and MIT to combine 

biology and chemistry for drug discovery. 

Under the deal with Cubist, Forma will 

receive up to $14 million in payments and 

research funding over three years. It could 

get an additional $54 million in milestone 

and royalty payments.—MM 

ASTRAZENECA, 

SEPRACOR SLASH 

HEAD COUNT 

Pharma companies continue to cut back 

amid tougher times. AstraZeneca is making 

yet another round of cuts as it continues to 

overhaul its global supply chain and sales 

and marketing organization. By 2013, the 

company will slash 7,400 jobs, adding to 

the 7,600 positions eliminated in its 2007 

restructuring program. With this latest 

move, AstraZeneca now expects to save 

$2.5 billion, up from the $1.4 billion in savings 

from the 2007 program. The news 

came as the British pharma firm reported 

flat fourth-quarter sales of $8.2 billion. 

Separately, Sepracor says it is trying to 

make itself “more nimble and efficient” to 

deal with the more competitive operating 

environment. The specialty 

drug company will cut 20% 

of its workforce, or about 

530 positions, to reduce 

spending by $210 million 

between the fourth quarter 

of 2008 and the end of this 

year.—LJ 

LONZA 

MORE BIOTECH FIRMS 

ANNOUNCE JOB CUTS 

Citing the difficult economic climate, three 

small drug companies are making significant 

job cuts. Lexicon Pharmaceuticals 

will lay off 102 employees, about 22% of its 

workforce, as it concentrates resources on 

its most advanced programs. Most of the 

employees are in basic research and earlyphase 

discovery. Altus Pharmaceuticals will 

discontinue development of the cystic fibrosis 

treatment Trizytek and cut its workforce 

by 75%, leaving 35 employees. Rights 

to the drug will transfer to Cystic Fibrosis 

Foundation Therapeutics. And Intercytex 

will cut about half of its 76 employees. The 

British firm says completion of Phase III 

trials for the wound treatment drug Cyzact 

means it needs fewer workers.—MM 

LONZA STARTS UP 

NEW API FACILITY 

Lonza has started the first phase of a new 

large-scale facility to make active pharma 

ingredients in Nansha, China. Part of a 

$200 million expansion, the facility combines 

development services 

and advanced chemical 

manufacturing plants 

operating to current Good 

Manufacturing Practice 

standards.—PLLS 

Lonza’s Nansha facility. 

BUSINESS 

ROUNDUP 

BAYER will invest some 

$30 million in a longplanned 

facility to produce 

carbon nanotubes. The 

plant, in Bayer’s headquarters 

site in Leverkusen, will 

have capacity of 200 metric 

tons per year. Bayer 

has had a pilot plant with 

an annual capacity of 60 

tons in operation in southern 

Germany since 2007. 

INEOS has seen its securities 

ratings downgraded 

by credit analysts at 

Moody’s Investors Services 

to Caa2, well below 

investment grade. The 

ratings concern says that 

deteriorating market conditions 

and the outlook for 

2009 increase the probability 

of Ineos’ default. 

INTREPID Potash says it 

will temporarily shut down 

potash production at its 

Carlsbad, N.M., facility for 

two weeks in February because 

of declining fertilizer 

demand. When production 

restarts, the facility will 

operate on three shifts instead 

of the usual four. 

SIKA, a Swiss specialty 

chemical company, has 

acquired U.K.-based Iotech 

Group, a producer of 

resins and polymers for 

the coatings, adhesives, 

and sealants industries. 

The purchase covers Iotech’s 

two subsidiaries— 

Incorez, in the U.S., and 

Industrial Copolymers, in 

the U.K. 

AKZONOBEL and Purac 

have developed organic 

peroxides that they say 

improve the polymerization 

of polylactic acid by 

selectively switching off 

catalysts. The peroxides 

will be offered to buyers of 

Purac lactides. 

WAL-MART aims to reduce 

by 70% phosphates 

in the laundry and dish 

detergents it sells in its 

Americas region, which 

includes Canada, Puerto 

Rico, Mexico, Central 

America, Brazil, and Argentina, 

by 2011. According 

to Wal-Mart, phosphates 

from detergents 

are a significant contributor 

to phosphate-based 

water pollution. 

WYETH and Dutch 

biopharmaceutical 

maker Crucell have ended 

merger talks after the announcement 

of Pfizer’s 

agreement to buy Wyeth 

(see page 7). 

NORWAY’S biotech 

industry has received a 

$418 million lifeline from 

the government as part 

of a larger stimulus package. 

According to the Oslo 

Cancer Cluster, more 

than half of its 25 members, 

which collectively 

boast over 50 drugs in the 

pipeline, are in danger of 

running out of money in 

the next 12 to 18 months. 

NITROMED has agreed 

to be acquired by Deerfield 

Management, a 

health care investment 

firm, for about $36 million. 

The company is dropping 

its earlier agreement to 

merge with Archemix, 

which is developing therapeutics 

based on synthetic 

oligonucleotides. 


BUSINESS 

JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY/C&EN (BOTH) 

LEATHER FROM 

ANOTHER ERA 

In the Hazaribagh district of Dhaka, Bangladesh, 

ARCHAIC TANNERIES put workers and the environment at risk 

JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY, C&EN HONG KONG 

LIFE IS ABOUT TO CHANGE in Hazaribagh, 

the old tannery district of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s 

capital. Within two years—if the 

scenario currently envisaged pans out—the 

district’s 206 leather tanneries will either 

shut their doors or move to a different part 

of the city. Once relocated, their effluent 

will be treated and their workers will operate 

in far safer conditions. Some 30,000 

workers and much equipment will move. 

A way of life will disappear in Hazaribagh, 

but no one is complaining. The 

district’s tanneries belong to a long-gone 

era. They dump their untreated waste 

into drains and ditches that lead to the 

Buriganga River, the main river flowing 

through Dhaka. Workers handle corrosive 

chemicals without protective gear and walk 

around the tanneries barefoot. 

The homes of tannery workers in 

Hazaribagh are built next to contaminated 

streams, ponds, and canals. The air is polluted 

by informal leather recyclers who 

burn scraps of leather to produce cooking 

oil, soap ingredients, chicken feed, and 

glue. The bustling commercial, residential, 

and university district of Dhanmondi is 

nearby but seems a world away. 

“Hazaribagh is probably one of the 

worst places I have been to in the region,” 

says Jürgen Hackenbroich, Asia-Pacific director 

of leather chemicals for the German 

chemical company Lanxess. “Hazaribagh 

reminds you in some ways of the Middle 

Ages, or perhaps the Stone Age.” Lanxess 

is one of five major international manufacturers 

of leather-processing chemicals, 

along with BASF, Clariant, Stahl, and TFL. 

Although Hazaribagh seems to belong to 

a different time, it is in fact very much part 

of the global leather industry. Bangladesh 

MORE ONLINE 


exports about $250 

million worth of 

leather and about 

$170 million worth 

of footwear annually—significant 

amounts, although 

small compared 

with some other 

DANGEROUS JOB? 

Ahmed, a 70-yearold 

who has worked 

in tanneries since 

he was 10, handles 

semifinished leather 

while barefoot. 

countries. Most of Bangladesh’s tanneries 

are in Hazaribagh. 

Leather made in the district is shipped 

for further processing in the U.S., Europe, 

and other parts of the world. The chemicals 

that leather tanneries in Hazaribagh use 

are made abroad, and foreign pressure is 

part of the reason that the tanneries have 

promised to move and upgrade. The European 

Commission, for example, is considering 

banning the import of leather made 

in Hazaribagh. 

The need to change things is urgent. 

“Water treatment is absolutely needed,” 

says Mosharraf Ali, a production engineer 

at Hazaribagh’s Royal Tannery, as he points 

to contaminated water flowing out of a 

machine that squeezes partially processed 

leather to dry and smooth it. Ali says the 

water will end up in the Buriganga without 

any treatment. 

Moreover, Ali’s staff at Royal Tannery 

For a unique photo-essay on Hazaribagh’s tanneries, click 

on this article at www.cen-online.org.

“Hazaribagh reminds you in some ways of 

the Middle Ages, or perhaps the Stone Age.” 

works in primitive conditions that are the 

hallmark of Hazaribagh’s tanneries. They 

use almost no protective gear. Some are 

equipped with rubber gloves and boots, 

but others walk around barefoot while 

handling leather, process chemicals, and 

machinery with bare hands. No one wears 

a mask or goggles, and there are no safety 

fountains for eye-washing. 

MAKING LEATHER requires a wide range 

of process chemicals that are potentially 

harmful to plant workers, the environment, 

and the public. The chemicals also 

account for a substantial portion of the 

tanneries’ manufacturing costs. Lanxess’ 

Hackenbroich estimates that raw animal 

hides account for up to 70% of a tannery’s 

total operating cost. About 10% is spent on 

chemicals, he figures, and the rest on salaries, 

utilities, and other expenses. 

Leather-processing chemicals turn an 

animal skin that would putrefy if untreated 

into an attractive and long-lasting piece of 

clothing, footwear, or seat covering. The 

list of chemicals used in the early stages 

of processing a skin includes lime, sodium 

sulfide, sulfuric acid, sodium hydrosulfite, 

caustic soda, arsenic sulfide, and 

calcium hydrosulfide. 

Next, chromium-based 

chemicals are used for chrome 

tanning, a widely used process 

for turning a skin into bluishwhite-colored 

leather that can 

be stored for a long time. At the 

finishing stage, tanners use dyes 

and various finishing agents to 

improve the characteristics of 

their leather. 

In most of the world, tanners 

treat their liquid effluents before 

releasing them into the environment. 

Andy Pleatman, the owner 

of the Asiatan tannery in the 

southern Chinese city of Jiangmen, 

says China, the world’s 

largest producer of leather, has 

made enormous progress over 

the past three years in cleaning 

up its industry. 

Big users of leather such as 

Timberland and Nike no longer 

find it acceptable that their 

leather suppliers simply comply 

with the laws of the country in which they 

operate, Pleatman explains. Major shoe 

companies increasingly demand that tanneries 

clean their effluent and ensure the 

safety of their workers to Western standards. 

“China has absolutely cleaned up its 

leather industry,” he claims. 

A visit to Asiatan reveals that it owns 

and operates a large water treatment plant. 

In addition to removing particles and heavy 

metals, Asiatan’s effluent treatment facility 

lowers the chemical oxygen demand of 

water before release. 

By contrast, Hazaribagh is the most polluted 

area of Dhaka, according to a paper 

published in the December issue of the 

Bangladesh Journal of Scientific Research 

(2008, 21, 51). The authors—Sohana Shabnam, 

S. M. Imamul Huq, and Shafiqur Rahman, 

three academics at the University of 

Dhaka—report that the 

water around Hazaribagh 

CLEANING PRODUCT With 

his setup in a Hazaribagh 

garbage dump, Lurul 

Houda extracts fat from 

leather scraps. He sells 

his products to small 

soap manufacturers. 


is far more polluted than in 

other parts of Bangladesh 

where tanneries treat their 

effluent before release. “I 

don’t want to dramatize, 

but Hazaribagh is definitely 

one of the most polluted places in Bangladesh,” 

says Huq, who chairs the university’s 

department of soil, water, and environment. 

The tanneries are not the only source 

of pollution in Hazaribagh. Everywhere in 

the district, backyard mom-and-pop operations 

collect tannery refuse to make other 

products. Some of these marginal operators 

make cooking oil from the residues 

of meat and fat that are discarded when 

animal skins are turned into leather. “Don’t 

eat street food in Bangladesh,” Huq warns. 

Other operators make chicken feed and 

glue by boiling leather residues. And in a 

garbage dump next to a canal that carries 

untreated tannery effluents into the Buriganga, 

40-year-old Lurul Houda extracts 

animal oil from tannery scraps and sells it 

to small-scale soap manufacturers. Houda 

and other recyclers typically use finished 

leather scraps as fuel to boil other types of 

tannery refuse. They dump their waste into 

the canals. Young children near Houda’s 

workshop pick through solid waste from 

households and tanneries. 

On hearing of the Bangladeshi 

practice of recycling leather 

industry waste into cooking 

oil and animal feed, Cai Guise- 

Richardson, a Charles C. Price 

Fellow at the Chemical Heritage 

Foundation who has researched 

the history of the leather industry, 

is surprised. “Heavy metals 

could be entering the human diet 

through this route,” she observes. 

The effects of working in a 

tannery without basic safety 

gear are not always obvious. 

For example, Fazan Ahmed, a 

70-year-old worker at the M. A. 

Samad tannery, moves around 

barefoot while he handles 

leather that has just been rinsed 

to remove excess process chemicals. 

Ahmed’s feet show no signs 

of damage, even though Ahmed 

started working in a tannery 

when he was only 10 years old, 

according to floor supervisor 

M. D. Shirag. 

But Ahmed’s apparent health 

provides a misleading picture of 

how dangerous it is to work in a 

tannery. It’s “a really bad idea” to 

walk around barefoot on a tannery’s 

wet floor, Guise-Richardson 

tells C&EN. “Chrome always 

leaves some residue that is still 

active,” she says. She warns that

BUSINESS 

diluting the chrome by rinsing it with water 

is far from enough to make nonfinished 

leather safe to handle without gloves. 

And damage to workers’ health develops 

slowly over time, says Abdul Maleque, general 

secretary of the Hazaribagh chapter of the 

Bangladesh Trade Union Centre. “We have 

lots of cases of skin diseases, jaundice, dysentery, 

asthma, and gastric ulcers,” he says. 

The unions have demanded for decades 

that tannery workers be equipped with 

some safety equipment, Maleque says. One 

of the problems, he says, is that owners can 

get away with providing small salary increases 

to take care of most staff grievances. 

Dhaka University’s Huq confirms that tannery 

workers earn more than garment workers, 

who operate in safer conditions. 

On the other hand, major leather chemical 

producers claim that their products are 

mostly harmless. M. A. Sattar, senior manager 

of leather industry products in BASF’s 

performance chemicals group, says the 

line of leather chemicals his company has 

developed is safe both to the environment 

and to factory workers. “Our products are 

clean, and they’re highly prized,” he says. 

BASF’s R&D efforts have yielded 

leather-processing chemicals that 

are free of harmful substances such 

as chromium(VI), Sattar notes. 

Chromium(VI), or hexavalent chromium, 

is used in a wide range of industries even 

though it is highly toxic. BASF’s chrome 

tanning salts are instead based on the 

more benign chromium(III), an essential 

nutrient that is available as the nutritional 

supplement chromium picolinate. 

BASF has also come up with a line of 

leather detergents that are free of alkylphenol 

ethoxylates (APEOs), surfactants 

that are suspected of being endocrine disrupters. 

“We sell only detergents that are 

APEO-free,” Sattar says. 

BASF’s leather chemicals are also formaldehyde-free, 

says Saria Sadique, BASF’s 

managing director in Bangladesh. All 

customers get material safety data sheets 

and certificates of analysis. Moreover, he 

says, the company educates its customers 

“about the safe use of the products, how 

they can actually minimize the risk of potential 

hazards of the product.” 

As demand for socially responsible 

leather grows, Sadique adds, there is not 

only an ethical need but also a commercial 

need for leather chemical companies to 

come up with less harmful products. “It 

takes a lot of money to develop these products,” 

he says. “But in the next few years, 

global retailers like Puma, Marks & Spencer, 

and so on will probably buy only from 

those suppliers who can offer products that 

are less damaging to the environment.” 

Leather tanning has been a source of 

problems for centuries, Guise-Richardson 

notes. “Before 1900, bark-tanning contributed 

significantly to deforestation.” She 

says that long before the industrial age, 

dung and urine were used in the processing 

of animal skins into leather. 

Lanxess’ Hackenbroich says the big five 

leather chemical suppliers supply 

only products that are safe to 

workers and the environment. 

But he notes that they are not the 

main suppliers in Bangladesh of 

the basic commodity chemicals— 

including sulfuric acid and caustic 

soda—used in the initial stages of 

processing animal hides. Those 

chemicals usually come from Indian 

and Chinese manufacturers. 

Leather chemicals need to be 

used properly, regardless of their 

origin, Hackenbroich adds. “You 

may have products that cause eye 

irritation if you open the drum; if 

you stir the drum; or if the product 

spills over the drum, falls, and you 

get splashed in your eyes,” he says. 

At present, he believes, only a minority 

of Hazaribagh’s tanneries 

are meticulous enough to use chemicals in 

such a way that they have a benign impact 

on workers and the environment. 

INDUSTRY WATCHERS expect Hazaribagh’s 

safety and environmental problems 

to sort themselves out by 2010, when the 

tanneries move to Savar, a mostly vacant 

area in the northwest of Dhaka, about 20 

miles from Hazaribagh and on the other 

side of the city. Whereas crowded Hazaribagh 

has no room for effluent treatment 

plants, such facilities will be at the heart of 

the proposed leather industry zone. Moreover, 

tanneries will take advantage of the 

relocation to introduce a comprehensive 

range of safety equipment. 

JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY/C&EN (BOTH) 

“The tanneries will move because they 

have to,” Dhaka University’s Huq says, 

explaining that the political will now exists 

to make it happen. At the end of December, 

Bangladesh held peaceful national elections 

that gave power to Prime Minister 

Sheikh Hasina Wazed of the Awami League. 

For the two preceding years, a caretaker 

military government ran the country. Before 

that, politically motivated riots were 

common and impaired the government’s 

ability to get things done. 

To encourage the tanneries to move, 

the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers 

Association (BELA) filed a public interest 

lawsuit in 2003 that is still pending in 

the High Court in Dhaka. M. Iqbal Kabir, a 

BELA lawyer, contends that the relocation 

of the tanneries has been delayed too many 

times over the years. Since independence 

in 1971, “we’ve been told that the tanneries 

will move,” he says. “We filed this case to 

make sure it happens.” 

If BELA wins, Kabir adds, the tanneries 

will be legally forced to relocate and to 

treat their used water before releasing it. 

The Hazaribagh tannery district wasn’t 

always so close to the center of Dhaka, according 

to M. A. Majed, an executive director 

with Apex Tannery Group, one of Bangladesh’s 

main exporters of leather products. 

The first tanneries were set up in the 

area in the 1950s, he says, when Dhaka was 

a far less populated city and Hazari bagh 

“The European Commission is starting to ban the import of leather 

from Hazaribagh, but the pressure from Italy could be much higher.” 


was deserted. “No one ever bothered about 

pollution back then,” he says. Although 

some funding considerations are getting 

in the way of immediate action, he agrees 

that the tanneries should in principle move 

without delay. 

Commercial imperatives are another 

reason to expect that the tanneries will 

relocate. Foreign buyers are increasingly 

demanding that Bangladesh’s tanneries 

start operating in a more socially responsible 

manner, Majed says. German buyers 

in particular have given Hazaribagh-based 

tanneries a deadline to upgrade their operations. 

Majed notes that Apex operates 

another tannery near Dhaka that meets 

world standards. 

Throughout Hazaribagh, 

tannery 

workers are resigned 

to moving, even if it 

will disrupt their life. 

Commuting daily to 

Savar on the other side 

of Dhaka will prove 

difficult, considering 

workdays that last 11 or 

UNTREATED 

Effluent 

gushing out of 

a Hazaribagh 

tannery (left 

photo) eventually 

reaches a stream 

that flows into the 

Buriganga River. 

12 hours and the slow flow of Dhaka’s traffic. 

Tannery owners have promised to provide 

housing to workers but not to their families. 

At Royal Tannery, production manager 

Ali says his family will keep on living in the 

Hazaribagh area while he commutes daily 

by bus or motorcycle. Jornna Begum, the 

wife of a tannery worker who has been in 

Hazaribagh for four years, says she and her 

four children will go back to their home village 

after the relocation. They now live in a 

hut next to a filthy stream. 

Despite the widespread expectation that 

the move will happen, some in the industry 

doubt it will take place as early as 2010. Muhammad 

Abdul Hai, general secretary of the 

Bangladesh Tannery Association, says the 

cost of relocating will be so high that many 

tanneries will close rather than relocate. 

BASF’s Sadique expects that only about 60 

of the 206 tanneries will actually move. 

THE MAIN PROBLEM is that tanneries 

make use of heavy rotating drums that 

are so sturdily anchored into the ground 

that they are practically unmovable, Apex’ 

Majed explains. Without government assistance, 

he says, the move to Savar will not 

be financially viable. 

Dhirendra Kumar Saha, deputy 

secretary of the Bangladesh Finished 

Leather, Leathergoods & 

Footwear Exporters’ Association, 

says tanneries have asked the government 

for a $35 million subsidy 

to facilitate their move. 

Lanxess’ Hackenbroich points 

out that relocating makes little 

business sense for tannery owners. 

Many Chinese tanneries lost their 

competitiveness after being forced 

by their government to shape up 

their safety and environmental 

practices, he notes. 

“If the tanneries can continue 

working under primitive conditions 

in Hazaribagh with no water 

treatment, of course you have lower 

costs and you always have a global 

cost advantage over other tanneries 

in other countries that have to comply 

with all sorts of environmental regulations,” 

he says. “Why should you move to this 

clean new place and put your costs out of 

control?” Hackenbroich argues that only 

a firm government deadline will force the 

tanneries to move and raise their operating 

standards. 

