Chemical & Engineering News Digital Edition - Institute of Materia ...

APRIL 14, 2008
SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY
Congress probes industry
ties to scientists, EPA P.35
LIFE IN THE CLOUDS
Bacteria survive in the sky
P.40
THE ANTIBIOTIC CHALLENGE
Finding novel drugs is an uphill battle P.15
PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

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55
VOLUME 86, NUMBER 15
APRIL 14, 2008
COVER STORY
BATTLING
BACTERIA
As companies grapple with
bacterial resistance and
cost to discover antibiotics,
doctors and drug firms
worry about gram-negative
bacteria. PAGES 15, 22
QUOTE
OF THE WEEK
“You can really
do awesome
things with
a bachelor’s
degree, and
I think that
sometimes that
gets missed
along the way.”
JANINE VAN GEMERT,
DEVELOPMENT CHEMIST,
HUNTSMAN POLYURE-
THANES PAGE 55
NEWS OF THE WEEK
8 ACS IN NEW ORLEANS
National meeting was held jointly with the American
Institute for Chemical Engineers.
9 NOVARTIS AND ALCON
Pharma firm will pay billions for majority stake in
Nestlé eye care unit.
9 REACH PREREGISTRATION
Preventing disruptions in chemicals commerce is
goal as EU regulation phases in.
10 TOXIC SOCKS
Washing releases silver nanoparticles embedded
in fabric to control odor.
10 TAKEDA BUYS MILLENNIUM
Purchase for $8.8 billion furthers globalization of
Japanese firm.
11 W.R. GRACE TO REEMERGE
Settlement with asbestos claimants could bring
the company out of bankruptcy.
11 ENERGY RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM
Event for chemists and chemical engineers raises
awareness of basic energy research needs.
12 CATALYTIC REACTIONS ON WATCH
Infrared microspectroscopy monitors reactions
in pores of zeolite crystals.
12 CECH TO LEAVE HHMI
Biochemist will exit next spring; nationwide
search for successor is under way.
13 FINE CHEMICALS IN JAPAN
Trade show suggests Japanese pharma may be
open to foreign suppliers.
13 ISOPRENE IN THE AIR
Research indicates hydroxyl radicals are being
recycled by jungle-emitted isoprene.
BUSINESS
25 CONCENTRATES
CENEAR 86 (15) 1–64 • ISSN 0009-2347
27 PAYING THE PRICE
Soaring sulfur and sulfuric acid prices hit
chemical c
companies hard.
30
REICHHOLD REBOUNDS
Previously a money loser, resins maker today is
profitable with $1 billion in annual sales.
32 PETROCHEMICALS POWWOW
Industry producers discuss high energy costs.
GOVERNMENT & POLICY
34 CONCENTRATES
35 PROBING EPA
House committee investigates industry bias in
agency peer review.
37 HINDSIGHTS
Employment rates continue to grow slightly, but
other indicators reveal the U.S. jobs outlook is
not so bright.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
39 CONCENTRATES
40 MICROBIAL METEOROLOGY
Bacteria in the atmosphere have proteins that
nucleate ice, potentially initiating precipitation.
44 WHAT’S THAT STUFF?
Dryer sheets soften fabrics, add fragrance, and
reduce static cling.
EMPLOYMENT
55 ADVANCED DEGREE OPTIONAL
B.S. and M.S. chemists find challenging and
diverse careers in the corporate sector.
THE DEPARTMENTS
3 EDITOR’S PAGE
6 LETTERS
45 ACS COMMENT
Serving the chemical,
life sciences,
and laboratory worlds
47 ACS NEWS
64 NEWSCRIPTS
COVER: As bacteria evolve and resist current antibiotics
(like Cubist’s daptomycin, shown), drug developers strive to
bring new revenue generators to market. imagezoo
THIS WEEK ON
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
ACS MEETING BLOG
Catch up on blog posts from the national
meeting at www.
cenblog.org.
PLUS: Read about
industry concerns
over FDA’s crackdown on antibiotic approval
regulations.

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Volume 86, Number 15
Grand Science Challenges
ONE OF THE NUMEROUS presidential
events at last week’s ACS national meeting
in New Orleans was a session titled “Energy
Research: Future Challenges & Opportunities.”
The symposium was jointly sponsored
by ACS and the American Institute of
Chemical Engineers (see page 10).
The keynote speaker at the session was
Raymond L. Orbach, undersecretary for
science at the Department of Energy. In his
talk, Orbach said there are “two questions
that loom over humanity today: How will
we supply all this needed new energy, and
how can we do so without adding dangerously
to atmospheric greenhouse gases?