The chemical industry can’t do much 

more to encourage the tanneries to improve 

their environmental and safety 

practices, Hackenbroich maintains. The 

big five leather chemical suppliers can coax 

tanneries to switch to safer, more environmentally 

friendly chemicals that would 

enable them to sell socially responsible 

leather at a higher price, he says. But they 

cannot threaten to stop supplying chemicals 

if nothing is done. 

“Other chemical suppliers from countries 

like India, South Korea, or Japan 

would take advantage of our decision,” 

Hackenbroich says. “Our Responsible Care 

understanding is limited to our products, 

limited to any harm our products could 

have on workers who are applying our 

products, but certainly not to how the effluents 

are being treated in the tanneries.” 

Mohammed Abdul Maleque, chief executive 

officer of the Bangladesh Leather 

Service Center in Hazaribagh, says efforts 

by leather buyers to improve environmental 

and safety standards at the tanneries are 

actually fairly tepid. He notes that Italian 

companies, which are the main purchasers 

of Bangladeshi leather, are not insisting 

strongly on improvements. 

“The European Commission is starting 

to ban the import of leather from Hazaribagh, 

but the pressure from Italy could be 

much higher,” he contends. Maleque, who 

was a senior executive at shoe manufacturer 

Bata before joining the Leather Service 

Center, says Italian firms buy unfinished 

leather from Bangladesh, finish it in Italy, 

and “then sell it to all the big brands.” 

Interestingly, the center is largely funded 

by the Italian government with the goal 

of reducing the amount of toxic materials 

local tanneries use. The Leather Service 

Center is setting up the first lab in Bangladesh 

capable of certifying that leather 

products are free of substances that could 

harm consumers. 

Italians, Maleque says, are interested 

in “raising the quality level of Bangladeshi 

leather,” even if they are not overly concerned 

about conditions in Hazaribagh. 

“Our focus is not on improving the lives of 

workers, but our certifications will cause 

workers to handle fewer hazardous substances,” 

he notes. 

A small global player, Bangladesh can do 

a lot more with its tanneries. According to a 

background paper produced by the leather 

exporters’ association, the country is endowed 

with an abundance of raw hides and 

cheap labor. Once the tanneries relocate 

to Savar and embrace socially responsible 

practices, the association predicts, sales 

of leather, finished footwear, and other 

leather items will triple. It expects more 

footwear manufacturers will set up plants 

in Bangladesh to take advantage of its 

leather and abundant labor force. 

Even in Bangladesh, reckless contamination 

of a major city cannot go on forever. 

Although it is happening slowly, the relocation 

of Hazaribagh’s tanneries is inevitable. 

It will mean the end of a way of life in the 

old tannery district, but it will be a much 

overdue change for the better. ■ 


BUSINESS INSIGHTS 

The Language Of Hard Times 

No matter how chemical companies say it, IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS 

MELODY VOITH, C&EN WASHINGTON 

THIRTEEN MONTHS into the recession, U.S. chemical 

executives can be divided into two groups: those 

still emphasizing the positive and those talking openly 

about the tough decisions they face. 

Whether the public statements are sunny or grim, 

they all contain phrases that are peculiar to a downturn. 

Gone is the talk of growth, innovation, and 

entering new markets. Now, executives say they are 

“focusing on cash flow” or “concentrating on core 

businesses.” Although the messages are sent with 

investors in mind, company employees should understand 

how these signals affect them. 

On Jan. 16, Lubrizol sounded upbeat even as it lowered 

its 2008 earnings estimates. “Our balance sheet 

is strong; we are taking the necessary steps to meet the 

challenges of 2009,” said James L. Hambrick, the firm’s chief executive 

officer. Lubrizol explained that it will cut costs by $40 million 

to $50 million this year. So far, the plans do not include layoffs. 

PolyOne, in contrast, announced a second round of layoffs on 

Jan. 15. To save money, the company is “eliminating approximately 

370 jobs worldwide, implementing reduced work schedules for another 

100 to 300 employees, closing its Niagara, Ontario, facility, 

and idling certain other capacity.” 

Many chemical companies are in a position somewhere between 

these two extremes. On Dec. 19, for example, Albemarle said it 

“aims to achieve $40 million in annualized cost savings next year 

by accelerating cost-reduction programs and resizing its business 

footprint. The company is keenly focused on maximizing cash flow 

through working capital reductions and prudent capital spending.” 

THE CAREFUL WORDING of Albemarle’s statement says a great 

deal about how the company plans to steer through the crisis. The 

business lingo signals a change in management priority toward 

spending cuts and other moves that preserve cash. 

The long recession has revived the cliché that “cash is king.” A 

company’s cash flow comes from its day-to-day operations. It’s 

money that flows in from customer payments and returns on investments 

minus expenditures for inventory, labor, and interest. 

Positive cash flow is like a spring-fed fountain, supplying cash for 

business investments, dividends, and debt payments. 

Cash and cash flow should not be confused with similarseeming 

terms such as revenue, income, earnings, or profits. 

Only when a company shows positive cash flow can it generate 

more cash than it spends and continue to operate successfully. 

To create positive cash flow, companies start with a 

bucket of money called working capital. Working capital 

cycles throughout an organization as blood circulates 

in an organism. With working capital a company 

can purchase supplies and extend credit to customers. 

Without this “liquidity,” a company would need to collect 

payment before it begins manufacturing its product, 

which is a tough way to do business. 

Gone is the 

talk of growth, 

innovation, 

and entering 

new markets. 


To fund working capital, companies use existing 

cash reserves, cash received from customers, credit 

from suppliers, new equity or loans from shareholders, 

short-term bank loans, or long-term debt. 

Today’s liquidity crisis reflects the common 

practice of funding working capital with borrowed 

money. That was fine when credit was plentiful and 

interest rates were low, but now companies need to 

generate more of their own cash to fund operations 

and pay back debt built up in previous growth phases. 

Firms like Albemarle hope to free up cash that 

is tied up in working capital as inventory and IOUs 

from slow-paying customers. By reducing inventory 

and pressuring customers to pay quickly, firms can 

increase cash flow. 

Other companies find they need to do more than squeeze working 

capital. Executives at these firms have seen demand for their 

products fall off a cliff, and they can’t count on outside financing, 

current profits, or stock offerings to fund operations. 

Such firms face the danger of burying all their cash in an evergrowing 

pile of unsold inventory. They must quickly “restructure,” 

“resize,” or “reorganize.” Basically, they must shrink to exist in a 

world of smaller demand. 

These are the hard decisions that business strategy consultant 

Ram Charan writes about in his new book, “Leadership in the Era 

of Economic Uncertainty.” He describes how DuPont, with CEO 

Charles O. Holliday Jr. at the helm, invoked its “corporate crisis 

plan” last fall to respond to the economic downturn. Within weeks 

of the first hints of decreasing demand, each DuPont employee was 

asked to identify three things he or she could do immediately to 

help conserve cash and reduce costs. 

To reduce their business footprint, executives typically cut salaries 

and expenses for sales, marketing, and administration. They 

sell businesses that do not generate cash—or generate it slowly— 

and lay off workers and contractors. Or they sell long-term assets 

like land or equipment. Then they redirect resources to their “core 

business,” the one that brings in the most secure cash flow. 

In better times, having a large amount of cash sitting around was 

considered tacky. Shareholders expected to see cash paid out as 

dividends, or reinvested in the business. Now, instead of reinvesting, 

companies are cutting back on capital spending, the investments 

in long-term assets that generate future cash flow. 

Making efficient use of working capital is a good business practice. 

But decisions that result in layoffs and delayed investments 

actually contribute to the crisis. Companies that do 

not invest in their future risk seeing their stock prices 

continue to wither. And when they lay off workers, they 

add to unemployment, killing demand for the products 

they are trying to sell. 

Views expressed on this page are those of the author 

and not necessarily those of ACS. 

ISTOCK

GOVERNMENT & POLICY CONCENTRATES 

CHEMISTS AMONG 

ACADEMIES’ HONOREES 

Four ACS members are among the 18 

people being honored by the National 

Academy of Sciences for their contributions 

to the scientific enterprise in areas 

such as chemistry, biology, and public service. 

Three of the members receiving the 

2009 Scientific Achievement Awards are 

Cornelia I. Bargmann, a Howard Hughes 

Medical Institute investigator and professor 

at Rockefeller University; Joanna S. 

Fowler, a senior chemist in the department 

of medicine at Brookhaven National Laboratory; 

and John D. Roberts, an emeritus 

chemistry professor at Caltech. NAS will 

also honor ACS member Neal F. Lane, a 

professor and senior fellow of the James A. 

Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice 

University, with the Public Welfare Medal. 

Lane served as assistant to the president 

for science and technology and director of 

the Office of Science & Technology Policy 

from 1998 to 2001, and as director of NSF 

from 1993 to 1998. All awardees will be honored 

at a ceremony in April.—RFHB 

FDA, EPA PROGRAMS 

TAGGED FOR REFORM 

FDA’s oversight of drugs and EPA’s assessment 

of chemicals are among the federal 

programs in greatest need of reform, the 

Government Accountability Office (GAO) 

says in a report (GAO-09-271) released 

on Jan. 22. The U.S. consumer may not 

be adequately protected from unsafe and 

ineffective medical products, GAO says, 

recommending that FDA conduct more 

inspections of foreign plants that make 

pharmaceuticals exported to the U.S. In 

addition, it says FDA needs to review more 

systematically the claims made in advertising 

and promotional materials for drugs 

and ensure that drugmakers accurately 

report the results of clinical trials. Meanwhile, 

GAO takes aim at EPA’s Integrated 

Risk Information System for commercial 

chemicals, a database that is widely used 

by regulators in the U.S. and abroad. EPA 

needs to streamline and allow greater 

public scrutiny of its chemical assessment 

process, GAO concludes. In addition, GAO 

says EPA “requires additional authority 

than currently provided in the Toxic 

Substances Control Act to obtain health 

and safety information from the chemical 

industry and to shift more of the burden to 

OBAMA INKS EMISSIONS ORDERS 

Last week, President Barack Obama directed EPA and the Department 

of Transportation (DOT) to take action likely to force automakers to 

increase cars’ fuel economy while cutting their emissions of carbon 

dioxide. Obama instructed Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to issue 

a final rule increasing 

the corporate average fueleconomy 

standard from the 

Obama signs orders as LaHood and Jackson watch. 

chemical companies to demonstrate the 

safety of their products.” The authority 

would have to come from Congress.—CH 

ALIVISATOS 

TO DIRECT LBNL 

Paul Alivisatos was recently appointed 

interim director of Lawrence Berkeley 

National Laboratory. A leader in nanotechnology 

research, he replaces former lab 

director Steven Chu, who is now President 

Obama’s energy secretary. Before being appointed 

interim director, Alivisatos was the 

deputy lab director and chief research officer 

at LBNL. He has been at the lab since 

2001 and led its Helios solar research initiative, 

which examines artificial photosynthesis 

and photovoltaic technology using 

nano-inspired devices. Additionally, he has 

been a University of California, Berkeley, 

professor since 1988, and is currently the 

Larry & Diane Bock Professor of Nanotechnology 

and teaches in the departments of 

materials science and chemistry. He is the 

founding editor of the ACS journal Nano 

Letters and is a member of the National 

Academy of Sciences.—JJ 

current 22.5 mpg for model 

year 2011 cars. A 2007 law 

requires DOT to begin ratcheting 

up this standard starting 

in the 2011 model year 

and to raise it to at least 35 

mpg by 2020. Meanwhile, 

Obama directed EPA Administrator 

Lisa Jackson to 

reassess a request by California 

to establish limits on 

the amount of greenhouse 

gases, including CO 2 , released by new cars and trucks sold in the state. 

Under the Bush Administration, EPA rejected the state’s request in December 

2007; Obama noted that it marked the first time the agency 

had denied a California request to set state vehicle emission standards 

tighter than federal ones.—CH 

SAUL LOEB/AFP 

DISCLOSING TIES AMONG 

DRUGMAKERS, DOCTORS 

In a continued effort to disclose financial 

relationships between drugmakers and 

doctors, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) 

and Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) have introduced 

legislation that would require pharmaceutical, 

medical device, and biologics 

manufacturers to report all money over 

$100 they give to physicians. The Physician 

Payments Sunshine Act of 2009 would 

establish a national standard under which 

drug and device manufacturers supply 

information to the Department of Health 

& Human Services about payments they 

make to doctors. Record of the payments 

also would have to be posted on the Internet 

in a publicly accessible way. The 

bill would establish a penalty of up to $1 

million for companies that do not disclose 

such information. Grassley’s ongoing 

investigation has revealed large amounts 

of undisclosed money going to prominent 

research doctors. He recently pressured 

NIH to require disclosure of financial relationships 

between drug manufacturers 

and doctors who conduct federally funded 

medical research.—BEE 



CHERYL HOGUE/C&EN 

this, the American Chemical Society, publisher 

of C&EN, at one time expressed interest 

in taking over Environmental Health 

Perspectives.) Schwartz also shifted the institute’s 

funding to emphasize patient care 

at the expense of NIEHS’s traditional focus 

on preventive programs. The morale of the 

staff is reported to have fallen significantly 

during Schwartz’s controversial tenure. 

NEW LEADER TAKES 

OVER AT NIEHS 

Toxicologist LINDA BIRNBAUM charts course for NIH institute 

CHERYL HOGUE, C&EN WASHINGTON 

AS THE NEW ADMINISTRATION settles 

in, agencies across the federal government 

are undergoing transitions. But for one 

leadership change that took place two days 

before President Barack Obama took the 

oath of office, the timing was coincidental. 

Linda S. Birnbaum, the new director 

of the National Institute of Environmental 

Health Sciences (NIEHS), officially 

assumed her post on Jan. 18 and now 

oversees an institute with a $730 million 

annual budget. Located in Research Triangle 

Park, N.C., and part of the National 

Institutes of Health, NIEHS is home to the 

National Toxicology Program, which tests 

chemicals of concern to public health. 

Birnbaum, the first toxicologist to head 

NIEHS, came to the institute from the 

Environmental Protection Agency. For 

16 years, she served as director of EPA’s 

Experimental Toxicology Division. During 

her last year at EPA, she coordinated 

efforts across the agency probing the contamination 

of Libby, Mont., with asbestos 

from a vermiculite mine. 

Raynard S. Kington, acting director of 

NIH, says Birnbaum “has a long and distinguished 

career conducting research into 

the health effects of environmental pollutants.” 

She is an expert in the toxicology of 

dioxins, brominated flame retardants, and 

endocrine-disrupting chemicals in general, 

and she has authored more than 600 

peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, 

abstracts, and reports. She is a former 

president of the Society of Toxicology. 

Birnbaum comes to an institute that 

was wracked by political turmoil during 

the tenure of David A. Schwartz, who 

was NIEHS director from 2005 to 2007. 

Schwartz was the target of several congressional 

investigations, including some 

involving conflict-of-interest allegations 

about testifying in lawsuits after he took 

the job at the institute. 

In addition, Schwartz slashed the budget 

for NIEHS’s open-access journal, Environmental 

Health Perspectives, by 85% and 

attempted to privatize it. (In response to 

MORE ONLINE 


DESPITE ALL that has happened in the recent 

past, Birnbaum sees great opportunity 

at NIEHS. “The institute has a marvelous 

scientific portfolio. It has a lot of excellent 

people working very hard doing a lot of important 

things,” she tells C&EN. 

Although she diplomatically skirts 

the question of whether she will flat-out 

reverse Schwartz’s policies, Birnbaum 

has several changes in mind as she sets an 

agenda for NIEHS. 

“Some of my first challenges are to 

restore morale and develop a culture of 

openness and trust at the institute,” she 

says. 

Besides making efforts within NIEHS, 

Birnbaum has her eye on reaching out beyond 

the institute. For instance, although 

she’s left EPA, Birnbaum is by no means 

severing ties with the agency. NIEHS is 

situated across a small lake from a major 

EPA laboratory where Birnbaum worked 

for 16 years. Pedestrians can easily walk 

between the facilities via a scenic footpath. 

But Birnbaum is keenly aware that scientists 

at these two government research 

facilities have had little interaction, even 

though the work of both programs is connected 

to the effects from chemicals in 

the environment. She’s intent on building 

virtual bridges between the two. 

In addition, Birnbaum wants NIEHS 

to strengthen its relationships with those 

outside the government, including scientific 

organizations and citizen groups. “I’m 

very excited and optimistic about opportunities 

to interact,” she says. 

One avenue of interacting with those 

outside NIEHS is Environmental Health 

Perspectives. In contrast to Schwartz, 

Birnbaum is a strong supporter of the 

publication. 

“I am thrilled to see that Environmental 

Health Perspectives has the highest impact 

factor of any environmental journal,” Birnbaum 

says. “It has a very wide readership,” 

especially in the U.S., Europe, and China 

To hear Linda Birnbaum talk about dioxins, regulation, and 

science, click on this story at www.cen-online.org.

(there is an edition in Chinese). “It attracts 

people from the basic sciences to the most 

applied sciences, people doing basic chemistry 

to people doing epidemiology and 

clinical medicine as well,” she says. 

Meanwhile, Birnbaum also wants to 

strengthen NIEHS’s connections with 

other parts of NIH. She says, “I need to 

work hard to reestablish close working 

relationships with our sister institutes in 

Bethesda,” the Maryland town where NIH 

headquarters is located. 

Although she has yet to oversee her first 

budget at NIEHS, Birnbaum indicates that 

the types of research that the institute 

funds may change. Specifically, she says 

the institute should return to its traditional 

focus on preventive programs. 

“There’s clearly a role for clinical medicine 

at NIEHS,” Birnbaum says. “However, 

I think when we’re talking about environmental 

health, it’s not only ‘bench to bedside,’ 

it is also ‘bench to public health.’ We 

have a major role to play in the betterment 

of public health in this country.” 

ONE CRITICISM that Birnbaum expects 

to face involves regulatory decisions on 

chemicals. The decisions, such as those 

made by EPA and the Food & Drug Administration, 

rely on studies like those 

conducted by the National Toxicology 

Program in which laboratory animals are 

given high doses of a substance. Critics say 

these experiments inappropriately include 

exposures to chemicals that are far higher 

than what the public experiences. 

“They are missing the point,” Birnbaum 

says of these critics. The amount of 

a chemical given to a laboratory animal 

isn’t what’s relevant in these tests, she 

explains. “It’s what’s in the body or in the 

specific tissue at a specific point in time.” 

In animal studies, she says, “if you actually 

look at the internal dose, frequently, it’s 

not high.” 

The key, according to Birnbaum, is finding 

more sophisticated methods to determine 

how much of a compound is not just 

getting into the body but how much is getting 

into the tissue, where it can adversely 

affect health. 

“I’m willing initially, for incremental 

improvement, to take what’s in the blood” 

as a surrogate measure of tissue load, 

Birnbaum says. She notes that for some 

chemicals, such as dioxins, the concentration 

of the substance in blood may not be 

the best measure of tissue exposure inside 

the body. “At high levels of exposure, it 

isn’t just in blood lipids, there’s a heck of a 

lot of it that’s bound up in the liver. So you 

may underestimate the total amount that’s 

in the body, but it’s a lot better than saying 

how much you were exposed to on a daily 

basis,” she says. 

Estimates of how much of a chemical 

gets to nerves, organs, or other tissue 

inside a person might also be made using 

other easily accessible bodily fluids, such 

as urine. But Birnbaum knows that this 

line of study—whether involving blood, 

urine, or other fluids—has limitations. 

“Not everybody’s eager to give you 

blood,” she says. Plus, some chemicals 

or their metabolites aren’t eliminated in 

urine. And a single metabolite may have 

more than one source; the body may transform 

any of several chemicals into the 

same end product. 

Nonetheless, Birnbaum has hope that 

new tests based on 

proteomic or metabonomic 

technologies 

will allow researchers 

to easily study accessible 

bodily fluids for 

early signs of toxic 

responses due to exposure 

to chemicals. 

She cautions scientists 

to keep practicality in 

mind as they invent 

this sort of assay, 

known as an “omic” 

test. She expresses 

frustration about 

new techniques for 

identifying early signs 

of toxic response in 

brain, kidney, and liver 

cells that fail to heed 

this caution. 

“I don’t know too 

NIH 

many people who are eager to give you a 

brain biopsy or a kidney biopsy so you can 

measure what is going on in that tissue 

specifically,” Birnbaum says. “We have to 

be able to use easily accessible tissue.” 

In addition, the omic tests are expensive 

to carry out, she says, expressing hope that 

researchers will also develop less costly 

methods to detect early signs of disease. 

High-throughput omic tests for initial 

toxicity screening of chemicals have captured 

the attention of the federal government 

in recent years. The National Toxicology 

Program is involved in this work, 

as is EPA through the agency’s ToxCast 

program. While endorsing these new technologies, 

Birnbaum notes their limitation. 

These screening efforts may link 

some chemicals with health hazards they 

weren’t previously associated with, Birnbaum 

says. But she worries that results of 

high-throughput testing may incorrectly 

indicate that some compounds aren’t hazardous 

when in fact they are. 

“I am always concerned about the false 

negatives,” Birnbaum says of the rapid 

screening. In environmental health, giving 

a clean bill of health to a substance that 

came up negative in a rapid screening test 

could cause public health headaches in the 

future, she says. 

THOSE CONCERNED about public 

health, however, have moved beyond 

the question about the classic toxicity 

of a chemical: Will this substance make 

someone sick and, if so, at what dose? 

They are increasingly 

focused on substances 

that may disturb the 

body’s endocrine 

functions. 

Studies of chemicals 

suspected of being 

endocrine disrupters 

HOME BASE 

Birnbaum now 

directs NIEHS, 

which is situated 

on a small lake in 

Research Triangle 

Park, N.C. 

raise complex issues, Birnbaum explains. 

“When you’re dealing with hormonal activity, 

context is everything and interaction 

is everything. A given hormone in a given 

tissue at a given developmental stage may 

cause one thing to happen. The same hormone 

in another tissue or another development 

stage may cause exactly the opposite 



“We have a tendency in science to become experts 

about something very narrow. We’re so focused 

on minutiae that we miss the big picture.” 

kind of thing to happen,” Birnbaum says. 

Scientific understanding of how the 

endocrine system works continues to 

evolve, she points out. “Twenty years ago, 

we knew that estrogen worked through 

a receptor. But now we know there isn’t 

one estrogen receptor, there are multiple 

estrogen receptors,” Birnbaum says. Plus, 

there are interactions. “We know that the 

estrogen receptor, for example, doesn’t act 

in isolation but interacts with other hormones 

and receptors,” she explains. 

Then there’s the issue of hormonal variations 

among individuals, Birnbaum adds. 

For instance, if a given exposure to an endocrine-disrupting 

chemical decreases a 

man’s testosterone by 10%, plenty of men 

would experience no effects, and their 

levels of this hormone would remain in the 

normal range. But this would not be the 

case for men who, before exposure, have 

testosterone levels on the lower end of the 

normal range. 

Such complexities feed into public 

CHEMICALS 

Birnbaum On Dioxins’ Toxicity, Regulation 

Linda S. Birnbaum, the 

new director of the 

National Institute of 

Environmental Health 

Sciences, has spent a 

sizable chunk of her 

scientific career focused 

on dioxins, furans, and 

polychlorinated biphenyls. 

This family of chlorinated 

or brominated 

chemicals is commonly 

lumped together under 

the moniker “dioxins.” 

Birnbaum has witnessed 

how regulation 

has virtually eliminated 

production of these 

toxic chemicals over 

the past three decades. 

“The major sources 

that were present in 

the ’60s and ’70s are 

no longer significant 

sources at all. The processes 

that created 

them are no longer being 

used” commercially, she 

says. Plus, studies show 

that the levels of dioxins 

are dropping both in 

the environment and in 

people’s bodies. 

“That’s the good 

news,” Birnbaum says. 

“On the other hand, our 

continued scientific 

study of dioxins has revealed 

that they’re much 

more toxic than we used 

to believe.” 

In the past, researchers 

were concerned 

about dioxins being 

INFAMOUS 

2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzop-dioxin 

is the most 

hazardous member of the 

family of chlorinated and 

brominated dioxins. 

Cl 

Cl 

O 

O 

Cl 

Cl 

lethal after short-term 

exposure. But nowadays, 

Birnbaum says, “we are 

concerned about their 

subtle developmental effects” 

and possible longterm 

cancer risks from 

exposure. 

“For years, with dioxins, 

nobody really understood 

that they affected 

heart development. Well, 

we knew that it was true 

in fish, and we knew it 

was true in birds,” she explains, 

“but nobody had 

ever really shown that 

it caused effects during 

mammalian development 

or in adults.” That’s because 

scientists weren’t 

looking for these outcomes, 

she says. Now 

that researchers are 

probing the possibility 

of these effects, they 

are finding them. 

In addition, dioxins 

are linked to an 

increase in type 2 diabetes. 

Age and obesity 

may be more important 

risk factors for this 

disease than dioxin 

exposure, Birnbaum says, 

but that doesn’t make 

regulation of these substances 

irrelevant. 

“You can’t control your 

age. Many people are not 

very successful at controlling 

their weight,” she 

says. “But we as a society 

can control our dioxin 

exposure.” 

health policy and science policy debates, 

such as the one over bisphenol A (BPA). 

This chemical, which is used in polycarbonate 

bottles and epoxy-based food can 

liners, is an estrogen mimic. FDA is in the 

midst of a debate over whether it should 

allow continued use of BPA in food and 

beverage containers (C&EN, Nov. 17, 2008, 

page 42). In September 2008, the National 

Toxicology Program deemed BPA of “some 

concern” for developmental and behavioral 

effects in fetuses, infants, and children 

(C&EN, Sept. 8, 2008, page 28). 

“There is not enough around to make 

a difference at the current levels you see 

in the human population,” Birnbaum says 

of BPA. Yet BPA is one of more than two 

dozen chemicals people are exposed to 

that act as weak estrogen mimics, she continues. 

“They’re all weak, but if you even 

just use a simple dose addition method, all 

of a sudden the total estrogenic activity is 

not insignificant,” she adds. 

Birnbaum points out that the endocrine 

system goes beyond the heavily studied 

estrogens, androgens, and thyroid hormones. 

“There are many other endocrine 

systems in our body that we need to consider,” 

she says. 

“We have a tendency in science to become 

experts about something very narrow. 

We’re so focused on minutiae that 

we miss the big picture,” she says. “Our 

bodies and our integrated systems are not 

simple. There are all the interactions between 

the parts.” 

This sort of understanding about parts 

integrating into a whole offers insight into 

how Birnbaum is approaching her post at 

NIEHS. 

“The mission of NIEHS is to reduce 

and prevent environmental impact on 

disease,” Birnbaum says. “It’s not only the 

disease of the individual.” Effects may be 

subclinical or difficult to detect in a given 

person, but they may affect the overall 

health of the population, she explains. 

“If we can understand how a certain 

environmental chemical or environmental 

stressor causes a disease process,” 

she says, researchers can work to stop 

progression of health problems, as well as 

prevent them. ■ 


C&EN TALKS WITH 

KATHRYN L. BEERS 

Polymer chemist reflects on White House SCIENCE-ADVISING POST 

ROCHELLE F. H. BOHATY, C&EN WASHINGTON 

FEW CHEMISTS have walked the halls of the executive office 

buildings in Washington, D.C. But Kathryn L. Beers, a polymer 

chemist from the National Institute of Standards & Technology 

(NIST) was free to do just that for more than a year while working 

in the Executive Office of the President. 

Beers, 36, director of NIST’s Combinatorial Methods Center 

and acting group leader in the Polymers Division of NIST’s Materials 

Science & Engineering Laboratory, spent part of 2007 and 2008 

working with President George W. Bush’s science adviser, John H. 

Marburger III, who also served as director of the Office of Science 

& Technology Policy (OSTP). On loan from NIST, Beers’s major 

responsibilities included advising Marburger and others in the 

Executive Office on “the impacts of science and technology on domestic 

and international affairs,” she explains. 

Beers recalls encountering a “huge learning curve” when she 

walked through the doors of OSTP. “The scope of the information 

that you have to handle at OSTP is enormous,” she tells C&EN. 

“You have to have confidence in your ability to grasp the big picture,” 

and you have to do so without the technical details that you 

are used to relying on in the lab, she notes. 

As the assistant director for physical sciences and engineering 

at OSTP, Beers was in charge of a portfolio that included the 

Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the National Aeronautics 

& Space Administration’s Science Mission Directorate, and a 

significant portion of the National Science Foundation. Although 

she could not discuss the details of her duties at OSTP, she says her 

work focused on coordinating interagency and international cooperation 

and liaising with the physical science community. 

The most exciting part about working at OSTP was having the 

freedom to call “preeminent scientists” to discuss concepts critical 

to government policy, she says. Conversation topics ranged from 

scientific details regarding a specific NASA mission to background 

information on a proposed project included in a budget request. 

In addition to her scientific skills, Beers believes having a liberal 

arts education from the College of William & Mary, in Williamsburg, 

Va., helped her tackle the range of challenges she faced at 

OSTP. For example, her education gave her the general skills necessary 

to read and write government documents. 

Being a native resident of the Washington, D.C., area did not 

hurt either. She took in a lot of politics while growing up and often 

participated in political debates with her family, which helped her 

develop the ability to communicate effectively, she notes. 

Although it would seem from such a childhood that Beers would 

be well suited for a policy career, she admits that she “never really 

thought about science policy.” Actually, it was not until college 

that Beers took an interest in science at all. 

When Beers left for college, she says, she was thinking about 

majoring in a foreign language, history, or international affairs. But 

her plans changed when she took a science class to fulfill a general 

education requirement. “I had too much pride to take the non-science-majors 

class, so I took the chemistry course for science majors 

and loved the class so much that I changed majors,” she says. 

Beers was so excited about science that after receiving a B.S. 

in chemistry in 1994, she went on to study polymer chemistry as 

a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University. Working with 

chemistry professor Krzysztof Matyjas zewski, she earned an M.S. 

in polymer science in 1996 and a Ph.D. in chemistry in 2000. 

In addition to the experimental details that occupied Beers on a 

daily basis during graduate school, she recalls noticing challenges 

that scientists face outside the lab, such as securing grant money. 

That is when Beers began to link her interests of science and policy. 

It was also in graduate school that she became more keenly 

aware of the effects of fundamental science on the community at 

large. This awareness caught the attention of her graduate school 

adviser. Beers was not only a gifted scientist but also had an extraordinary 

and natural ability to communicate important issues 

to a broad audience, Matyjaszewski recalls. 

BEERS JOINED NIST in 2000 as a National Research Council 

Postdoctoral Fellow and was invited to stay as a research chemist 

in 2002. Soon after she accepted the job offer, she voiced her interest 

in taking time way from NIST to explore her interests in science 

policy at OSTP. At the time she didn’t believe that the opportunity 

would arise. But in February 2007, Beers got her chance and took 

leave from NIST for a 13-month rotation at OSTP. 

At the conclusion of her service at OSTP, Beers recalls hoping 

that the insights she gained would enable her to help NIST achieve 

its mission. She also recalls finding it a bit challenging to return 

to lab work. As she explains, she went through a complete “mind 

shift” from looking at the overall picture of the scientific enterprise 

to zooming back in on her niche. 

Although Beers admits that working at OSTP is “not something 

that everybody in science is probably cut out for,” she does encourage 

more chemists to give it a try. 

“I don’t think chemists are represented strongly enough in the 

policy community,” she says. If more chemists were involved in 

policy, she explains, it would help nonscientists understand the 

societal benefits of chemistry while improving chemists’ understanding 

of policy, which would be a huge value to the chemical 

enterprise. ■ 

ROCHELLE BOHATY/C&EN 


SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY CONCENTRATES 

BISPHENOL A CLEARS 

FROM BODY SLOWLY 

Unexpectedly high levels of the plastics 

chemical bisphenol A (BPA) have been 

found in urine samples collected from 

people who fasted for up to 24 hours 

(Environ. Health Perspect., DOI: 10.1289/ 

ehp.0800376). The results suggest that 

people do not metabolize the estrogenic 

chemical as quickly as previously thought 

or that food is not the primary source of 

BPA exposure, or both. Richard W. Stahlhut 

of the University of Rochester Medical 

Center and coworkers analyzed data 

from 1,469 adult participants in a national 

health survey conducted by the Centers 

for Disease Control & Prevention. The 

scientists found no relationship between 

fasting time and the level of BPA in the 

participants’ urine. Scientists have long 

assumed that BPA is cleared from the body 

within 24 hours of exposure. Stahlhut suggests 

that BPA may instead accumulate 

in fat, from which it is slowly released. 

Additional studies are needed to compare 

BPA levels in fat, blood, and urine, he says. 

The work also points to the need for investigating 

nonfood sources of BPA, such as 

house dust, dental sealants, and polyvinyl 

chloride pipes used to supply drinking 

water.—BEE 

SER0TONIN MAKES 

LOCUSTS SWARM 

The desert locust Schistocerca gregaria 

leads a largely reclusive life. 

Under the right conditions, however, 

these creatures experience a 

major mood swing, swarming into ravenous 

masses that devour crops. Now, scientists 

have found that the neurotransmitter 

serotonin is behind this Jekyll-and-Hyde 

switch (Science 2009, 323, 627). A team led 

by Stephen M. Rogers of the Universities 

of Cambridge and Oxford discovered the 

chemical’s critical role in initiating the locusts’ 

shift from its shy “solitarious” phase 

to its devastating “gregarious” phase. In the 

wild, the phase change occurs when locust 

populations explode, increasing the locust 

concentration and 

Nymph locusts in the 

shy soliatrious phase 

(green) and the 

swarming gregarious 

phase (brown). 

TOM FAYLE (BOTH) 

NANOCUBE-NANOTUBE 

BIOSENSORS 

Networks of single-walled carbon nanotubes 

decorated with metallic nanocubes can serve 

as highly sensitive detectors for measuring 

biomolecules over a wide range of concentrations, 

according to a new study in ACS Nano (DOI: 

10.1021/nn800682m). Purdue University engineers 

Timothy S. Fisher, D. Marshall Porterfield, 

and coworkers capitalized on a technique they 

developed previously for growing nanotubes vertically 

on top of a silicon wafer by augmenting the 

nanotubes with gold-coated palladium nanocubes. 

The nanocubes, which grow via electrodeposition 

and are tethered to the nanotubes, serve as 

docking points for attaching biomolecules and 

as electrocatalysts that facilitate the detection 

process. Testing the devices’ performance as electrochemical 

sensors for glucose, the Purdue team 

attached glucose oxidase to the nanocubes via 

thiol linkages and found that the sensors exhibit 

a detection limit of about 1 µM and a linear response 

between 10 µM and 50 mM. Those values 

represent a performance enhancement of roughly 

a factor of five compared with other glucose sensors based on carbon 

nanotubes and metallic nanoparticles and nanowires, the team says.—MJ 

competition for food. External cues, such 

as seeing or jostling against other locusts, 

trigger the 

shift. Rogers’ group was 

able to use 

serotonin to make the 

insects change phase 

without such external 

stimulation. Although the 

discovery suggests a possible 

route for pest control, 

there’s not yet an effective serotoninblocking 

chemical that’s designed to pass 

through the cuticle and sheath surrounding 

the locust’s nervous system. Furthermore, 

such a substance would need to be used 

while the locusts are in the hard-to-find 

solitarious phase.—BH 

INTRODUCING GRAPHANE 

Graphene—one-atom-thick sheets of 

carbon that make up graphite—is a potentially 

useful electronic conductor that 

was thought to be relatively inert. Now, 

researchers have shown that graphene 

can react with hydrogen to form 

graphane—an electronic insulator 

(Science 2008, 323, 610). The discovery 

JEFF GOECKER/PURDUE U 

unlocks the possibility of using graphene 

in hydrogen-fuel technologies and nanoelectronics, 

writes Alexander K. Savchenko 

of the U.K.’s University of Exeter in a commentary 

in Science. Andre K. Geim and 

Kostya S. Novoselov of the University of 

Manchester, in the U.K., and colleagues 

synthesized 

graphane by exposing 

graphene to 

hydrogen ions in a 

hydrogen plasma. 

On the basis of 

Metallic nanocubes 

tethered to carbon 

nanotubes (blue, few 

nanometers in diameter) 

can detect glucose at low 

concentration. 

Attaching hydrogen 

(red) to graphene’s 

carbon atoms (blue) 

converts graphene to 

graphane. 

KOSTYA NOVOSELOV 


SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY CONCENTRATES 

NASA 

transmission electron microscopy and 

Raman spectroscopy analysis, they determined 

that graphane retains graphene’s 

hexagonal structure but is more compressed. 

Attaching hydrogen to graphene 

changes the hybridization of the material’s 

carbon atoms and alters its crystallographic 

and electronic properties, Novoselov 

says. Annealing graphane restores graphene’s 

original structure and properties. 

Novoselov adds that these results create a 

new direction for fine-tuning graphene’s 

electronic properties by attaching functional 

groups to the carbon skeleton.—RAP 

ASTROCYTES 

MODULATE SLEEP 

In a study of sleep regulation in mice, 

researchers for the first time have uncovered 

evidence that brain cells that 

aren’t neurons can affect behavior. Philip 

G. Haydon of Tufts University and colleagues 

focused on astrocytes, which are 

glial cells that nestle up to synapses, the 

junctions between neurons. The researchers 

had previously shown that astrocytes 

release adenosine triphosphate. ATP is 

hydrolyzed by enzymes to form adenosine. 

The adenosine then binds to A1 receptors 

on the neurons and dampens their 

activity. In their new work, the researchers 

studied transgenic mice that release 

less adenosine than normal from their 

astrocytes. After sleep deprivation these 

mice displayed less craving for sleep than 

normal mice, Haydon’s team found. The 

transgenic mice also avoided the memory 

problems that develop in normal mice after 

sleep deprivation. Normal mice treated 

with a compound that prevents adenosine 

from binding to neuronal A1 receptors also 

avoided these memory problems (Neuron 

2009, 61, 213). Astrocytes could thus offer 

a promising new target for the development 

of treatments for sleep and cognitive 

disorders.—SLR 

SEDIMENT SHOWS 

BLACK SEA FLOOD 

WAS UNLIKELY 

A new report appears to refute a controversial 

hypothesis that the Black Sea flooded 

catastrophically thousands of years ago— 

an idea that some had thought could explain 

“great flood” myths. During the early 

Holocene epoch, approximately 10,000 

years ago, the Black 

Sea was an isolated 

freshwater system. As 

the last Ice Age drew to 

a close, glaciers melted 

and ocean levels rose. 

Aerial view 

of the Black 

Sea, with the 

Mediterranean 

Sea at lower left. 

The Black Sea then became connected with 

the Mediterranean Sea via the Bosporus 

Strait. But whether this process happened 

slowly or violently has been debated. 

Now, geologist Liviu Giosan of Woods 

Hole Oceanographic Institution and colleagues 

have found geochemical evidence 

in sediment cores showing that the Black 

Sea’s levels were high enough during that 

period that rising Mediterranean Sea 

levels would have resulted in a more modest 

deluge (Quat. Sci. Rev., DOI: 10.1016/j. 

quascirev.2008.10.012). The group radiocarbon-dated 

mollusks and studied sediment 

composition to find the level of the 

freshwater lake at the time of the first salt 

water influxes.—EKW 

SULFURYL FLUORIDE 

PERSISTS IN 

ATMOSPHERE 

Sulfuryl fluoride has an atmospheric lifetime 

of 30–40 years, roughly 10 times longer 

than previously estimated, according 

to new research. The gas is used primarily 

as a termite fumigant, but the agricultural 

industry is considering it as an alternative 

to methyl bromide, a pest-control 

agent that is being phased out. Although 

its atmospheric concentration is much 

lower than that of CO 2 , SO 2 F 2 traps 4,000 

times more heat than CO 2 does per unit 

mass. The new estimate of longer lived 

atmospheric SO 2 F 2 derives in part from 

laboratory studies by Mads P. Sulbaek 

Andersen at the University of California, 

Irvine, and colleagues, who found that typical 

atmospheric-cleansing reactions with 

hydroxyl radicals, ozone, and chlorine atoms 

cannot efficiently remove SO 2 F 2 from 

air (Environ. Sci. Technol., DOI: 10.1021/ 

es802439f ). In a separate study reporting 

the first atmospheric measurements of 

SO 2 F 2 , Jens Mühle at Scripps Institution 

of Oceanography and colleagues found 

about one-third less SO 2 F 2 than would be 

expected on the basis of industry production 

estimates. They suggest the difference 

may be due to decomposition of the gas 

during fumigation (J. Geophys. Res., DOI: 

10.1029/2008JD011162).—RAP 

CHEMICAL CLUES TO THE 

STRADIVARIUS SOUND 

Scientists have long puzzled over why 

violins and cellos made by the 18thcentury 

masters Antonio Stradivari and 

Joseph Guarneri del Gesù of Cremona, 

Italy, sound so superior to other instruments. 

Ideas abound: It’s the wood; it’s 

the varnish; it’s the glue. Joseph 

Nagyvary, a biochemistry professor 

emeritus at Texas A&M 

University and violin maker, 

has argued for decades that 

chemical treatments used to 

protect the wood from worms 

and fungus are the true source 

of the famed Cremonese sound. 

Now, Nagyvary and Texas 

A&M colleagues Renald 

N. Guillemette and Clifford 

H. Spiegelman have 

new evidence to support 

that argument (PLoS 

One, DOI: 10.1371/journal. 

pone.0004245). The researchers 

used electron 

imaging, X-ray methods, 

and other techniques 

to examine samples 

from four instruments 

made by Stradivari 

and Guarneri, as well as 

A violin made by 

Cremonese master 

Guarneri. 

instruments made during 

the same period in 

other parts of Europe. 

The Cremonese instruments 

“showed the unmistakable 

signs of chemical treatments in 

the form of chemicals which are not present 

in natural woods,” the authors report. 

The chemicals identified include borax, 

BaSO 4 , CaF 2 , and ZrSiO 4 . Untreated, natural 

wood might not be the right material for 

violin makers hoping to duplicate the Cremona 

sound, the authors suggest.—BH 

TERRY BOMAN 



SHUTTERSTOCK 

AUTHENTICATING 

FOOD 

Researchers are developing PEPTIDE NUCLEIC ACIDS 

as a way to detect DNA in food 

SARAH EVERTS, C&EN BERLIN 

OLIVE OIL is serious business in Italy. 