“The energy and environmental challenge
confronting us in the century ahead is
truly monumental. It may be one of the biggest
challenges humanity has ever faced.
“Incremental improvements in our current
technologies will not be enough to
meet this challenge. To provide an answer
to these two great questions, we will need
transformational breakthroughs in basic
science that provide the foundation for
truly disruptive technologies that fundamentally
change the rules of the game.”
During his talk, Orbach referred to a
January 2008 DOE report, “Directing Matter
& Energy: Five Challenges for Science
and the Imagination.” The report was prepared
by the Subcommittee on Grand Challenges
for Basic Energy Sciences, which was
cochaired by Graham Fleming, a chemistry
professor at the University of California,
Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory, and Mark A. Ratner, a chemistry
professor at Northwestern University.
It is a remarkable document. In many
places it reads more like a physical chemistry
textbook than a DOE report. I do not
say that in a pejorative way—I found “Directing
Energy & Matter” to be one of the
more engaging and enlightening scientific
reports I’ve read in some time.
“It is frequently said that any sufficiently
advanced technology is indistinguishable
from magic,” the report begins. “Modern science
stands at the beginning of what might
seem by today’s standards to be an almost
magical leap forward in our understanding
and control of matter, energy, and information
at the molecular and atomic levels.”
The report continues: “For the future,
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 3 APRIL 14, 2008
FROM THE EDITOR
imagine a clean, cheap, and virtually unlimited
supply of electrical power from solarenergy
systems modeled on the photosynthetic
processes utilized by green plants,
and power lines that could transmit this
electricity from the deserts of the Southwest
to the Eastern Seaboard at nearly 100%
efficiency. Imagine information and communications
systems based on light rather
than electrons that could predict when
and where hurricanes make landfall, along
with self-repairing materials that could
survive those hurricanes. Imagine synthetic
materials fully compatible and able to communicate
with biological materials. This is
speculative, to be sure, but not so very far
beyond the scope of possibilities.”
The five grand challenges laid out and
discussed in detail in the report are the
following:
■ How do we control material processes at
the level of electrons?
■ How do we design and perfect atom- and
energy-efficient synthesis of revolutionary
new forms of matter with tailored
properties?
■ How do remarkable properties of matter
emerge from complex correlations of the
atomic or electronic constituents and how
can we control these properties?
■ How can we master energy and information
on the nanoscale to create new technologies
with capabilities rivaling those of
living things?
■ How do we characterize and control matter
away—especially very far away—from
equilibrium.
Each of these challenges is discussed
in detail in the following chapters of the
report. Chapter 2, for example, on the
quantum control of electrons in atoms,
molecules, and materials, discusses the
transition from a science of understanding
how electrons behave in materials to a
new science of quantum control in which
the properties of materials are engineered
through direct manipulation of electrons.
It is a challenging and visionary report
that is well worth your time.
Thanks for reading.
Editor-in-chief
Views expressed on this page are those of the author and not necessarily those of ACS.

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DENIS REILLEY
CONGRATULATIONS on your fine article
on Denis Reilley’s receiving the SCI Medal;
he is certainly an exceptional gentleman
(C&EN, March 10, page 32). I was
fortunate to have worked for him when
he managed DuPont’s titanium dioxide
business. Many of my colleagues were unable
to fathom his management style, for
he was a type rare in senior management
and in a ticket-punching assignment. We
expected him to be another bumpkin but
found him instead to be a very sophisticated
intellectual. Many people now realize
what we lost when he left for Praxair.
James W. Reeves
Wilmington, Del.
POLLUTING WITH
PHARMACEUTICALS
CONGRATULATIONS TO C&EN for an
excellent and comprehensive article on
pharmaceuticals and how they enter our
LETTERS
environment after their intended use
(C&EN, Feb. 25, page 13). Unfortunately,
the story gave little more than a cursory
nod to methods of medicine recovery and
disposal, such as minimizing the environmental
and human impacts at the end
of a medicine’s intended use.
The ACS Detroit Section has been raising
awareness about proper medication
disposal for two years. The local section
created a pamphlet that details where old
and used medications can be turned in or
disposed of properly in the local area. The
pamphlet has been distributed at public
outreach events at which the Detroit Section
has had a presence in and around the
metro Detroit area and has been posted
on the Detroit Section website (www.
detroitsection-acs.org/presdru.pdf ). This
informative tool was created in response
to a survey sent out to section members
asking what they wanted from their section
and its leadership. The response was
a strong desire for a more environmentally
responsible, proactive position on
matters of environmental concern.