Although people outside the country may 

consider a preference for extra-virgin olive 

oil as evidence of a refined palate, locals 

take things a step further, discussing the 

relative merits of olive cultivars such as 

Canino or Ogliarola, which differ in some 

genes by only a few base pairs. 

Then there’s the financial side of things: 

Because olive oil can sell at a high price, the 

country, and indeed all of Europe, battles 

olive oil fraud. In the late ’90s, adulteration 

of olive oil with hazelnut, soybean, and 

other oil became such an issue that the European 

Union set up an antifraud task force 

to examine the problem. 

To catch adulterant ingredients or to 

authenticate upscale products, one of the 

best strategies is to look for the presence of 

DNA from an unwelcome additive—such 

as hazelnut or a low-quality olive varietal, 

says Stefano Sforza, an organic and food 

chemist at the University of Parma. 

There is a bounty of other reasons that 

scientists such as Sforza want to search for 

DNA in food: These studies can reveal the 

presence of bacterial contaminants and 

allergens, such as nuts or seafood. Or they 

can disclose the use of genetically modified 

organisms (GMOs), the commercial use of 

which is a touchy issue in Europe. 

Increasingly, food scientists are also being 

asked to use genetic sequences to help 

authenticate the geographical provenance 

PRECIOUS PRODUCTS of food, to verify 

Olive oil is in such products with protected 

labels such 

high demand that 

some products are 

fraudulent. 

as Parma ham or 

Champagne, or to 

justify hopes for a 

new label. 

The first step, according to Sforza, is to 

track down unique DNA sequences for the 

plant, animal, or microbe you want to detect. 

The current gold-standard technique 

for detecting these DNA sequences in food 

is to employ the polymerase chain reaction. 

Using PCR, scientists try to amplify sequences 

of suspect DNA in food to discern 

contaminants or substitutions. 

Although PCR is widely used in the food 

industry, the technique is not always perfect. 

“Real-time PCR can quantitate a few 

molecules of DNA in optimal conditions, 

but food is basically anything but optimal,” 

Sforza says. 

Besides the difficulty of dealing with 

tricky, diverse matrices (think tomato 

sauce, chocolate, or biscuits), some constituents 

in food such as polyphenols or 

calcium can inhibit the enzymes required 

for PCR. Also, food processing wreaks havoc 

with the DNA present in food, so the fingerprint 

sequences of suspect ingredients 

can be present in extremely low quality and 

quantity. Because of all these challenges, 

PCR analysis of food can lead to both false 

positives and negatives. 

So Sforza and his Parma coworkers Rosangela 

Marchelli and Roberto Corradini 

decided to apply peptide nucleic acids 

(PNAs)—which are more commonly studied 

for medical applications—for use in the 

food industry. Their hope is to exploit the 

ability of PNAs to hybridize with DNA as an 

additional tool to support and complement 

the results obtained by PCR. 

PNAS ARE HYBRIDS between DNA and 

proteins. Like DNA, PNAs have a primary 

backbone bearing purine and pyrimidine 

bases that can hydrogen bond with complementary 

bases. However, instead of the 

deoxyribose backbone of DNA, PNAs have 

a pseudopeptide backbone. 

The main benefit of PNAs is that they 

bind DNA tighter than DNA can bind itself, 

Sforza explains. This is because neutral or 

positively charged PNAs sidestep the electrostatic 

repulsion between two strands 

of negatively charged DNA. As such, short 

sequences of eight to 12 PNA base pairs 

can more selectively and sensitively bind 

DNA than say, the 15- to 20-base-pair 


O 

+ 

H 2 N 

NH 2 

“primer” sequences required for PCR. 

In particular, the team has found 

that making its PNAs chiral and 

positively charged improves DNA selectivity 

and affinity, which improves 

recognition in difficult matrices 

such as food. To observe the PNA 

and DNA pairs, the Parma team has 

employed a variety of detection techniques, 

such as high-performance 

liquid chromatography, surface plasmon 

resonance, and microarrays, 

in combination with PNAs that fluoresce 

when bound to DNA. 

In proof-of-principle studies using these 

techniques, they’ve been able to detect 

femtomoles of hazelnut DNA in olive oil— 

which corresponds to a 5% hazelnut adulteration. 

They have also been able to detect 

half a dozen GMO genes in maize and soybeans 

and the joint presence of allergenic 

peanut and hazelnut DNA in cereal snacks. 

Although the PNAs can bind suspect 

sequences of DNA in food better than PCR 

primers, PNA-DNA hybrids have provided 

similar levels of signal as PCR in only a few 

applications, Sforza says. 

N 

H 

Base 

N 

O 

HN 

O 

N 

H 

Base 

DNA GRABBER Positively 

charged PNAs, such 

as this arginine-derivatized 

one, bind DNA selectively 

and sensitively. 

Still, the PNA technique seems “like a 

promising tool” to develop for eventual 

quantitative analysis of DNA in food, says 

Josef Schlatter, the head of the Nutritional 

& Toxicological Risks Section at the Swiss 

Federal Office of Public Health. 

The PNA approach is already gaining 

traction in the Italian food industry, Sforza 

says. For example, his team is working on 

the authentication of olive and tomato varietals 

perceived to have singular and exceptional 

flavors. 

According to Reto Battaglia, a chemist 

and food safety consultant based in Gossau, 

Switzerland, some people in Europe 

N 

O 

O 

H 2 N 

N 

H 

HN 

Base 

+ 

NH 2 

N 

get “wild and crazy” about authentication 

for their local products. 

Take tomatoes, he says. Some Italian 

varietals, such as San Marzano, sell 

at higher prices, even in their canned 

form, because the tomatoes are 

thought to have an appealing bittersweet 

taste. 

Although production of appealing 

tastes and aromas is sometimes 

more influenced by the weather during 

a particular growing season than 

slight genetic differences among closely 

related varieties, people want a way to “upgrade 

a tomato” if they can, Battaglia says. 

Sforza agrees that “DNA is only part of 

the story” and that genetic markers used to 

identify a food’s geographical origin, and 

therefore its authenticity, may not relate 

to flavor molecules produced during the 

growing season. But, he says, “I feel my 

work is to provide the consumer with tools 

that give confidence that products labeled 

as San Marzano-varietal tomatoes are in 

fact San Marzano, or that Canino-varietal 

olive oil is in fact Canino. Consumers can 

decide whether they like the taste.” ■ 

O 

13th Annual Green Chemistry 

& Engineering Conference 

JUNE 23–25, 2009 Q COLLEGE PARK, MD 

Sustainability is a complex economic, environmental, 

and social challenge. 

This year’s 13th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference will highlight progress being 

made in response to the 2006 National Academy of Sciences report, “Sustainability in the Chemical 

Industry: Grand Challenges and Research Needs.” 

Moving towards sustainability within the chemical enterprise will require: 

Q Strategic connections between scientific research, technological development, and society; 

Q Creative design of products, processes, systems, and organizations; and 

Q Implementation of smart management strategies that effectively harness technology and 

ideas to avoid environmental problems before they arise. 

These issues and others will be discussed at the 13th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering 

Conference, June 23–25, 2009. 

Abstract submission is only open until February 13. 

Visit www.GCandE.org for more information on tracks and 

how to submit. Be sure to get your submission in right away. 

Registration and housing are also open. 

www.GCandE.org 



digital briefs 

NEW SOFTWARE AND WEBSITES FOR THE CHEMICAL ENTERPRISE 

SOFTWARE 

Advanced Chemistry Development 

Labs (ACD/Labs) 

launched a new data-handling 

desktop product for 

NMR spectroscopists 

in mid- 

January: ACD/ 

NMR Workbook 

with NMRSync 

technology. After 

data importation, 

the software can 

automatically 

process 

and 

align the user’s one-dimensional 

and 2-D nuclear magnetic 

resonance spectra for a set of 

several experiments from a 

single sample. The NMRSync 

technology then makes it possible 

to synchronize peak picking 

and structure assignments 

throughout the entire dataset, 

thereby increasing the speed 

and efficiency of the overall 

process. For instance, when the 

user assigns a spectral multiplet 

in a 1-D proton spectrum, the 

software immediately assigns 

all other relevant peaks and 

correlations to atoms in the 

chemical sample’s structure. In 

addition to improving spectral 

interpretation efficiency, ACD/ 

NMR Workbook allows storage 

of all raw experimental spectra 

with their chemical structures, 

assignments, data tables, and 

other associated data. This 

database is then searchable by 

text, structure, substructure, and 

spectrum. ACD/Labs, www. 

acdlabs.com/nmrworkbook 

WEBSITES 

Chemical Abstracts Service 

(CAS), a division of the 

American Chemical Society, 

SHUTTERSTOCK/C&EN 

started 2009 with a bang by 

releasing the largest collection 

of predicted proton NMR 

spectra worldwide. Scientists 

can use the 23.8 million NMR 

spectra to identify and validate 

synthetic target molecules and 

can access the database via 

SciFinder, CAS’s Web-based 

research and discovery tool. 

The new spectra supplement 

the 2.1 billion predicted and 

experimental properties and 

data tags already available in 

OPEN-ACCESS CHEMISTRY 

DICTIONARY AVAILABLE 

Chemists, chemistry students, and science writers, rejoice! The 

free Chemistry Dictionary for Word Processors v2.0 is now available 

for download at www.chemistry-blog.com/dictionary. In early 

2008, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, graduate student 

Adam Azman got tired of his word-processing program erro neously 

underlining “misspelled” chemical names and terms in his documents. 

He didn’t want his “prolines” converted to “pralines,” and 

he didn’t want to overlook chemical names that were actually misspelled 

while speeding through 

the time-consuming spell-check 

process. So, Azman took matters 

into his own hands and created 

a custom chemistry dictionary 

containing some 18,000 words. 

The new and improved version 

2, released at the end of 2008, 

now holds approximately 

104,000 chemicals and 

chemistry terms—thanks to 

a lot of tedious work and a 

collaboration with Antony 

Williams, host of the open-access 

chemistry search engine 

and database ChemSpider. 

Azman’s custom dictionary, 

which does not overwrite other 

user-derived dictionaries, is compatible with both Microsoft Office 

and Open Office. Instructions for installing or upgrading the dictionary 

accompany the new version’s downloadable file. In response 

to Azman’s post announcing version 2 of the dictionary on “The 

Chemistry Blog,” one blogger wrote, “Awesome! My thesis and I 

thank you very, very much.” www.chemistry-blog.com/dictionary 


SciFinder (scifinder.cas.org). 

This collection of spectra was 

put together through an agreement 

with software company 

ACD/Labs. CAS, www.cas.org 

ChemTube3D is a free website 

that provides interactive 3-D 

animations of important organic 

chemistry reactions, such as 

Diels-Alder (shown) and S N 2 

substitution reactions, for students 

needing visualization and 

teachers needing educational 

tools. The site, created by a 

team of researchers at the University 

of Liverpool, in England, 

currently offers approximately 

100 different animated reaction 

sequences with supporting 

information on reactivity 

and spectroscopy, as well as 

30 interactive pages devoted 

to topics such as atomic and 

molecular orbitals, electrostatic 

surfaces, and vibrations. Users 

can control which part of the 

reaction they would like to see 

in 3-D—from bond-breaking 

events to transition states—and 

view it from any angle, thanks 

to the open-source viewer Jmol 

that ChemTube3D employs. 

The site also features a new 

section on solid-state crystalline 

structures, with options to 

display unit cells, coordination 

polyhedra, and entire lattices. 

University of Liverpool, www. 

chemtube3d.com 

LAUREN K. WOLF writes Digital 

Briefs. Information about new or 

revised electronic products can be 

sent to d-briefs@acs.org.

BOOKS 

MURDEROUS 

MOLECULES 

Accounts of TRUE CRIMES in which victims 

were polished off by poison 

REVIEWED BY CHARLES S. TUMOSA 

THROUGHOUT THE 19TH and 20th centuries, 

the British liked a subtlety in their 

murders, real and fictional, and this book 

in 10 chapters chronicles the tradition of 

the quiet pursuit of murder by poisoning. 

“Molecules of Murder: Criminal Molecules 

and Classic Cases” follows some interesting 

poisons from antiquity to the very recent, 

recounting some well-known crimes 

and introducing some others not so wellknown. 

The author, 

John Emsley, is a 

Ph.D. inorganic 

chemist who has 

spent the past few 

years as a freelance 

science writer. His 

2005 book, “Elements 

of Murder,” 

introduced readers 

to the poisons arsenic, 

antimony, lead, 

mercury, thallium, 

and so on. Now he has continued the story 

to include other deadly molecules and 

some of the more complex organic poisons, 

such as adrenaline and paraquat. 

Emsley’s new book is divided into 

two sections of five chapters each. Part 

I, “Some of Nature’s Deadly Chemicals: 

From Medicine to Murder,” chronicles the 

murderous use of ricin, hyoscine (scopolamine), 

atropine, diamorphine (heroin), 

and adrenalin. Part II, “Dangerous manmade 

Chemicals: So Simple, So Useful, 

So Deadly,” introduces the reader to toxic 

chloroform, carbon monoxide, cyanide, 

paraquat, and polonium. 

The format of the chapters is straightforward. 

A history of the poison and a brief 

description of its physiological effects 

are followed by a collection of anecdotes 

involving the material. Many of the stories 

have been told previously, but the emphasis 

on chemistry makes them well worth 

retelling. Plenty of trivia and unusual facts 

throughout the book should please the 

most jaded “Jeopardy” fan. Many of these 

cases resulted in the development of a 

more sophisticated forensic chemistry. 

One well-known case recounted in the 

book is the 1978 murder of a Bulgarian dissident, 

Georgi Markov, in London. Markov 

was walking along when he felt a sharp 

pain in his leg. He turned around to find a 

man with a folded umbrella. The umbrella 

was actually a weapon that fired a small 

pellet into his leg. The pellet contained the 

extremely toxic ricin 

MOLECULES 

OF MURDER: 

Criminal 

Molecules and 

Classic Cases, by 

John Emsley, RSC 

Publishing, 2008, 

276 pages, $24.95 

hardcover (ISBN: 

978-0-85404- 

965-3) 

extracted from castor 

beans. Markov 

died four days later. 

Another Bulgarian, 

Vladimir Kostov, 

was shot in a similar 

manner in Paris but 

managed to survive 

the assassination attempt. 

Emsley details 

how the materials 

used in the assassinations 

were eventually traced to the Bulgarian 

secret police who were trained in their 

use by the now-defunct intelligence service 

of the former Soviet Union, the KGB. Most 

of the information on the assassinations 

was destroyed when the communist government 

fell in Bulgaria. Ricin has been in the 

recent news as a possible terrorist weapon. 

Because ricin poisoning can mimic certain 

diseases, techniques for its identification 

in humans are now available. Vaccines 

to prevent symptoms of poisoning are also 

now available. 

Toxins from plants have always been a 

source of poisons because they are beneficial 

in one dose and deadly in another. 

Emsley describes two such alkaloids, hyoscine 

and atropine. 


In yet another oft-told tale, the book recounts 

the 1910 murder in England of Belle 

Elmore, better known as the wife of the 

notorious Dr. Crippen. Mrs. Crippen was 

a minor but popular singer in Edwardian 

London. Dr. Crippen was, by most standards, 

a con artist with problems on both 

sides of the Atlantic. As many stories of 

the infamous crime tell, Mrs. Crippen had 

the money and Dr. Crippen had a mistress, 

ensuring that their marriage would come to 

an unpleasant end. 

The murder happened when, after a 

small party, Dr. Crippen, who had earlier 

purchased hyoscine or scopolamine from 

a pharmacist, apparently gave his wife a 

drink containing it. Instead of dying neatly, 

she must have required a coup de grace 

that made the body impossible to pass off 

as a natural death. Crippen disposed of the 

body by removing the flesh, treating it with 

quicklime and burying it in the basement of 

his house. 

After the murder was discovered and the 

body located, Crippen and his mistress— 

interestingly disguised as father and 

son—boarded a ship for Canada. The ship’s 

captain recognized Crippen and radioed the 

authorities in London, something unusual 

in 1910. A faster ship with a pursuing detective 

chased Crippen to Canada and he was 

arrested there. At his trial, he was convicted 

of murder, and he was subsequently hanged. 

The trial involved the well-known pathologist 

Sir Bernard Spilsbury (who appears 

again later in the book). This case strained 

the limits of the known sciences of the time, 

including an identification of the victim 

from soft tissue (a recently questioned 

identification), the chemist’s identification 

of the poison, and the use of the new “wireless” 

for communication to alert the police. 

Atropine appears in another case of marital 

discord that is chronicled in the book. 

In 1994, a biologist, Paul Agutter, decided 

to kill his wife with atropine put into a bottle 

of tonic water. To throw off suspicion, 

he poisoned several bottles of tonic water 

at a local store. As his wife became ill and 

collapsed, he called the local doctor and 

left a message on his machine. The message, 

however, was picked up by another 

doctor who dispatched an ambulance im- 

Many of these cases resulted 

in the development of a more 

sophisticated forensic chemistry.

NEWSCOM 

mediately. The technicians recognized the 

seriousness of the situation and collected 

the tonic bottle and drink for analysis. The 

wife survived the attempt. Agutter was arrested, 

convicted, and served prison time. 

After parole, he went to work for the University 

of Manchester, in England, where 

he taught philosophy and medical ethics. 

Chloroform is well-known as an anesthetic 

but rarely thought of as a poison. 

The history of chloroform is recounted in 

the book in some detail. The general consensus 

in the 19th century was that using 

chloroform was a safe way of limiting pain 

in operations and childbirth. The margin of 

safety for anesthetic use was rather small, 

however, and thousands of people died during 

surgery. Chronic recreational inhalation 

can also lead to liver damage. The 2005 murder 

of a child by inhalation of chloroform is 

recounted in the book and the direct ingestion 

of toxic amounts of chloroform in two 

Victorian-era murder cases is described. 

Carbon monoxide, a gas that can kill at 

low concentrations (~0.1%), quite often 

accidentally, is covered in one chapter of 

the book. Emsley explains that intentional 

use of CO to commit suicide is common, 

but occasionally it has been used to commit 

murder. Accidental death from carbon monoxide 

kills about 250 people a year in the 

U.S., he writes, and thousands of people who 

have accidentally breathed it require treatment. 

About 1,000 people a year kill themselves 

with CO, usually from running cars in 

a closed garage, according to the author. 

Carbon monoxide at low levels in the 

human body can produce hallucinations. 

Em sley speculates in the book that carbon 

monoxide that leaked from the town gas 

lines used to illuminate Victorian-era homes 

was responsible for the many supernatural 

BOOKS 

sightings and hauntings 

reported in that time 

period. The CO suicides 

of Sir Bernard Spilsbury, 

the noted pathologist, 

and writer Sylvia Plath 

are recounted in this 

ALEXANDER 

LITVINENKO 

The high-profile 

Russian defector 

was felled by 

polonium-210. 

chapter. The chapter concludes with the 

story of Adair Garcia’s 2002 murder in California 

of five of his children using a charcoal 

grill to produce carbon monoxide. 

The use of cyanide as a poison could 

fill several books, let alone a chapter, but 

Emsley provides enough detail in his book 

to satisfy the not too bloodthirsty. The 1982 

Chicago Tylenol murders in particular are 

covered. These murders resulted in major 

changes to the packaging of over-the-counter 

pharmaceuticals and a new forensic discipline 

to test for product tampering. 

Continuing with a Russian theme, the 

book recounts the 1916 complex murder 

of the mad monk Grigory Rasputin by 

royalists concerned with his influence on 

the royal family. He was first poisoned 

with cyanide, then shot, and eventually 

drowned. Was the dose too low to be fatal 

or did the presence of sugars limit the effectiveness 

of the cyanide? Emsley asks 

this in the book. 

A final Russian story, the 2006 assassination 

of Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian 

émigré and writer, by polonium-210, 

rounds out the history of poisonings the 

book details. Litvinenko was a former 

member of the KGB and the Russian Federation 

successor, the Federal Security Service 

(FSB). His writings reveal that members 

of the FSB were involved in illegal 

activities, and he was regarded by them as 

a traitor. He became very ill after meeting 

in London with several Russian surrogate 

agents. After a number of wrong diagnoses, 

Litvinenko eventually was found to be suffering 

from poisoning by the radioactive 

isotope, a material almost certainly produced 

in the former Soviet Union. A radioactive 

trail was found throughout London 

and led back to Moscow. With no arrests 

and stonewalling by the current Russian 

government, this story has yet to reach a 

satisfactory ending. 

Further chapters in Emsley’s book 

describe murders with heroin, adrenalin, 

and paraquat. The science of toxicology, 

the synthetic genius of chemists, and the 

perverse nature of people probably could 

make for many more books. 

This book is clearly written and much 

easier to digest than the compounds it 

describes. It also includes a glossary to 

help readers understand unfamiliar terms 

and the differences between U.K. and 

U.S. English. A bibliography also helps the 

reader pursue the history of other crimes 

and molecules. Emsley has written a book 

that satisfies the true-crime reader as well 

as the science-oriented specialist. I’m sure 

Gil Grissom, former head of the forensics 

investigation team in the TV show “CSI,” 

would have a copy on his shelf. 

CHARLES S. TUMOSA is a chemist who retired 

from the Smithsonian Institution in 2006 

and teaches part-time in the University of 

Baltimore’s Forensic Studies Program. 

NEW & NOTEWORTHY 

CHAINS OF OPPORTUNITY: The 

University of Akron and the Emergence 

of the Polymer Age, 1909- 

2007, by Mark D. Bowles, University of 

Akron Press, 2008, 357 pages, $45.95 

hardback (ISBN: 978-1-931968-53-9) 

Explores the University of Akron’s 

pioneering contributions to rubber 

chemistry, polymer science, and polymer 

engineering. The author traces the 

school’s interaction with Akron rubber 

giants such as Goodyear and Firestone, 

recounts its administration of the 

federal government’s synthetic rubber 

program during World War II, and describes 

its role in the development and 

professionalization of the academic discipline 

in polymers that have become 

a pervasive part of our material lives, in 

everything from toys to biotechnology. 


ACS COMMENT 

A Challenge To ACS Members: Reach 

Out To American Indian Scientists 

THOMAS H. LANE, ACS PRESIDENT 

WE IN ACS often talk about the value of 

diversity and the importance of accepting 

all those who seek us out. However, when 

you are the 800-pound gorilla in the room, 

your sheer size can be a deterrent to initiating 

and building a relationship. For this 

very reason, we as ACS members should 

make personal connections. We must be 

the first to extend a hand in friendship, 

with an open mind and a sincere willingness 

to learn. 

This past October, I had the incredible 

opportunity to participate in the 30th 

National Meeting of the American Indian 

Science & Engineering Society (AISES). 

This event, which took place in Anaheim, 

Calif., had more than 1,800 conference attendees. 

ACS was there to extend its hand 

in friendship and professional respect 

at this special anniversary event. ACS 

acknowledged the tremendous value that 

AISES has provided for American Indians 

and Alaskan Natives for the past three 

decades. 

I spoke with the elders, staff, and students 

of AISES. I listened and learned 

about the achievements, dreams, and 

hopes of a brilliant group of students who 

want to improve people’s lives, but who 

know little of the transforming powers of 

chemistry. In my conversations, I realized 

that our discipline is neither understood 

nor trusted. Most of the attendees with 

whom I spoke respect Earth and too often 

see chemistry and chemicals as an assault 

on their way of life. It is up to us as 

chemists to demonstrate how chemistry 

is essential in saving lives and improving 

Earth. 

In addition to a booth at the exposition, 

ACS also had a workshop where Mary 

Kirchhoff, director of the ACS Education 

Division, addressed a packed room 

on green chemistry. The audience was 

engaged, interested, and clearly wanted 

to learn. It was also clear that chemistry 

and chemicals were on their concerned 

minds. The questions were plentiful and 

ranged from nanotube safety to our position 

on the environment. Each question 

was asked forthrightly with 

a clear interest in learning 

science. 

After the session, I met 

with a young Native American 

chemist. (You may not 

be aware, but ACS, with 

more than 160,000 members, 

has only 271 members 

who are self-identified as 

Native Americans.) Her 

question was single in focus 

and direct: “What does ACS 

do for me as a Native American?” 

Unfortunately, I had 

to answer, “Very little.” 

Then we spoke of why I 

elect to maintain my membership 

in the society. It is 

not for the “210 member 

benefits” or access to journals; 

rather, the society is 

the vehicle through which 

I can give back to my discipline. 

This young chemist 

was passionate about her 

science and the need to 

reach the children of her 

reservation and to provide 

them with life-changing 

experiences. Our conversation 

ended with her 

renewed interest in the society and the 

hope that her local section was a potential 

resource for her passion: helping children 

learn about the transforming power of 

chemistry. 

We ACS members must accept the responsibility 

to extend our hand, in friendship, 

first. Reaching out to all—listening, 

We ACS members 

must accept the 

responsibility to 

extend our hand, 

in friendship, first. 

Reaching out to 

all—listening, 

learning, 

and building 

relationships with 

those who may 

need our help. 

learning, and building relationships with 

those who may need our help. Relationships 

are predicated on trust, respect, 

and acceptance. We must first gather and 

understand the needs of our friends and 

communities. Only then 

can we all begin to work together 

to create value. 

Achieving diversity is 

not a passive activity. I 

would like to challenge all 

of our 189 local sections 

PETER CUTTS PHOTOGRAPHY 

to reach out to a tribal college 

or reservation school 

in your area and to build a 

new relationship. Bring the 

wonders of our science to a 

community of people who 

are bright, engaging, and 

caring. I need your help. I 

plan to continue to build 

the society’s relationship 

with AISES during my 

term in the presidential 

succession. I was honored 

when one of the elders 

added me to the “family” 

and invited our continued 

participation. 

The ACS Department 

of Diversity Programs 

(DDP) is a good resource 

for building collaborations 

with AISES and other minority 

advocacy science 

organizations. DDP engages 

diverse individuals in 

the chemical sciences through networking 

opportunities, leadership development, 

and recognition programs. 

DDP is available to assist members 

with the challenge I set forth today. If you 

would like more information on DDP and 

the programs they offer, please visit www. 

acs.org/diversity. 


AWARDS 

2009 ACS NATIONAL 

AWARD WINNERS 

Recipients are HONORED FOR CONTRIBUTIONS 

of major significance to chemistry 

FOLLOWING is the fourth set of vignettes 

of recipients of awards administered 

by the American Chemical Society for 

2009. C&EN will publish the vignettes of 

the remaining recipients in subsequent 

February issues. A profile of M. Frederick 

Hawthorne, the 2009 Priestley Medalist, is 

scheduled to appear in the March 23 issue 

of C&EN, along with his award address. 

Most of the award recipients will be 

honored at an awards ceremony that will 

be held on Tuesday, March 24, in conjunction 

with the 237th ACS national meeting 

in Salt Lake City. However, the Arthur C. 

Cope Scholar awardees will be honored at 

the 238th ACS national meeting in Washington, 

D.C., Aug. 16–20. 

ACS AWARD IN 

ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY 

Sponsored by Battelle Memorial Institute 

Peter W. Carr, professor of chemistry at the 

University of Minnesota, has made a big impact 

on the field of chromatography, but he 

didn’t start out heading in that direction. 

“I consider myself an analytical chemist 

first and a separation scientist second,” he 

says. 

Although people now consider him a 

chromatographer, he began his career as 

an electrochemist. “I didn’t 

have any papers in separations 

until I came to” Minnesota, 

he says. 

Prior to joining the 

faculty at Minnesota, Carr 

spent eight years at the 

University of Georgia. He 

learned about separations 

by teaching the graduate 

course in the subject at 

Georgia. “Teaching it really 

made me see the power of 

separations, and it became 

attractive to me,” he says. 

When he moved to the Carr 

University of Minnesota, he reexamined 

his research program and gradually moved 

into chromatography. 

He’s been leaving his mark on the field 

ever since. “Carr has made seminal, fundamental, 

and pragmatic contributions 

to improve analytical chemistry involving 

separations,” says Stephen G. Weber, a 

chemistry professor at the University of 

Pittsburgh. Weber especially points to 

Carr’s contributions to the development 

of stable reversed-phase packing materials 

and to the understanding of the chemistry 

of reversed phases. 

Especially notable is the development, 

starting in the late 1980s, of zirconia packing 

materials for liquid chromatography 

columns. 

“I was interested in biological separations 

and hooked up with some people here at the 

university involved in large-scale protein 

purifications,” Carr says. “They wanted to 

be able to use a column, sterilize it, and reuse 

it, but the sterilization conditions were 

exceedingly harsh. You could see how they 

would cause tremendous deterioration of 

silica-based phases.” He asked his contacts 

at 3M, which sells various products based on 

the tough ceramic material zirconia, if they 

could make porous zirconia as an LC packing 

material. They could, and they did. 

Since then, Carr has moved on to other 

areas such as developing tandem thermally 

tuned chromatography. In 

this technique, two columns 

with different stationary 

phases are placed in series 

and individually thermostatted. 

“By thermally tuning 

the pair of columns,” 

Weber says, “subtle retention 

changes can be made 

that result in achieving difficult 

separations without 

the time-consuming efforts 

involved in mobile phase 

optimization.” 

Carr is pushing this 

concept even further as he 

COURTESY OF PETER CARR 

develops fast two-dimensional liquid chromatography. 

He performs separations in 30 

minutes that would take hours under standard 

conditions. “The multidimensionality 

is a way to enhance resolving power but not 

take a super-duper longer time to do it,” he 

says. 

Carr, 64, received a B.S. in chemistry 

from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn 

(now Polytechnic Institute of New York 

University) in 1965. He undertook his 

graduate studies in chemistry at Pennsylvania 

State University, earning a Ph.D. in 

1969. He did postdoctoral work at Stanford 

University School of Medicine. 

In 1969, he joined the faculty at the University 

of Georgia as an assistant professor. 

He was promoted to associate professor in 

1975. Since 1977, he has been a chemistry 

professor at the University of Minnesota. 

Among Carr’s honors are the Benedetti- 

Pichler Award, which he received in 1990 

from the American Microchemical Society; 

the Eastern Analytical Symposium Award 

in Analytical Chemistry in 1993; and the 

ACS Award in Chromatography in 1996. 

Carr will deliver the award address before 

the Division of Analytical Chemistry.— 

CELIA ARNAUD 

ACS AWARD FOR 

AFFORDABLE GREEN 

CHEMISTRY 

Sponsored by an endowment established by 

Rohm and Haas 

When Geoffrey W. Coates embarked on 

his undergraduate studies at Wabash College, 

in Crawfordsville, Ind., he received 

an offer he couldn’t refuse: If he majored 

in chemistry, he could attend college for 

free. Coates had received the highest 

score on a qualifying exam for a chemistry 

scholarship. The only problem was, as he 

remembers, “I wasn’t that interested in 

chemistry.” In fact, what he really thought 

he wanted was a career in architecture. 

Coates blames his excellent high school 

chemistry teacher, Marie Hankins, for the 

predicament. But it all worked out. In the 

end, he took the scholarship, and in his 

second year he decided he liked chemistry 

enough not to change his major. 

In graduate school at Stanford University, 

where he received a Ph.D. in 1994, and 

as a postdoctoral researcher at California 

Institute of Technology, Coates researched 

olefin polymerization. When he became an 


assistant professor of chemistry at Cornell 

University in 1997, he was able to strike out 

on his own in areas that interested him— 

environmentally friendly ingredients, 

renewable feedstocks, and polymers that 

would biodegrade. 

At first there was not a lot of other interest 

in the field, according to Coates. The 

industry sponsors of a young faculty award 

suggested that if he stuck 

with polyolefins he would 

have better chances. But 

this time he followed his 

own interests. Inspired by 

two pioneers, Donald J. 

Darensbourg of Texas A&M 

University and Malcolm H. 

Chisholm of Ohio State University, 

Coates began to look 

for new catalysts to make 

biodegradable polymers. 

Now, 20 years after 

deciding to stick with 

Coates 

chemistry, Coates, 42, 

“has emerged as one of the 

world’s most creative synthetic 

polymer chemists by designing and 

synthesizing new organometallic catalysts 

for providing viable processes for the preparation 

of ‘green’ polymers from sustainable 

raw materials,” according to S. Richard 

Turner of Virginia Polytechnic Institute. 

Plastics makers looking for nonpetroleum 

feedstocks and biodegradable polymers 

are experimenting with and commercializing 

three important types of polymers: 

aliphatic polycarbonates (APCs), polylactic 

acid (PLA), and poly(β-hydroxyalkanoates) 

(PHAs). Coates’s research has led him to 

develop novel catalysts that make them less 

expensive to manufacture. 

Biodegradable APCs can be made into optically 

clear films for food storage and other 

protective packaging or incorporated into 

polyurethane foams. At high tempertures, 

the polymers degrade and sublime without 

leaving a residue, making them useful for 

nanofluidics and electronics production. 

Coates describes zinc- and cobalt-based catalysts 

for epoxide-carbon dioxide polymerizations, 

which lead to APCs that are nearly 

100-fold more active than earlier catalysts. 

Consumers who are familiar with the 

current generation of biodegradable plastic 

utensils have some familiarity with PLA, 

first introduced by Cargill-Dow in the late 

1990s. Coates’s development of stereoselective 

catalysis routes to new microstructures 

holds promise for the next generation of 

biodegradable PLA. His isotactic stereoblock 

microstructure is highly microcrystalline; 

has higher thermal stability than current 

versions; and may find use in carpeting, 

textile fibers, and automotive applications. 

PHAs, polyesters widely found in 

bacteria as a source of stored carbon and 

energy, hold promise as biodegradable 

substitutes for petroleum-based polypropylene. 

Currently, PHAs are made through 

fermentation. Coates has a 

potentially cheaper way—a 

bimetallic catalyst that uses 

commodity feedstocks. 

In 2004, Coates, along 

with Scott D. Allen and 

Tony Eisenhut, founded Novomer 

to commercialize his 

discoveries. The company’s 

first product is a grade of 

polypropylene carbonate 

called NB-180, a polymer 

binder that sublimates at a 

relatively low temperature 

for use in photolithography. 

Coates continues to 

do research and teach at 

Cornell, where he is the Tisch University 

Professor. In 2001, he was awarded an ACS 

Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award. He has also 

been named the 2009 winner of the ACS 

Polymer Division’s Carl S. Marvel Award 

for outstanding contributions as a polymer 

scientist under the age of 45. 

Coates will present the award address before 

the Division of Organic Chemistry.— 

MELODY VOITH 

COURTESY OF GEOFFREY COATES 

ACS AWARD FOR 

COMPUTERS IN CHEMICAL 

& PHARMACEUTICAL 

RESEARCH 

Sponsored by Schrödinger 

Mark S. Gordon, the Frances M. Craig Distinguished 

Professor of Chemistry at Iowa 

State University (ISU), earns this award for 

his advancement and use of rigorous quantum 

computational methods to determine 

chemical structures and reaction mechanisms 

of major relevance. 

“Gordon has provided theoretical elucidations 

of many problems in many areas 

of chemistry and has been sought out as a 

collaborator by experimentalists, as well 

as theorists,” says Klaus Ruedenberg, a 

distinguished emeritus chemistry professor 

at ISU. “Much of his work has focused 

on reaction mechanisms and is based on 

explorations of reaction paths on potential 

energy surfaces.” 

A world leader in computational silicon 

chemistry, Gordon recently “has focused 

on the influence of solvation on reactions 

and on catalytic effects of surfaces on 

reactions,” Ruedenberg says. Gordon has 

authored more than 450 scientific papers, 

often with others but occasionally by himself. 

He is among the 100 chemists most 

cited between 1981 and 2000. 

The GAMESS program (General Atomic 

& Molecular Electronic Structure System) 

is a computational chemistry software 

suite that is widely used in chemistry, materials 

science, biochemistry, and biology. 

Gordon oversaw its initial development in 

the 1980s and made its code available to the 

public for free. His research group at ISU 

has been maintaining and updating it for 

the past three decades. 

“The GAMESS electronic structure 

package now serves as the chief example of 

academic code development and sharing 

in the academic community,” says Donald 

G. Truhlar, Regents Professor of chemistry, 

chemical physics, nanoparticle science and 

engineering and scientific computation at 

the University of Minnesota. 

Gordon is a ubiquitous contributor to 

the field of computational chemistry. “A 

little-known fact is that he invented the Z 

matrix, perhaps the most widely used convention 

[worldwide] for translating molecular 

structure from a model to a computer 

program,” Truhlar notes. 

Gordon has also led efforts to make parallel 

computing in quantum chemistry a reality. 

“Mark and his group have made notable 

contributions to the development of parallel 

algorithms for quantum chemistry, which 

are now proving to be of greater and greater 

importance with the spread of parallel computers 

onto everyone’s desktop,” says Martin 

Head-Gordon, a professor of chemistry 

at the University of California, Berkeley. 

Born in 1942 in New York City, where he 

also grew up, Mark Gordon obtained a Ph.D. 

in chemistry in 1967 at Carnegie Institute 

of Technology under the guidance of 1998 

chemistry Nobel Laureate John A. Pople. After 

a stint as a postdoc, he joined the faculty 

of North Dakota State University in 1970. In 

1992, he moved to ISU, where, in addition 

to his professorship, he is also director of 

the Applied Mathematics & Computational 

Sciences Division of Ames Laboratory, a 

national lab that is part of the Department of 

Energy and that’s located on the ISU campus. 

Among the many positions he has held, 


AWARDS 

Gordon chaired the chemistry 

department at North 

Dakota State University 

from 1981 to 1999 and was 

associate chair of chemistry 

at ISU from 1999 to 

2004. For ACS, he was the 

vice chair-elect, vice chair, 

chair-elect, and chair of 

the Theoretical Chemistry 

Subdivision of the Division 

of Physical Chemistry from 

1993 to 1997. He contributed 

to scientific publishing as 

a member of the advisory Gordon 

board of the Journal of Physical 

Chemistry from 1995 to 2000 and from 

2006 to present. He has also served for 

several years on the advisory boards for Organometallics, 

THEOCHEM, and Theoretical 

Chemistry Accounts. 

Gordon will present the award address 

before the Division of Computers in 

Chemistry in a session cosponsored with 

the Division of Physical Chemistry.—JEAN- 

FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY 

ACS AWARD FOR 

CREATIVE INVENTION 

Sponsored by Corporation Associates 

The olefin metathesis catalysts invented by 

Robert H. Grubbs have had a far-reaching 

impact on the field of synthetic organic 

chemistry, easing the production of pharmaceuticals, 

materials, and fine chemicals. 

“His investigations have had unparalleled 

impact on the development of 

well-defined complexes that function as 

catalysts for organic synthesis,” says David 

W. C. MacMillan, a professor of chemistry 

at Princeton University and the director of 

the school’s Merck Center for Catalysis. 

Based on ruthenium alkylidenes, 

Grubbs’s olefin metathesis catalyst systems 

exhibit unprecedented tolerance 

toward a vast array of functional groups. 

The catalysts are now employed on a global 

scale for ring-closing metathesis, ringopening 

metathesis, and cross-olefin metathesis. 

The swaths of molecules they are 

used to produce include hepatitis C drugs, 

pheromones for pesticide applications, and 

robust polymers for agricultural and deepsea 

applications. 

Grubbs, 66, was born in a rural town in 

Kentucky. He attended the University of 

Florida as an undergraduate, earning a B.S. 

COURTESY OF MARK GORDON 

in chemistry in 1963. Two 

years later, he earned his 

master’s degree also from 

the University of Florida, 

under the guidance of Merle 

A. Battiste, a research director 

who steered Grubbs away 

from agricultural chemistry 

and toward organic chemistry. 

An added incentive, 

Grubbs explained in 2005, 

was that he “found that 

organic chemicals smelled 

much better than steer feces 

and that there was great joy 

in making new molecules.” 

In 1968, Grubbs earned a Ph.D. in chemistry 

from Columbia University. Over the 

next year, he completed a National Institutes 

of Health postdoctoral fellowship at 

Stanford University. He began his independent 

academic career in what he recalls was 

a very supportive environment at Michigan 

State University before accepting an offer 

to join the chemistry department at 

California Institute of Technology in 1978. 

He has remained at Caltech ever since, currently 

holding rank as the Victor & Elizabeth 

Atkins Professor of Chemistry. 

In 1980, Grubbs isolated and characterized 

the first metallacyclobutane complex 

capable of catalyzing the olefin metathesis 

reaction. An important outcome of this work 

was the discovery of a new class of polymerization 

catalysts for producing living polymerizations 

with metallacyclic end groups. 

Grubbs, along with coworker Gregory C. 

Fu, revealed in 1992 that ring-closing metathesis 

is an efficient, selective, and general 

method of intramolecular ring closure. 

That same year, Grubbs introduced his first 

ruthenium catalyst for olefin metathesis. 

Four years later, he introduced a ruthenium 

catalyst with better activity and substrate 

tolerance. That catalyst, 

(PCy 3 ) 2 Cl 2 RuCHC 6 H 5 

(Cy = cyclohexyl), is now 

widely known as the Grubbs 

catalyst. In 1999, Grubbs 

introduced the so-called 

second-generation Grubbs 

catalyst, which boasts even 

better activity and an N-heterocyclic 

ligand in place of 

one of the Grubbs catalyst’s 

tricyclohexylphosphines. 

“Nothing advances 

chemistry, and thereby 

the many practical fields 

dependent on it, more than 

Grubbs 

the discovery of useful and completely unprecedented 

reactivity,” a colleague says. “I 

sense that, thanks to the discoveries in the 

Grubbs group, we are now living through 

one of those rare moments in chemical 

history.” 

Over the past three decades, the accolades 

have piled up for this husband 

and father of three. They include the 2005 

Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the 2002 Arthur 

C. Cope Award, and the 2003 ACS Award 

for Creative Research in Homogenous or 

Heterogeneous Catalysis. Such recognition 

has landed Grubbs appointments to 

more than 40 committees and advisory 

boards since 1981, many of which he currently 

still holds. 

With literally hundreds of research 

groups and companies around the world 

using Grubbs’s catalysts and students and 

researchers alike clamoring to work in his 

lab, Grubbs has more than earned this latest 

honor. 