Furthermore, a sample examination
of the local section
websites for New
York City, Miami,
Chicago, and Los
Angeles, as well
as for Bayer and
Pfizer, turns up additional
material
for this story. That
information could
have jump-started
any number of readers,
as well as ACS
local sections, to
think about this
matter more deeply
or perhaps to initiate
their own local
awareness program.
At the risk of
sounding like an
alarmist, merely
talking about pharmaceuticalpollution
is not enough.
Effective, simple
steps can be implemented
now to help
minimize or even
alleviate this problem.
C&EN really
does have a duty to
bring such possible
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 6 APRIL 14, 2008
solutions to its readers when it discusses
this type of condition or problem. The
article was good but could have been
much better and could have provided so
much more.
Mark A. Benvenuto
Detroit
CORRECTION
■ March 3, page 42: The third time interval
in the table on industrial chemists’ salaries
should be 10–14 years, not 10–12 years.
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LINDA WANG/C&EN news
of the week
APRIL 14, 2008 EDITED BY WILLIAM G. SCHULZ & ALICIA J. CHAMBERS
ACS MEETS IN
NEW ORLEANS
PROFESSIONALS: Chemists,
chemical engineers hold joint
meeting in the Crescent City
FOR THE FIRST TIME in the 100 years since
the American Institute of Chemical Engineers
(AIChE) was formed as an entity separate from
the American Chemical Society, the two organizations
held their national meetings together last week.
The joint meeting was held in New Orleans, a city still
suffering from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina,
which struck the Gulf Coast in 2005.
Speaking to the ACS Council, ACS President Bruce
E. Bursten said, “I’m sure that many of you share
my great sense of pride that our ACS stood by this
wonderful city after the tragedy of Katrina. We did
the right thing as we always try to do.” The city’s
famed French Quarter and Warehouse Districts,
where the meeting was held, have nearly completed
their recoveries.
The meeting hosted 13,454 participants, including
6,652 attendees and 4,636 students as well as those in
other registration categories. The exposition contained
482 booths with 319 exhibitors, and 15 workshops were
presented there.
Two major presidential sessions were held in the
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 8 APRIL 14, 2008
areas of science education and the future of energy. The
energy symposium was a joint effort with AIChE, and
its keynote was given by Undersecretary Raymond L.
Orbach, director of the Office of Science at the Department
of Energy (see pages 3 and 11).
At their meetings, the ACS Board and Council heard
reports from society officers and committee chairs. On
recommendation from the Committee on Public Affairs
& Public Relations, the board approved the tagline
“Chemistry for Life.” This tagline will be the central
theme in ACS communications and will be featured on
most ACS products. It is one component of a campaign
to establish ACS as a recognizable brand.
The Society Committee on Budget & Finance (B&F)
reported that ACS is in sound financial shape, having
ended 2007 with a net contribution from operations
of $9.6 million on revenues of $444.2 million and expenses
of $434.6 million. This was $2.2 million favorable
to the approved budget. After including the results
of the Member Insurance Program and
new ventures, the society’s overall net
contribution for 2007 was $10.7 million,
which was $5.4 million favorable to the
approved budget. B&F also voted to recommend
to the council that the dues for
2009 be increased by $4.00 to the fully
escalated rate of $140, which the council
approved.
In its most far-reaching action, the
ACS Council paved the way for students,
including undergraduates, to become
full ACS members with voting rights. To
do this, councilors approved an omnibus
petition that included extensive changes
to the society’s constitution and bylaws.
The changes must be ratified by the ACS
Board and the ACS membership before
becoming effective.
From a field of four nominees, the
council chose Joseph S. Francisco, William
E. Moore Distinguished Professor
at Purdue University, and Josef Michl,
professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University
of Colorado, Boulder, to vie for the role of ACS
president-elect in 2009. Councilors were also informed
of the results of elections for candidates for directors
of Districts III and VI. These elections will be held in
the fall.
The joint ACS-AIChE Career Fair served 936 candidates
and had 807 available positions among 104
employers. In addition, 26 workshops and hundreds of
mock interviews and résumé reviews were conducted.
For comparison, last fall, the ACS Career Fair served
1,526 candidates and had 913 available positions among
126 employers. —LINDA RABER

EYE FOR BUSINESS
PHARMACEUTICALS: Novartis will
pay billions for a stake in Alcon
NOVARTIS AND NESTLÉ have signed a deal
through which Novartis will buy just less than
25% of Nestlé’s Alcon eye care business and
have the option to purchase another 52% by 2011. When
completed, the deal between the Swiss companies will
be worth $39 billion.