Grubbs will present the award address 

before the Division of Organic 

Chemistry.—NOAH SHUSSETT 

F. ALBERT COTTON 

AWARD IN SYNTHETIC 

INORGANIC CHEMISTRY 

Sponsored by the F. Albert Cotton Endowment 

Fund 

Copper-molecular oxygen complexes 

serve as important synthetic models of 

enzymes that bind and activate O 2 and are 

involved in many oxidative environmental 

and physiological chemical processes. Kenneth 

D. Karlin, the Ira Remsen Professor of 

Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University, is 

being honored for his creative use of ligand 

design and low-temperature solution techniques 

to synthesize these 

elusive molecules. 

Karlin’s pioneering efforts 

“have led to the invention 

of the whole subfield of 

copper-dioxygen synthetic 

chemistry with bioinorganic 

relevance,” Stanford University 

chemistry professor 

Edward I. Solomon says. 

“The work is most impressive, 

carefully executed, and 

thoroughly characterized, 

attesting to Karlin’s synthetic 

chemistry prowess.” 

His “most striking” 

COURTESY OF ROBERT GRUBBS 


achievement, Solomon notes, is the 1988 

synthesis and X-ray structure determination 

of the first dicopper-O 2 complex, a species 

that contains a Cu–O 2 –Cu bridge. Karlin 

also discovered that the complex’s precursor 

reversibly binds both O 2 and CO, a 

result with broad implications for inorganic 

and biological chemists, Solomon says. For 

example, Karlin’s group showed that the 

dicopper-O 2 complex can hydroxylate an 

aromatic ring, the first such observation for 

any nonheme transition-metal complex. 

That initial work by Karlin and colleagues 

led to the discovery of the synthetic 

interconversion of peroxo, hydroperoxo, 

and superoxo species. All these reactions 

had to be carried out in solution at –80 ºC 

because of the reactivity and transient nature 

of the complexes. The group even obtained 

crystals and carried out X-ray structural 

analysis at –80 ºC, an 

accomplishment that “was 

the first of its kind and established 

a paradigm for the 

entire bioinorganic field,” 

Massachusetts Institute of 

Technology professor Stephen 

J. Lippard notes. 

More recently, Karlin 

and coworkers have studied 

iron-copper binuclear assemblies 

and their related 

O 2 chemistry. These complexes, 

which have Fe–O 2 – 

Cu linkages, are important 

in the bioinorganic arena 

as models for cytochrome 

Karlin 

c oxidase, an enzyme that binds and reduces 

O 2 . Karlin’s group has additionally 

synthesized and characterized biologically 

relevant copper nitrosyl, copper sulfur, and 

heme/nonheme diiron complexes. 

Karlin, 60, received a B.S. in chemistry in 

1970 from Stanford University and earned 

a Ph.D. in chemistry in 1975 in Lippard’s 

lab, then at Columbia University. After 

postdoctoral work at the University of 

Cambridge, he began his career in 1977 at 

the State University of New York, Albany, 

where he rose to the rank of full professor. 

In 1990, Karlin moved to Johns Hopkins. 

He is the author of more than 260 research 

papers and coeditor of several books 

on copper chemistry. One of Karlin’s many 

contributions to the inorganic community 

has been his service as editor of the “Progress 

in Inorganic Chemistry” annual book 

series since 1992. Karlin has also served on 

the editorial boards of several journals, as a 

panel member of an NIH study section, and 

as chair of the Bioinorganic Subdivision of 

ACS’s Division of Inorganic Chemistry. In 

addition, he has organized several national 

and international conferences on bioinorganic 

chemistry, including the Gordon Research 

Conference on Metals in Biology. 

Karlin will present the award address before 

the Division of Inorganic Chemistry.— 

STEVE RITTER 

JAMES BRYANT CONANT 

AWARD IN HIGH SCHOOL 

CHEMISTRY TEACHING 

Sponsored by Thermo Fischer Scientific 

COURTESY OF KENNETH KARLIN 

“You don’t learn something unless you can 

use it and apply it,” says Sally B. Mitchell, a 

high school chemistry teacher at East Syracuse-Minoa 

High School, 

in New York. “My students 

go home every day with 

knowledge that they are 

going to use for the rest of 

their lives.” She imparts this 

information by teaching the 

high school chemistry curriculum 

through everyday 

applications and hands-on 

experimentation. 

Mitchell, 47, is being 

recognized for her creativity 

and clarity in engaging 

students. Few could argue 

with learning the concepts 

of molality, saturated solutions, 

and crystal growth when the result 

is Mitchell’s perfect fudge. “My passion is 

food science, and that’s what I teach in my 

chemistry classroom,” she explains. 

Mitchell works actively on volunteer 

efforts that aid young people or fellow 

teachers. She frequently gives presentations 

and holds workshops 

on food chemistry at state 

and national conferences. 

Through initiatives such 

as Chemagination, ACS’s 

Chemists Celebrate Earth 

Day, and National Chemistry 

Week, she exposes students 

to experiences beyond the 

classroom. For the past 10 

years, she has contributed to 

the Science Olympiad, serving 

as a regional coordinator 

and a state and national 

supervisor. 

In addition, Mitchell 

Mitchell 

brings experience as a research chemist 

to the table. Soon after starting her teaching 

career, she shifted gears and spent two 

years in the department of pathology and 

laboratory medicine at the University of 

North Carolina, Chapel Hill, working on 

AIDS research. “That was probably the 

most influential experience of my life,” she 

says. 

Although ultimately drawn back to 

teaching—it’s not surprising to hear her say 

she loves it—the time doing research made 

her appreciate the importance of lab skills, 

which she now passes on to her students. 

Beyond her teaching responsibilities, 

Mitchell is dedicated to learning as well. 

During several years when she cared for 

her young children and helped support 

her family by working in airline customer 

service, she read, wrote labs, and developed 

chemistry games. Today, she attends 

conferences to keep current on areas of science 

and technology. 

“For more than 25 years, I have seen her 

efforts toward excellence in chemistry 

teaching, community service for the sciences, 

and selfless commitment to students 

grow exponentially,” says professor 

D. Steven Keller of Miami University, in 

Ohio. He underscores her dedication, enthusiasm, 

and effectiveness. 

“By her exemplary contributions as a 

high school chemistry teacher and through 

her service to the community, she has had 

a significant positive influence on the national 

chemical community,” he adds. 

After earning a dual B.S. degree in chemistry 

and biology from Syracuse University 

in 1982, Mitchell completed a master’s in 

science education there in 1983. She is currently 

working toward completing a Ph.D. 

in science education (again at Syracuse). 

Part of her Ph.D. dissertation will focus 

on another passion: the metric system. “My 

goal, by Metric Day on Oct. 

10, 2010, is to scientifically 

convince everyone that the 

only way to improve science 

education is to have a 

measurement system that 

is coherent and internationally 

known.” 

Mitchell has won numerous 

teaching and service 

awards, including the ACS 

Northeast Region’s Chemistry 

Teacher of the Year award 

in 2003 and the National 

Mole Day Foundation’s Mole 

of the Year in 2001. 

COURTESY OF SALLY MITCHELL 


AWARDS 

Mitchell will present the award address 

before the Division of Chemical 

Education.—ANN THAYER 

GLENN T. SEABORG 

AWARD FOR NUCLEAR 

CHEMISTRY 

Sponsored by the ACS Division of Nuclear 

Chemistry & Technology 

For chemists who work in heavy-element 

synthesis, discovering a new element can 

be the highlight of a scientific career. Kenton 

J. Moody, a staff chemist at Lawrence 

Livermore National Laboratory, enjoys the 

distinction of having discovered not one, 

but five new elements. 

As a founding member of the collaboration 

between the heavy-element research 

groups at Livermore and the Flerov Laboratory 

of Nuclear Reactions, 

in Dubna, Russia, 

Moody served as a senior 

member of the teams that 

discovered elements 113, 

114, 115, 116, and 118. Those 

seminal investigations also 

led to the first observations 

of more than 30 isotopes of 

various heavy elements. 

“There are very few people 

who can claim to have 

participated in the discovery 

of even one new chemical 

element,” says Dawn A. 

Shaughnessy, a staff chemist 

at Livermore. “Playing an 

Moody 

active role in the discovery of five new elements 

is a remarkable accomplishment.” 

Shaughnessy points out that Moody was 

a graduate student with the late chemistry 

Nobel Laureate Glenn T. Seaborg and that, 

like his mentor, Moody dedicated his career 

to nuclear chemistry. In particular, Moody 

helped collect a growing body of experimental 

evidence for the existence of the 

“island of stability,” a region on the chart 

of nuclides in which certain superheavy 

nuclei are predicted to be especially stable. 

Verifying the island’s existence was critically 

important to Seaborg. 

Moody’s contributions to the field are 

memorialized on new periodic tables and 

will be recognized in textbooks used by 

future chemistry students, Shaughnessy 

says. All of those accomplishments, she 

comments, make Moody’s receipt of the 

Seaborg Award “most appropriate.” 

Moody, 54, has focused on research in 

nuclear chemistry since the 1970s. He has 

investigated a wide range of topics in nuclear 

and radiochemistry, including heavyelement 

synthesis and detection, characterization 

of actinide and transactinide 

elements, and measurement of nuclear 

reaction cross sections (probabilities). He 

has also developed methods for chemical 

separations and analysis of most of the elements 

in the periodic table. 

Among Moody’s more recent contributions 

to nuclear science is his creation of 

the new discipline of nuclear forensics, 

for which he is coauthor of the field’s 

definitive textbook. To help set this new 

area of science on solid ground, Moody 

developed the methodology needed to 

deduce the history of samples of nuclear 

materials. This technique is now routinely 

used by the Department of Homeland 

Security and law-enforcement agencies 

to identify illicit nuclear 

materials. 

Moody graduated in 1977 

with a bachelor’s degree in 

chemistry from the University 

of California, Santa 

Barbara, and received a 

Ph.D. in nuclear chemistry 

from UC Berkeley in 1983. 

After conducting postdoctoral 

research in the Nuclear 

Science Division of Lawrence 

Berkeley National 

Laboratory, Moody moved 

to Germany, where he was 

appointed staff scientist 

at the Institute for Heavy 

Ion Research, in Darmstadt. In 1985, he 

returned to the U.S. to begin a position as 

a nuclear chemist at Livermore and has 

continued to conduct research there for 

nearly 25 years. 

Moody has published more than 100 

papers in scientific journals and has 

mentored numerous summer research 

interns and graduate students. He has also 

served as an instructor for the ACS summer 

school in nuclear chemistry, lecturing 

on heavy-element science, fundamentals 

of radiochemistry, and nuclear forensics. 

Moody’s commitment to nuclear science 

education has recently led to his appointment 

as adjunct professor in the newly 

formed radiochemistry program at the 

University of Nevada, Las Vegas. 

Moody will present the award address 

before the Division of Nuclear Chemistry & 

Technology.—MITCH JACOBY 

COURTESY OF KENTON MOODY 

ACS AWARD FOR 

CREATIVE WORK IN 

FLUORINE CHEMISTRY 

Sponsored by SynQuest Laboratories and 

Honeywell 

Although most of Henry Selig’s career has 

been devoted to fluorine chemistry, he is, 

in fact, something of an accidental fluorine 

chemist. 

Selig, 81, was born in Germany, but in 

1939, when he was just 11, he and his family 

were forced to flee the country. They ended 

up in Chicago, where Selig attended Herzl 

Junior College and the University of Chicago, 

earning bachelor’s degrees in chemistry 

and mathematics. 

After completing a master’s in chemistry 

at the University of Chicago, Selig went on 

to what is now Carnegie Mellon University 

to earn a Ph.D. in nuclear chemistry under 

Truman P. Kohman. His next stop was a 

logical destination for an up-and-coming 

young nuclear chemist: Argonne National 

Laboratory. 

At Argonne, Selig worked for six years on 

a classified project for the Atomic Energy 

Commission. On the side, he embarked on 

the study of rhenium-187, an isotope he expected 

to have an extremely long half-life. 

“To study the radioactivity, we had to convert 

it to a gas,” he recalls. The possibilities 

were few, so after one false start with an organorhenium 

compound, Re(CH 3 ) 3 , Selig 

and his colleagues settled on the synthesis 

of the volatile ReF 6 . 

Something seemed fishy, however, and 

they soon discovered that in the process 

they had also made ReF 7 , a previously unknown 

compound. Inauspiciously, in late 

1959, Selig’s life in fluorine chemistry had 

begun. 

For the next 35 years, Selig was a leader 

in the field. His many accomplishments 

include the 1962 synthesis of XeF 4 , just 

months after chemist Neil Bartlett created 

one of the first noble gas compounds. Selig 

also helped pioneer the field of intercalation 

chemistry with breakthroughs such 

as the discovery that AsF 5 can intercalate 

into graphite, resulting in a compound with 

phenomenal electrical conductivity. 

At the urging of his Israeli wife, Selig 

left Argonne in 1967 and moved to Hebrew 

University of Jerusalem. There, he continued 

his groundbreaking work in fluorine 

chemistry, reacting oxides in anhydrous 

hydrogen fluoride and creating synthetic 

metals. His later work included the fluori- 


nation of buckminsterfullerene in pursuit 

of the elusive C 60 F 60 . 

Selig retired in 1995 at the age of 68, in 

keeping with Hebrew University policy, but 

he continued to work in the lab on his own 

for a number of years. Even today, he still 

stops by the chemistry department to keep 

up with the literature. 

Karl O. Christe, a professor 

at Loker Research 

Institute at University of 

Southern California, in Los 

Angeles, has known Selig 

for 40 years and considers 

him “one of the most underrated 

scientists and the 

most underrated fluorine 

chemist I know.” 

Another colleague, Gary 

J. Schrobilgen, a chemistry 

professor at McMaster 

University, in Hamilton, 

Ontario, says Selig’s accomplishments 

are all the more 

Selig 

impressive because his research group at 

Hebrew University was always relatively 

small. Schrobilgen calls Selig “not only 

the real chemical thinker behind the first 

synthesis of XeF 4 but a guiding chemical 

mind” behind much of the other fluorine 

work that came out of Argonne in the late 

1950s and early 1960s. 

Indeed, although Selig accomplished 

much in the subsequent years, he looks 

back fondly on those early days at Argonne 

when fluorine chemistry was seen as a dangerous 

field that few would venture into. 

“It was a great job,” he recalls. “You did 

what you liked and even got paid for it.” 

Selig will present the award address before 

the Division of Fluorine Chemistry.— 

MICHAEL MCCOY 

ACS AWARD FOR 

CREATIVE ADVANCES 

IN ENVIRONMENTAL 

SCIENCES & TECHNOLOGY 

Sponsored by Air Products & Chemicals Inc., 

in memory of Joseph J. Breen 

By Margaret A. Tolbert’s reckoning, her 

award-studded career in atmospheric 

chemistry started because she was in the 

right place at the right time. 

The right time was the mid-1980s, when 

massive and unexplained stratospheric 

ozone depletion was discovered over 

Antarctica. Researchers with the National 

Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration 

(NOAA) suggested a key step in this ozone 

depletion might be heterogeneous reactions 

involving gases interacting with or on 

particles. 

Tolbert was then a postdoctoral researcher 

at SRI International, a nonprofit scientific 

research institute in Menlo 

Park, Calif. That was the 

right place to be, she says, 

because “we had the right 

equipment” to test NOAA’s 

hypothesis in the laboratory. 

COURTESY OF HENRY SELIG 

“We found that, indeed, 

heterogeneous reactions 

on ice did convert inert 

chlorine into more active 

forms,” Tolbert says. Most 

of the anthropogenic chlorine 

in the stratosphere 

comes from chlorofluorocarbons. 

When CFCs break 

down, they are converted 

into species such as hydrogen 

chloride and chlorine nitrate. These 

species react on polar stratospheric clouds, 

releasing active chlorine that goes on to 

destroy ozone. 

Results of the experiments identifying 

the heterogeneous reactions in stratospheric 

ozone depletion were published 

in a landmark paper (Science 1987, 238, 

1258). For it, Tolbert was a corecipient of 

the American Association for the Advancement 

of Science’s Newcomb Cleveland 

Prize for authorship of the 

best paper of 1987 in the 

journal Science. 

That publication was one 

of a series of articles that 

have had major influence 

on the field of atmospheric 

chemistry, says Barbara J. 

Finlayson-Pitts, a chemistry 

professor at the University 

of California, Irvine. 

“Tolbert established that 

a number of reactions that 

are slow in the gas phase become 

quite rapid when one 

of the gases, such as hydrogen 

chloride, is adsorbed 

Tolbert 

on an ice surface, due primarily to the ionic 

nature of acids in or on ice,” she says. 

Tolbert, 51, is now a professor of chemistry 

at the University of Colorado, Boulder. 

She earned an undergraduate degree 

at Grinnell College, in Iowa; received a 

master’s degree from the University of 

California, Berkeley; and got a doctorate 

at California Institute of Technology. She 

was elected to the National Academy of 

Sciences in 2004 and won a Guggenheim 

Fellowship in 2005. 

More than two decades after publication 

of Tolbert’s Science paper, the chemistry of 

polar stratospheric clouds remains on the 

agenda in her laboratory at the Cooperative 

Institute for Research in Environmental 

Sciences. The institute is a joint research 

venture between the University of Colorado, 

Boulder, and NOAA. 

Tolbert’s current work on polar stratospheric 

clouds relates to predictions of 

ozone loss as global warming intensifies 

and as releases of chemicals linked to 

ozone depletion decrease. Her laboratory 

is probing the chemical composition of 

clouds in the polar winter stratosphere, 

more of which are expected to form in the 

future as a result of climate change. 

Her research now stretches beyond 

stratospheric ozone depletion. Today, 

most of Tolbert’s investigations are focused 

on clouds and aerosols in the troposphere 

that can reflect and absorb the sun’s 

light. Clouds and particulates typically exert 

an overall cooling effect on the planet, 

although some clouds lead to warming. 

Tolbert hopes her group’s work will help 

reduce uncertainty in projections of future 

climate change. 

In her newest project, Tolbert is reaching 

back in time and out into space. Her 

team is investigating aerosols and clouds 

as they may have existed 

on Earth about 3.5 billion 

years ago in an atmosphere 

composed mainly of nitrogen 

with smaller amounts 

of water vapor, carbon 

dioxide, and possibly methane. 

To do this, her group 

is studying aerosols in the 

analogous methane- and 

nitrogen-rich atmosphere 

of Saturn’s largest moon, 

Titan. 

Clearly, just what constitutes 

the “right place and 

right time” has expanded 

during Tolbert’s career. 

Today, it is anywhere—even elsewhere 

in the solar system—and anytime—past, 

present, or future—that she can explore 

unanswered questions about atmospheric 

chemistry. 

Tolbert will present the award address before 

the Division of Physical Chemistry.— 

CHERYL HOGUE 

COURTESY OF MARGARET TOLBERT 


PEOPLE 

OBITUARIES 

Robert Bau, 64, a chemistry professor 

who taught at the University of Southern 

California for almost four decades, died on 

Dec. 28, 2008. 

Bau earned a B.S. in chemistry and physics 

from the University of Hong Kong in 

1964 and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the 

University of California, 

Los Angeles, in 

1968. He then spent a 

year as a postdoctoral 

research fellow at Harvard 

University. 

In 1969, Bau joined 

the USC faculty as an 

assistant professor. He 

was promoted to associate 

professor of chemistry in 1974 and 

to professor of chemistry in 1977. 

A distinguished researcher in the field of 

X-ray and neutron diffraction crystallography, 

Bau was a fellow of the Alfred P. Sloan 

Foundation from 1974 to 1976 and became a 

fellow of the American Association for the 

Advancement of Science in 1982. 

He was the recipient of the Alexander 

von Humboldt Foundation U.S. Senior 

Scientist Award and a National Institutes 

of Health Research Career Development 

Award. He also received awards for excellence 

in research and teaching from USC 

and was president of the American Crystallographic 

Association in 2006. Bau was a 

member of ACS, joining in 1968. 

A special tribute for Bau is planned for 

March 19 during a previously scheduled 

symposium in his honor at USC’s Seeley G. 

Mudd Auditorium. 

Bau is survived by his wife, Margaret 

Churchill; children Christina, Alexander, 

and Phillip; and his mother, Maria. 

Samuel L. Cooke Jr., 76, a professor of 

chemistry and systems management, died 

on Aug. 2, 2008. 

Born in Georgia, Cooke earned a B.S. in 

1952 and M.S. in 1954, both in chemistry, 

from the University of Richmond, in Virginia. 

In 1957, he earned a Ph.D. in chemistry 

from Baylor University, in Waco, Texas. 

Cooke began his career as a research 

chemist at DuPont in Wilmington, Del., before 

returning to Richmond to become an 

instrument designer for Interscience. 

He then began a career shift into academia, 

teaching first at Alabama College, in 

Montevallo (which became the University 

of Montevallo in 1969), and then serving as 

professor of chemistry and systems science 

at the University of Louisville, in Kentucky, 

for 21 years. Subsequently, he was a field 

professor of systems science for the University 

of Southern California for nine years. 

Cooke was a visiting lecturer at the 

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich; 

a consultant at the Louisville Science 

Center; and an adjunct professor at the 

University of Louisville. 

He was an emeritus member of ACS, 

joining in 1955. Within the ACS Louisville 

Section, he served as chair, newsletter editor, 

and councilor. He also served as president 

of the Louisville chapter of the Sigma 

Xi science research society. 

Cooke received the Kentucky Academy 

of Science Outstanding College Science 

Teacher award in 1983 and a Kentucky legislative 

commendation for his computer 

literacy course in 1982. He also held the 

honorary title of “Kentucky Colonel,” and 

authored numerous publications and a 

textbook. 

Cooke is survived by his wife of 54 years, 

Barbara; three children, Cynthia, Samuel, 

and Raymond; and six grandchildren. 

Donald J. Cotton, 72, a retired Department 

of Energy research scientist, died on 

Oct. 20, 2008. 

Born in Cleveland, Cotton earned a B.S. 

in chemistry from Howard University in 

1957, an M.S. in physical chemistry from 

Yale University in 1959, and a Ph.D. in physical 

chemistry from Howard University 

in 1967. He held a National Aeronautics & 

Space Administration research fellowship 

from 1966 to 1967. 

Early in his career, Cotton worked with 

the Naval Research Laboratories, in Indian 

Head and Annapolis, Md. However, he spent 

most of his career with DOE, serving in 

roles including international affairs specialist 

and assistant secretary of nuclear energy. 

Cotton served as a professor at the University 

of Guyana; the University of the 

District of Columbia; and the University of 

Cape Coast, in Ghana. 

He was a fellow of the Royal Society of 

Chemistry and a member of Sigma Xi. He 

was an emeritus member of the national 

mathematics honor society, Pi Mu Epsilon, 

and of ACS, joining in 1960. 

He held patents, published many papers 

in scientific journals, and was the author of 

the novel “Sore Foots.” Cotton was fluent 

in French, German, Russian, and Chinese. 

Cotton is survived by a daughter, Denise 

Tyson; and a grandson. 

Robert V. Edwards, 67, professor emeritus 

of chemical engineering and former associate 

dean at Case Western Reserve University, 

died at his home in Chesterland, Ohio, 

on Dec. 8, 2008, of pancreatic cancer. 

Born in Baltimore, Edwards earned a 

B.S. in mathematics in 1962 and a Ph.D. in 

chemical engineering in 1968, both at Johns 

Hopkins University. 

Edwards then joined Case Institute of 

Technology (now Case Western Reserve 

University), where he remained a faculty 

member until his death. He was chair of the 

chemical engineering department, chair 

of the electrical engineering and computer 

science department, associate dean of engineering, 

and minority 

affairs assistant to 

the president of the 

university. 

In the 1970s, Edwards 

helped develop 

use of Doppler-shifted 

laser light to measure 

velocities of fluids and 

moving objects. In addition 

to publishing many scientific papers, 

Edwards was a visiting scientist at the Danish 

Atomic Energy Commission, in Risøe, 

Denmark, and at the National Aeronautics 

& Space Administration’s Lewis Research 

Center (now the Glenn Research Center) 

in Cleveland. He wrote a book, “Processing 

Random Data: Statistics for Engineers and 

Scientists.” 

Edwards was a fellow of the American 

Institute of Chemical Engineers. He was a 


He is survived by his wife, Anne; two 

children; five step-children; and 13 grandchildren. 

Robert Kunin, 90, a retired Rohm and Haas 

chemist and ion-exchange pioneer, died on 

Jan. 6 in Ewing Township, N.J., of complications 

from pneumonia. 

Born in West New York, N.J., Kunin 

earned a bachelor’s degree in 1939 and a 

Ph.D. in chemistry in 1942, both from Rutgers 

University. 

Kunin began his career as a senior scientist 

for the Tennessee Valley Authority. 

From 1944 to 1945, he served as a senior 

scientist at Columbia University under the 

Manhattan Project. He was a fellow at the 

Mellon Institute from 1945 to 1946. 

Kunin then began a long career at Rohm 

and Haas, working in its ion-exchange lab. 

During that time, he served as a consultant to 

the blood preservation lab at Harvard Univer- 


sity and to the now-defunct Atomic Energy 

Commission. Between 1960 and 1980, Kunin 

also lectured at American University and 

the University of Pennsylvania. He retired 

from Rohm and Haas 

as development manager 

of the fluid process 

chemicals department 

in 1976, but continued 

to do ion-exchange 

purification consulting 

work until 2003. 

Kunin received 

Franklin Institute’s 

Potts Medal in 1966. He held more than 100 

patents and wrote 10 books and more than 

250 scientific articles. He was an emeritus 


He is survived by two children, Anne 

Leibowitz and David; two grandchildren; 

and two great-grandchildren. Kunin’s wife, 

Edith, died in 1988. 

Wladyslaw (Val) Metanomski, 85, a senior 

scientific information analyst who worked 

for Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) 

for 44 years, died in Columbus, Ohio, on 

Dec. 11, 2008. 

Born in Vienna, 

Metanomski was a 

World War II veteran 

of the Polish Army and 

fought in the Battle 

of Monte Cassino, in 

Italy. 

After the war, he 

earned a B.S. in chemical 

engineering in 1952 from the University 

of London before taking a position at 

Dearborn Chemical, in Toronto, from 1952 

to 1958. Metanomski then enrolled at the 

University of Toronto, earning an M.S. in 

chemical engineering in 1960 and a Ph.D. in 

polymer chemistry in 1964. 

Metanomski joined the CAS Editorial 

Division in 1964, developing vocabulary 

control; working in abstracting, indexing, 

and nomenclature; and helping to define 

the technical content of CAS publications 

and services. He remained at CAS until 

four weeks before his death. 

In connection with the 100th anniversary 

of CAS, Metanomski was profiled in 

a Web supplement to the June 11, 2007, 

issue of Chemical & Engineering News. In 

May 2008, he received the ACS Columbus 

Section award for a lifetime of service to 

chemical information. 

A member of ACS since 1964, Metanomski 

was active in the Division of Chemical 

Information (CINF), serving as its chair 

in 1987. For the 50th anniversary of the 

division, he published the book “50 Years 

of Chemical Information in the American 

Chemical Society, 1943 –93.” In 1992, the 

division presented him with its Meritorious 

Service Award. In 2006, he received the 

CINF Lifetime Membership Award. 

He had been a member of the ACS Nomenclature 

Committee since 1990 and 

served on the editorial advisory board of 

what is now titled the Journal of Chemical 

Information & Modeling. Metanomski participated 

in the ACS Division of Polymer 

Chemistry and received its Distinguished 

Service Award in 1995. 

He also participated in the International 

Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry as a 

member of the Commission on Macromolecular 

Nomenclature from 1987 to 1999 

and served as secretary of its Interdivisional 

Committee on Nomenclature & Symbols 

from 1996 to 1999. 

His wife of 44 years, Helena, died soon after 

him on Jan. 17. He is survived by a daughter, 

Marianne; and two grandchildren. 

Arthur P. Weber, 88, a retired chemical 

engineer, died on Nov. 24, 2008, in Long 

Island, N.Y. 

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Weber earned a 

bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering 

from City College of New York in 1941. He 

then worked on the Manhattan Project, in 

Oak Ridge, Tenn. Weber was awarded an 

advanced degree in nuclear science and engineering 

from Oak Ridge National Laboratory 

in 1947, in recognition of his scientific 

efforts there. 

He remained in the Oak Ridge area, becoming 

director of process development 

and design for Kellex. He then served as 

technical director for International Engineering, 

which was based in Dayton, Ohio. 

In 1951, Weber began consulting in 

chemical and professional engineering. 

Concurrently, he also served as an adjunct 

professor, working two years as an instructor 

at College of the City of New York (the 

former name of New York University’s 

undergraduate college), five years as an associate 

professor at NYU, and nine years 

as professor at the Polytechnic Institute, 

Brooklyn (now Polytechnic Institute of 

NYU). In addition to publishing many technical 

papers, Weber held patents, including 

one for a continuous-flow reactor for highviscosity 

materials. 

He was a member of the American Institute 

of Chemical Engineers and the National 

Society of Professional Engineers. Weber 

was a fellow of the American Association for 

the Advancement of Science and was elected 

to the New York Academy of Sciences. An 

emeritus member of ACS, he joined in 1944. 

He was president of New York’s Metropolitan 

Golf Association and a cofounder 

of Old Westbury Golf & Country Club 

in 1961. In 1995, the Audubon Society 

recognized his Old Westbury Code of Environmental 

Conduct for golf course maintenance. 

He shared a patent for electromotive 

eradication of moss. 

In his youth, Weber played harmonica 

on the “Horn & Hardart Children’s Hour” 

radio program and was a champion speed 

skater. He continued playing and skating 

into his later years. 

He is survived by his wife of 66 years, 

Jean; two children, Diane Lichtman and 

Geoffrey; and two grandchildren. 

SUSAN J. AINSWORTH writes Obituaries. 

Obituary notices may be sent to s_ainsworth@ 

acs.org and should include a detailed educational 

and professional history. 

Subscribe to the C&EN 

Table of Contents 

Email Alerts 

Now you can get a first look at all the stories 

making news in C&EN every Monday via 

email. Subscribe to the Table of Contents 

alerts and receive an email message with 

links to: 

● Cover Story 

● Online Exclusives 

● Business, Government, Science 

Concentrates 

● Careers & Employment 

● ACS News 

● And More! 

To sign up go to www.cen-online.org and: 

1. Click on Email Alerts 

at the top of the page 

2. Add your email address 

3. Click on subscribe 


ACADEMIC POSITIONS 

RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING 

Serving the Chemical, Life Sciences, and Laboratory Worlds 

Advertising Rate Information 

CLASSIFICATIONS 

Positions open and academic positions. 

Situations wanted—members, nonmembers, 

student and national affiliates, retired 

members. 

ISSUANCE 

Published weekly every Monday. 

CLOSING DATE FOR CLASSIFIED ADS 

Standard Set Ads—Thursday, noon EST 

18 days prior to publication date. Display 

Ads—Monday, 2 weeks prior to publication 

date. No ex ten sions. Cancellations must be 

received 14 days in advance of publication 

date (except legal holidays.) 

SITUATIONS WANTED 

“Situations Wanted” advertisements 

placed by ACS members and affiliates are 

accepted at $6.60 a line per insertion, no 

minimum charge. State ACS membership 

status and email to m_mccloskey@acs.org. 

The advertisements will be classified by the 

chemical field designated by the members. 

If not designated, placement will be determined 

by the first word of text submitted. 

EMPLOYER AD PLACEMENT 

NON-DISPLAY LINE ADS are $65 net 

per line; $650 minimum. One line equals 

approximately 50 characters and spaces, 

centered headlines equal approximately 

32 characters, bold caps, and spaces; all 

in 7-point type. For an additional $150, 

your print ad will appear on www.acs.org/ 

careers for 4 weeks. 

DISPLAY ADS: For rates and information 

call Matt McCloskey at (610) 964-8061 or go 

to www.cen-online.org. 

TO SUBMIT A CLASSIFIED AD: Email 

ads in a word document to m_mccloskey@ 

acs.org. Do not include any abbreviations. 

C&EN will typeset ads according to ACS 

QUALITY JOBS, QUALITY CHEMISTS 

guidelines. All ads must be accompanied 

by either a purchase order number or a 

credit card number and a billing address. 

Purchase orders must allow for some degree 

of flexibility and/or adjustment. 

CONDITIONS: In printing these advertisements 

ACS assumes no obligations as to 

qualifications of prospective employees or 

responsibility of employers, nor shall ACS 

obtain information concerning positions 

advertised or those seeking employment. 

Replies to announcements should carry 

copies of supporting documents, not original 

documents. Every reasonable effort 

will be made to prevent forwarding of advertising 

circulars. Employers who require 

applications on company forms should send 

duplicate copies. ACS considers all users of 

this section obligated to acknowledge all 

replies to their advertisements. 

IMPORTANT NOTICES 

■ Employment in countries other than your 

own may be restricted by government visa 

and other policies. Moreover, you should 

investigate thoroughly the generally accepted 

employment practices, the cultural 

conditions, and the exact provisions of the 

specific position being considered. Members 

may wish to contact the ACS Office of 

International Activities for information it 

might have about employment conditions 

and cultural practices in other countries. 

■ Various state and national laws against 

discrimination, including the Federal Civil 

Rights Act of 1964, prohibit discrimination 

in employment because of race, color, 

religion, national origin, age, sex, physical 

handicap, sexual orientation, or any reason 

not based on a bona fide occupational 

qualification. 

■ These help-wanted and situations-wanted 

advertisements are for readers’ convenience 

and are not to be construed as instruments 

leading to unlawful discrimination. 

THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY AT CENTENA- 

RY COLLEGE OF LOUISIANA invites applications for 

a one-year appointment beginning fall 2009. Primary 

teaching responsibilities associated with the position 

are organic chemistry and laboratory. Completion 

or near completion of a doctoral degree in organic 

chemistry or a closely related field is required. Plans 

to involve undergraduates in research, while not required, 

would be welcome. The chemistry program 

is ACS-accredited. Additional information about the 

department may be found at http://centenary.edu/ 

chemistry/. Centenary is a selective liberal arts college 

with a faculty/student ratio of 12/1 and is a member 

of the Associated Colleges of the South. It is located 

in a metropolitan area with a population of 375,000. 

To apply, send letter of application, curriculum vitae, 

a statement of teaching philosophy, and three letters 

of recommendation to Dr. Thomas Ticich, Chair, Department 

of Chemistry, Centenary College, PO Box 

41188, Shreveport, LA 71134-1188. Applications will 

be reviewed as received and will continue until the position 

is filled. Centenary College of Louisiana recognizes 

that diversity is essential to its goal of providing 

an educational environment where students explore 

the unfamiliar, invent new approaches to understanding, 

and connect their work and lives to the world at 

large. We thus welcome applicants who would add to 

the college’s diversity of ideas, beliefs, experiences, 

and cultural backgrounds. EOE. 

DIRECTOR OF INSTRUMENTATION 

The Department of Chemistry at Lehigh University 

has an immediate opening for a Director of Instrumentation. 

Expertise in modern methods of either mass 

spectrometry or NMR is required. Primary responsibilities 

include maintenance and user training on several 

shared instruments, including three mass spectrometers, 

two high field NMR instruments, UV-VIS, 

etc. Consultation with users on their research problems 

is an integral part of the position. For more information 

on the department, visit: http://www.lehigh. 

edu/chemistry. Lehigh University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative 

Action Employer with comprehensive 

benefits including partner benefits. Lehigh University 

is especially interested in qualified candidates 

who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of 

the academic community. Candidates should send a 

letter of interest, a CV, and arrange for three letters 

of reference to be sent to: Jim Roberts, Search Committee, 

Dept. of Chemistry, Lehigh University, 6 E. 

Packer Avenue, Bethlehem, PA 18015-3172. Review 

of applications will begin on Feb. 16, 2009, and continue 

until the position is filled. 

POSTDOC OPENINGS IN SOLAR ENERGY, 

ELECTRON DYNAMICS & ORGANIC/NANO 

MATERIALS 

Three positions in the laboratory of Prof. Xiaoyang 

Zhu, University of Texas at Austin (http://www. 

cm.utexas.edu/xiaoyang_zhu). Exciton & charge 

carrier dynamics by femtosecond laser spectroscopy, 

such as two-photon photoemission and second 

harmonic generation [e.g., PRL 101 (2008) 196403]. 

Charge transport in organic semiconductor and inorganic 

quantum dot based devices by in situ spectroscopy 

[e.g., JACS 129 (2007) 7824]. Experiences 

with laser spectroscopy, ARPES, and surface chemistry/physics 

desirable. Send application to zhu@ 

cm.utexas.edu. 

DEPARTMENT CHAIR AND ASSISTANT PROFES- 

SOR POSITIONS: The Department of Chemistry at 

North Carolina Central University invites applications 

for two positions: Department Chair (at the rank 

of Associate or Full Professor) and Assistant Professor. 

These positions have a starting date no later than 

July 1, 2009, and August 1, 2009, respectively. View 

the complete job descriptions, requirements, and 

application instructions at: http://www.nccu.edu/ 

Administration/dhr/currentopportunities.cfm. 

NCCU is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action 

Employer. 

THE DEPARTMENTS OF CHEMISTRY AND PHYS- 

ICS AT MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE invite applications 

for a 2-year postdoctoral position sponsored by 

the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The position will 

integrate high-quality undergraduate teaching in a liberal 

arts college setting with cutting-edge, interdisciplinary 

research on the biophysics of bacterial biofilms. 

More information about this unique opportunity 

is found at http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~menunez/ 

postdoc.pdf. Applications from women and members 

of underrepresented groups are encouraged. 


Joint Faculty Position in 

Chemical Engineering/ 

Engineering Public Policy 

The Department of Chemical Engineering 

at Carnegie Mellon seeks someone 

with strong technical skills and research 

accomplishment in Chemical Engineering 

who wishes to spend a significant portion of 

his/her time addressing important problems 

in public policy in which technical details 

and analysis are of central importance. We 

are open with respect to specific problem 

domains but are particularly interested in 

candidates with expertise in clean and alternative 

energy technologies, green process 

design and operations, and technical and 

policy issues in nano and/or biotechnology. 

Candidates at any level will be considered. 

For more information, see 

http://www.cheme.cmu.edu 

Applicants should submit a CV, statement of 

research and teaching interests, and the 

names of three references to: Prof. Ignacio 

Grossmann Department of Chemical 

Engineering Carnegie Mellon University 

5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213- 

3890. E-mail: grossmann@cmu.edu. We 

would appreciate receiving your application 

electronically (as a PDF file) by March 15, 

2009. Carnegie Mellon University is an 

Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/Equal 

Access Employer. 

Recruit Scientific Talent Online 

www.acs.org/careers 

More than 7,500 employers use acs.org/ 

careers to find qualified chemical and 

scientific candidates working in business, 

academe and government. Reach over 

12,000 active job seekers by: 

Posting job openings 

Searching the résumé database of over 5,000 

active job seekers 

Setting new résumé e-mail alerts 

Select a single 30-day job posting or choose 

from flexible packages to meet your 

recruitment needs. 

“By using C&EN Classifieds and ACS 

Careers, Amgen is able to reach and hire 

qualified candidates across a variety of 

key scientific disciplines.” 

Christopher Todd 

Senior Manager, Outreach Program 

Amgen 

ACS Careers 

For more information go to 


or contact Bill Shepherd at 

w_shepherd@acs.org. 

Boehringer Ingelheim ranks among the world’s 20 leading pharmaceutical 

corporations. Our vision drives us forward. It helps us to foster value through 

innovation in our company and to look to the future with constantly renewed 

commitment and ambition. 

Value through Innovation 

PROCESS DEVELOPMENT SCIENTIST – SCIENTIST IV – DEPARTMENT: CHEMICAL DEVELOPMENT 

REQUIREMENTS: 

• M.S. in Organic Chemistry or equivalent with 5 – 10 years experience in chemical 

process R&D, preferably in pharmaceutical industry 

• Proficiency with modern analytical instruments such as HPLC, GC, NMR, IR, 

DSC,TGA 

• Practical knowledge of concepts governing successful process scale up such as 

thermodynamic, kinetics, and process control 

• Practical knowledge of large scale process equipment including batch reactors, 

continuous reactors and working experience in a pilot plant or kilo lab environment 

• Basic knowledge of cGMP for API scale up 

• Analytical thinking and troubleshooting capabilities 

• Strong writing, presentation, communication and organizational skills 

We are a different kind of pharmaceutical company, a privately held 

company with the ability to have an innovative and long-term view. 

Our focus is on scientific discoveries that improve patient’s lives and 

we equate success as a pharmaceutical company with the steady 

introduction of truly innovative medicines. 

At Boehringer Ingelheim, we are committed to delivering value 

through innovation. Employees are challenged to take initiative and 

achieve outstanding results. Ultimately, our culture and drive allows 

us to maintain one of the highest levels of excellence in our industry. 

Please visit our website at: http://us.boehringer-ingelheim.com 

to apply online and to learn more about our growing, dynamic company, 

with a vision of making the world healthier one person at a time. 

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: 

• Conduct all activities in full compliance with SOPs, 

safety, environment and cGMP requirements 

• Apply organic chemistry and engineering 

principles to laboratory experiments to optimize 

chemical processes for pilot plant operation 

• Communicate with process groups to transfer 

knowledge and resolve scale up operability issues 

• Collaborate with Process Safety and Crystallization 

groups to develop robust processes for API 

We are an equal 

opportunity 

employer, M/F/D/V. 

Boehringer Ingelheim 

maintains a drug-free 

environment. 

Attend the Career & Employment 

Seminar At Pittcon 2009 

Sponsored by 

C&EN, ACS Careers, and Pittcon 

Hear from recruiters representing top organizations including: 

■ Big Pharmaceutical 

■ Chemical Enterprise 

■ Major Recruiting / Staff Organization 

Learn where the jobs are and successful strategies for searching and interviewing at 

companies hiring in the life sciences, laboratory, and analytical field. 

■ Employment trends — Industry sectors, job opportunities and 

outlook for 2009. 

■ How to find and work with a head-hunter — Where to find recruiting 

firms that handle life sciences & laboratory openings and tips to 

maximize opportunities with recruiters. 

■ Successful job search strategies — Effective resume writing and 

interviewing techniques. 

■ Key job skills — What skills and characteristics employers are 

currently focusing on. 

■ Employment resources — Where to go online to find job openings. 

Sunday, March 8, 2009 10:00 a.m. - Noon 

Room S402 

of the McCormick Place Convention Center 

ACS 

RD0209 





THE HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF 

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 

Head of the Department of Chemical and 

Biomolecular Engineering 

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is seeking 

a head for the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering 

(CBME) in the School of Engineering. HKUST is a leading research 

university in Asia and it has been ranked in the top 50 universities category 

for technology by the Times Higher Education Supplement for the past 

three years. CBME, as the only chemical engineering department in Hong 

Kong, conducts comprehensive teaching and research programs in both 

basic and applied aspects of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering. The 

Department offers three undergraduate programs in Chemical Engineering, 

Chemical and Environmental Engineering, and Chemical and Bioproduct 

Engineering and our faculty has research activities in the areas of advanced 

materials, bioengineering, environmental science and engineering, and 

process systems engineering. Currently the Department has 15 full time 

faculty members and with an enrollment of some 200 undergraduate and 

around 50 postgraduate students. 

With the University’s transition from a three-year to a four-year 

undergraduate curriculum in 2012, the Department is expected to 

experience a rapid growth in the next few years. For more information, 

please visit the University and Department websites available on 

http://www.ust.hk/ and http://www.cbme.ust.hk/ respectively. 

Applications/nominations for the position are invited from well-qualified 

and accomplished scholars. In addition to an extensive teaching and 

research experience, the successful candidate must have demonstrated 

leadership qualities necessary to lead and manage the Department in its 

diverse academic and administrative functions. Proven capacity to interact 

effectively with government, industry and commerce is an advantage. 

Salary will be highly competitive with generous benefits. Applications/ 

nominations together with detailed curriculum vitae and the names and 

addresses/fax numbers/email addresses of three referees should be sent 

to Professor Mitchell TSENG, Chair of Search Committee for Headship 

of CBME, c/o School of Engineering, HKUST, Clearwater Bay, Kowloon, 

Hong Kong on or before April 30, 2009. Applications and nominations 

will be treated in strict confidence. For further communication, our e-mail 

contact is dhcbme@ust.hk. 

2009 Editorial Guide 

You can’t afford to miss the following opportunities to advertise with 

us. Chem ical & Engineering News reaches the larg est global audience 

of individuals in the chemical and allied industries. Don’t miss your 

opportunity to reach our 300,000+ readers by advertising in these 

upcoming 2009 issues: 

ACS Spring Meeting Final Program ......................March 2 

Careers for Analytical Chemists ...........................March 9 

Pharmaceutical Outsourcing .............................. March 16 

Contact Matt McCloskey today for a complete calendar and to place 

your recruitment ad. Call 610-964-8061 x-15 or e-mail 

m_mccloskey@acs.org 



ASSISTANT PROFESSOR POSITION - 980970 

INORGANIC CHEMISTRY 

FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY 

Boca Raton, FL 

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the 

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science at FAU located 

in Boca Raton, Florida, invites applications for a tenuretrack 

Assistant Professor position in inorganic chemistry, 

starting in the fall of 2009 (appointments at higher 

rank may be considered). The applicant should have 

demonstrated excellence in the field, as evidenced by 

publications, and be able to mount an internationally 

visible research program at FAU. Preference will be given 

to candidates with a record of external funding and 

currently active grants. Interdisciplinary research emphasis 

across the Chemical Biology discipline will be 

an added advantage. The applicant would be expected 

to participate actively in the Doctoral program and 

contribute to the teaching needs of the Department 

(especially inorganic chemistry courses). Applicants 

in all areas of inorganic chemistry will be considered. 

However, preference will be given to candidates with 

research interests relevant to biochemistry, biology, 

and biomedical science. The applicant will be expected 

to help forge ties with the growing biotech industry 

across the region. For more information on the department 

and its programs, please visit http://www. 

science.fau.edu/chemistry. All applicants must apply 

and complete the Faculty, Administrative, Managerial, 

and Professional Position Application form available 

online through the Office Human Resources at 

https://jobs.fau.edu and attach to their application 

a curriculum vitae, descriptions of current research 

and external funding, and the names and addresses 

of at least three references. A background check will 

be required for the candidate selected for this position. 

Materials received by March 15, 2009, will receive full 

consideration; however, this position will remain open 

until filled. Questions or statements of initial interest 

about this position can be sent by e-mail to Dr. Cyril 

Párkányi, Chair, Inorganic Chemistry Search Committee, 

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, 

Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, 

P.O. Box 3091, Boca Raton, FL 33431-0991. E-mail: 

parkanyi@fau.edu. A state-supported institution with 

over 25,000 students, FAU is an Equal Opportunity 

Employer/Equal Access Institution. 

POSTDOCTORAL POSITIONS IN ANALYTICAL/ 

PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY. Two positions are available 

in the laboratory of Dr. Jeanne E. Pemberton at the 

University of Arizona: 1. Collaborative project involving 

characterization of microbially-produced biosurfactants. 

2. Studies of interfacial fluid structure and 

dynamics using various surface spectroscopies. Projects 

are for one year with the possibility of a second 

year upon mutual agreement. Minimum requirements 

include a PhD in chemistry or closely related area 

along with some relevant research experience. Send 

resume and three letters of reference to pembertn@u. 

arizona.edu or Dr. Jeanne E. Pemberton, Department 

of Chemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson, 

AZ 85721. UA is an EOE. 

THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY, Yale University, 

intends to make two tenured appointments at the rank 

of Professor to begin July 1, 2009. We seek creative 

teacher-scholars with an international reputation for 

outstanding research in synthetic inorganic chemistry 

and/or synthetic organic chemistry. Yale University 

is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. 

Yale values diversity among its students, faculty, 

and staff and strongly encourages applications from, 

and nominations of, women and underrepresented minorities. 

Applicants should send a CV and a statement 

of research plans to: Chair, Senior Search Committee, 

Yale University, P.O. Box 208107, New Haven, CT 

06520-8107. Review of applications will begin February 

15, 2009. 

SITUATIONS WANTED 

CONSULTANTS 

WWW.CHEMCONSULTANTS.ORG 

The Chemical Consultants Network 

Find Qualified Experts Among Hundreds of Members 

Supported by ACS and AIChE 

NEED HELP in TSCA compliance requiring a PMN? 

Check tsca-assistant.com or call (610)384-3268 


DIRECTORY SECTION 

This section includes: CHEMICALS EX- 

CHANGE—Chemicals, Resins, Gums, 

Oils, Waxes, Pigments, etc.: EQUIP- 

MENT MART—New and Used Equipment, 

Instruments; Facilities for plant 

and laboratory: TECHNICAL SERVIC- 

ES—Consultants; Engineering, Testing, 

Professional Services. Advertising 

Rates: Space rate is $680 per inch. 

Lower rates available on contract basis. 

An “inch” advertisement measures 

7/8” deep on one column. Additional 

space in even lineal inch units. Maximum 

space—4” per Directory per issue. 

Set ads due 21 days in advance of 

publications. 

Please consult your Advertising Sales 

Representative for upcoming issue 

dates and costs. 

AUCTION 

ONSITE & WEBCAST AUCTION 

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 9:30 AM PST 

350 South Lewis Road, Camarillo, CA 93012 

Preview: Mon., Feb. 23 and Tues., Feb. 24, 9am to 4pm 

Assets No Longer Required in the Continuing Operations of: 

IMATION CORP. 

STATE-OF-THE-ART MAGNETIC 

MEDIA STORAGE MANUFACTURER 

Mutli Million Dollar Sale! Over 3,000 Lots! 

PROCESS EQUIPMENT, INCL.: Mixers, (27+) Sand Mills, Slitters, 

Winders, Ovens, Hitachi Scanning Electron Microscope, 

(25+) Nicolet, Zeiss, Leica, Nikon Imaging Microscopes, Huriba 

Laser Analyzer, HP Samplers, HP Gas Chromatographs, 

Mettler Toledo Halogen Moisture Analyzers, Lab Furnaces, 

Counting Scales, DV-E Viscometers, Spectrometers, Walker 

Scientific Vibrating Sample Magnetometer, Textronics, HP and 

LeCroy Oscilliscopes, Lab Scales, (18) BRUDERER Punch 

Presses, $30 Million Dollar Solvent Recovery Plant & More! 

Tel. 818.508.7034 

www.BIDITUP.com 

Chemical & 

Engineering 

News 

is read by over 

300,000 chemists, 

chemical engineers 

and scientists 

each week. 

If you need chemists or engineers, 

Chemical & Engineering News is here to 

help with... 

FAST CLOSE 

One week - from your desk to thousands 

of potential applicants. 

If your Press Ready PDF reaches us by 12 

noon on Mon day (except legal holidays), 

your classified ad will be in the hands 

of potential applicants the very next 

Monday in the latest issue of Chemical 

& Engineering News - assur ing a quick 

response. 

Because FAST CLOSE space is limited, 

reservations are on a first-call, first-in 

basis. FAST CLOSE rates require a 15% 

premium over our regular rates. Some 

space restrictions apply. Does not apply 

to standard set ads. 

For complete details, call 

Matt McCloskey at 

(610) 964-8061 

Subscription & Member Record Service 2009: Send 

all new and renewal subscriptions with payment to: ACS, 

P.O. Box 182426, Columbus, OH 04318-2426. Changes 

of address, claims for missing issues, subscription orders, 

status of records and accounts should be directed 

to: Manager, Member & Subscriber Services, ACS, P.O. 

Box 3337, Columbus, OH 43210; (800) 333-9511 or 

(614) 447-3776. 

Subscription Rates 2009: Printed editions (1 year, 

ACS member): $36.37—included in the ACS membership 

dues of $136 for members living in North America; 

members living outside North America who opt to receive 

the print edition add $58 for shipping and handling. 

(1 year, nonmember individual): North America, 

$198; Outside North America, $256. (1 year, institutions): 

North America, $273; Outside North America, 

$331. 

Single copies: Current $22. Rates for back issues 

and volumes are available from Publication Support 

Services, ACS, 1155—16th St., N.W., Washington, DC 

20036. Back and current issues available on microfilm 

and microfiche. Rates on request from Microform 

Program, ACS. 

Chemical & Engineering News (ISSN 0009-2347) is 

published weekly except for the last week in December 

by the American Chemical Society at 1155—16th St., 

N.W., Washington, DC 20036. Periodicals postage is 

paid at Washington, DC, and additional mailing offices. 

POST MASTER: Send address changes to: Chemical & 

Engineering News, Member & Subscriber Services, P.O. 

Box 3337, Columbus, OH 43210. 

Canada Post Mail Agreement Number: 0953288 

ACS assumes no responsibility for the statements 

and opinions advanced by the contributors to its 

publications. 

C&EN is published in print format, and may be published 

in other formats, methods, and technologies of distribution 

now known or later developed. For all illustrations 

submitted to and used in C&EN, it is understood and 

agreed that they may appear in other formats, methods, 

and technologies of distribution, including but not limited 

to reprints of the articles to which they apply. 

Copyright permission: Reprographic copying beyond 

that permitted by Section 107 or 108 of the U.S. Copyright 

Act is allowed for internal use only, provided that 

the fee of $13.00 per article copy is paid to the Copyright 

Clearance Center (CCC), phone +1 (978) 750-8400. 

Direct reprint and other permission requests to ACS 

Copyright Office, Publications Division, 1155—16th St., 

N.W., Washington, DC 20036. For quotes and ordering 

information on ordering bulk reprints, call CJS Reprint 

Services at (888) 257-2134 or (410) 819-3995. The CCC 

Code for C&EN is 0009-2347/02/$13.00. 

ACS Publications' Advertising Sales Group 

(See list of offices to the right) 

© Copyright 2009, American Chemical Society 

Canadian GST Reg. No. R127571347 

ACS PUBLICATIONS 

ADVERTISING SALES GROUP 

676 East Swedesford Road / Suite 202 

Wayne, PA 19087-1612 

Telephone: (610) 964-8061 

Fax No.: (610) 964-8071 

DIRECTOR, ADVERTISING SALES 

Kenneth M. Carroll, VP 

ADVERTISING PRODUCTION DIRECTOR 

Linda S. Morrow 

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING MANAGER 

Matthew J. McCloskey 

SALES REPRESENTATIVES 

MidAtlantic …Dean Baldwin, Lisa Kerr, 676 East 

Swedesford Rd., Ste. 202, Wayne, PA 19087-1612; 

Tel: 610-964-8061; Fax: 610-964-8071; Email: 

baldwin@ acs.org, kerr@acs.org 

New England … Dean Baldwin, Lisa Kerr, 676 East 

Swedesford Rd., Ste. 202, Wayne, PA 19087 USA; 

Tel: 610-964-8061; Fax: 610-964-8071; Email: 

baldwin@ acs.org, kerr@acs.org 

Canada … Dean Baldwin, Thomas Scanlan, 676 East 

Swedesford Rd., Ste. 202, Wayne, PA 19087 USA; 

Tel: 610-964-8061; Fax: 610-964-8071; Email: 

baldwin@acs.org, scanlan@acs.org 

Midwest & Southwest … Thomas M. Scanlan, 540 

Frontage Rd., Suite 3245, Northfield, IL 60093- 

1203; Tel: 847-441-6383; Fax: 847-441-6382; Email: 

scanlan@acs.org 

Southeast … Lisa Kerr, 676 East Swedesford Rd., Ste. 

202, Wayne, PA 19087 USA; Tel: 610-964-8061; Fax: 

610-964-8071; Email: kerr@acs.org 

West Coast/Colorado … Bob LaPointe, One Annabel 

Lane, Ste. 209, San Ramon, CA 94583, Tel: 925-277- 

1259; Fax: 925-277-1359; Email: lapointe@acs.org 

United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Denmark, Middle 

East… Paul Barrett, Hartswood Media, Hallmark 

House, 25 Downham Road, Ramsden Heath, Essex 

CM11 1PU, UK; Tel: 011 44 1268 711 560; Fax: 011 44 

1268 711 567; Email: ieaco@aol.com 

Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain… Nadia Liefsoens, 

FIVE MEDIA, Zandstraat 4, B-3500 Hasselt, 

Belgium; Tel/Fax: 011 32 11 22 43 97; Email: nadia@ 

fivemedia.be 

Germany, Switzerland, Central Europe … IMP, Inter- 

MediaPartners GmbH, In der Fleute 46, D-42389 

Wuppertal, Germany; Tel: 49-202-271690; Fax: 49- 

202-2716920; Email: schuh@impgmbh.de 

Japan … Shigemaro Yasui, Mai Hashikura, Global 

Exchange Co., Ltd., MIYATA Building 4F, 2-15-11 

Shinkawa, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 140-0032, Japan, Tel: 0 

11 81 3 3523 6333; Fax: 0 11 81 3 3523 6330 

China … eChinaChem, Inc., 3/F, Hengchen Plaza, No. 

1, Lane 338, Tianshan Road, Changning District, 

Shanghai, China 200336; Tel: 0 11 86 21 52395935 

1007; Fax: 0 11 86 21 5240 1255; E-mail cen@ 

echinachem.com; website www.echinachem.com 

Australia … Keith Sandell, Sandell Strike Skinner 

Whipp, P.O. Box 3087, Telopea, NSW 2117, Australia; 

Tel: 0 11 612 9873 2444; Fax: 0 11 612 9873 3555; 

E-mail keith@sssw.com.au 

Korea … DOOBEE Inc., Global Business Division, 8th 

Flr., DooBee Bldg., 11-3, Jeong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul 

100-120, Korea, Tel: 82-2-3702-1740, Fax: 82-2- 

3702-1777 

India … Faredoon Kuka, RMA Media, C-308, Twin Arcade, 

Military Road, Marol, Andheri (East), Mumbai 

400 059, India; Tel: 91-22-6570-3081; Fax: 91 22 

2925 3735; E-mail info@rmamedia.com 

Central & South America … 676 East Swedesford Rd., 

Ste. 202, Wayne, PA 19087 USA; Tel: 610-964-8061; 

Fax: 610-964-8071; Email: carroll@acs.org 


newscripts 

MEN OF SCIENCE, MEN OF FAITH 

www.acs.org 

ACS leads the way in 

Agriculture, Applied 

Chemistry and Food 

Science & Technology. 

With 45, 286 total citations, an 

increase in ISI ® Impact Factor to 

2.532, and 1,530 total articles 

published in 2007, the Journal of 

Agricultural and Food Chemistry is 

#1 in citations, impact and articles 

published in Multidisciplinary 

Agriculture as reported by the 

2007 Journal Citation Reports ® 

by Thomson Reuters. It is also the 

#1 ranked journal in total citations 

and articles published in Applied 

Chemistry and Food Science 

& Technology. 

Contribute, publish, and review 

with the journals of the American 

Chemical Society. 

Visit http://pubs.acs.org/jafc 

for more information. 

Galileo versus the Inquisition. Scopes 

versus the State of Tennessee. And 

let’s not forget Scully versus Mulder 

on “The X-Files” and Jack Shephard versus 

John Locke on “Lost.” The HUNDREDS- 

OF-YEARS-LONG BATTLE between men 

(and women) of science and people of faith 

continues to rage. Even though humanity 

is 400-plus years deep into this debate, we 

seem to be no closer to a unified conclusion. 

Now, researchers at the University 

of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 

and the University of Chicago 

provide some insight as to why. 

According to “Science and God: 

An automatic opposition between 

ultimate explanations,” published in 

the January edition of the Journal 

of Experimental Social Psychology 

(DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2008.07.013), 

a person’s unconscious attitudes 

toward God and science are 

fundamentally opposed because 

they offer competing and logically 

incompatible explanations for the 

same phenomena. 

The researchers wanted to 

explore how religious beliefs effect a 

person’s dismissal of scientific theories and 

vice versa. To investigate this, they conducted 

two experiments designed to manipulate 

how well science or God can be used for 

ultimate explanations of rather hefty questions 

such as how Earth came to be. 

The study found that when people 

summoned science as a highly credible 

rationalization of ultimate questions, Godbased 

explanations lost their significance. 

But when God was portrayed as a strong 

explanation for these same questions, 

science lost its value. The problem, say the 

researchers, is that science and God are 

both ultimate explanations; they have to 

conflict with each other because they both 

can’t simultaneously be where the explanatory 

buck stops. 

A dual belief system that accommodates 

both God and science and that thereby allows 

such believers to say things like “God 

put the wheels in motion, but nature took 

over from there,” cannot be founded in our 

brains in a logically consistent way, the Illinois 

researchers contend. Maintaining logical 

consistency is only possible by sticking 

to one type of ultimate theory at a time. 

“This is not to suggest that science and 

religion must always conflict, nor that one 

system of belief must necessarily be chosen 

over the other,” the report says. Even so, 

NEWSCOM 

the researchers state that “the conflict 

between science and religion is not an issue 

that is likely to go away any time soon,” and 

the constant competition between the two 

schools of thought as ultimate explanations 

“is likely to create an intuitive and automatic 

opposition that may present a permanent 

challenge for both systems of belief.” 

The conflict between God-based and 

science-based explanations is set for yet 

Heated: One famous evolution-versus-creation 

bout, the Scopes trial, was moved outside in 

Dayton, Tenn., on July 20, 1925, because it was 

too hot in the courtroom. 

another round now that Gary Chism (R), 

a member of the Mississippi House of 

Representatives, has followed his Alabama 

legislative brethren by introducing a bill 

that would require textbooks in the state 

to include a disclaimer dubbing evolution a 

“controversial theory.” 

In its 200 words, the disclaimer raises 

standard creationist concerns such as the 

“many topics with unanswered questions 

about the origin of life,” including “the sudden 

appearance of major groups of animals 

in the fossil record” and the “complete and 

complex set of instructions for building a 

living body possessed by all living things.” 

The proposed disclaimer would advise 

students to “study hard and keep an open 

mind” to other—that is, nonscientific— 

explanations for the origin of life. After 

all, the suggested disclaimer notes, “any 

statement about life’s origins should be 

considered a theory” because “no one was 

present when life first appeared on Earth.” 

Come to think of it, Rep. Chism, how 

does anyone know that? No one was there 

to report the absence of everyone else. 

FAITH HAYDEN wrote this week’s column. 

Please send comments and suggestions to 

newscripts@acs.org. 


what 

if? 

What if a young person has untapped potential? What if she 

is from a poor family, goes to an under-resourced school, 

doesn’t see any hope or future? What will happen to her? 

But what if new worlds are opened to her? What if she’s 

inspired? Could she become a college grad? A scientist? 

Make an important discovery? Inspire other future scientists? 

What if you could make this happen? What if you could help 

change her life for as little as twenty five dollars? 

Would you? 

Will you? 

Please support Project SEED. 

I will 

make a 

difference. 

www.ACS-SEED.org

Focussing on drug manufacturing 

processes at Japan’s largest 

pharmaceutical meeting point 

For more information please contact the 

P-MEC Sales department: 

International 

phone: +31 346 559424 

e-mail: pmecsales@cmpi.biz 

Japan 

phone: +81-3-5296-1020 

e-mail: info@cphijapan.com 

Co-located with CPhI Japan and ICSE Japan 

21-23 APRIL 2009 

TOKYO BIG SIGHT 

JAPAN 

WWW.PMEC-JAPAN.COM/ENG 

Ambition P-MEC Reality

Chemical & Engineering News Digital Edition ... - IMM@BUCT

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?