Alcon makes and sells pharmaceutical, surgical, and
consumer eye care products. In 2007, it derived $1.6
billion in net income from sales of $5.6 billion, of which
about 40% were in the pharmaceutical area.
Even if it takes until 2011, Novartis wants to continue
to diversify its business—which already includes pharmaceuticals,
generic drugs, vaccines, diagnostics, and
consumer health products—and better position itself to
address challenges in the health care environment.
“This acquisition furthers our strategy of accessing
high-growth segments of the health care market while
balancing inherent risks,” says Novartis CEO Daniel
Vasella. The two companies have complementary prod-
REACH
PREREGISTRATION
REGULATION: EU agency raises
awareness about first deadlines
under chemical law
THE EUROPEAN CHEMICALS AGENCY (ECHA)
is launching a campaign designed to prevent disruption
in commerce as the European Union’s new
regulatory system for chemicals begins to be phased in.
The effort, which officially begins on April 14, is
targeted at the next quickly approaching milestone in
implementation of the EU’s law on the Registration,
Evaluation & Authorization of Chemicals (REACH).
When fully implemented, REACH will require basic
safety data on every chemical in EU
commerce and will restrict any substance
deemed to endanger health or
the environment.
Geert Dancet, director of ECHA,
visited the U.S. last week to drum up
awareness about the REACH preregistration
period, which begins June
1. This is the first step in an 11-year
process to register the substances
currently on the EU market, and it
applies to any substance made or imported
in amounts of 1 metric ton or
more per year. The agency will accept
EUROPEAN CHEMICALS AGENCY
uct offerings in the eye care area, and together
will control 37% of that market.
The companies have structured the deal
in two steps to accommodate the desires
of Nestlé. Novartis will pay $11 billion for
the initial stake in Alcon in the second
half of 2008. Between January 2010 and
July 2011, Novartis has the exclusive
right to purchase another 52% at a fixed
price and eventually own 77%; minority
shareholders will own the remaining 23%
of the company.
During a conference call with Novartis
executives, financial analysts questioned the deal’s
structure. Although the Alcon business is profitable
and has been growing at double-digit rates, the twostep
process will not allow Novartis to realize any cost
savings in the short term as a minority shareholder, despite
making a significant payout. Meanwhile, the company
must take on about $5.5 billion in debt to finance
the first step of the deal and will need to borrow further
to complete the second step.
On Monday, April 7, when the deal was announced,
Nestlé’s stock price rose slightly while Novartis’
dropped about 4%. Regulators must still approve the
deal. —ANN THAYER
preregistration submissions until Dec. 1 of this year.
As of Dec. 1, companies will not be allowed to sell
chemicals in the EU that are not preregistered, the
agency warns.
Manufacturers based outside the EU cannot preregister
substances. They may, however, select a third-party
representative in the EU to carry out preregistration
for them.
Companies that file a preregistration document
for a chemical can continue making or importing that
substance without completing formal registration until
November 2010, May 2013, or May 2018. The deadline
depends on the toxicity of the substance and on how
much of it they manufacture or import, with the earliest
deadline for higher production compounds and for
chemicals with demonstrated toxicity.
Information required for preregistration includes
the name of the substance and an identity code such
as a Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number, the
name and address of the com-
Dancet pany that makes the chemical
within the EU or exports it to
the EU, and the volume of the
substance.
At a news briefing on April 7,
Dancet stressed that preregistration
is free. He added that
ECHA is establishing a help
desk to assist companies outside
of the EU working through
third-party representatives to
complete preregistration submissions.
—CHERYL HOGUE
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 9 APRIL 14, 2008
Alcon’s AcrySof
intraocular lens
can be used to
surgically correct
for cataracts and
presbyopia.
ALCON
As of Dec. 1,
companies
will not be
allowed to
sell certain
chemicals
in the EU
that are not
preregistered.

TROY BENN
Electron
microscopy
confirmed presence
of spherical silver
nanoparticles in six
brands of socks.
Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical will spend
$8.8 billion in cash to acquire Millennium
Pharmaceuticals of Cambridge, Mass.
“Millennium has strong discovery,
development, and commercial capabilities
led by a well-established management
team,” Takeda President Yasuchika
Hasegawa says. “Our strong desire is to
retain Millennium employees, who have
created an entrepreneurial and innovative
culture.”
Already the largest pharmaceutical
company in Japan with nearly $11 billion
in annual sales, Takeda sees its purchase
of a U.S. biotechnology company as a
way to expand its worldwide position in
NEWS OF THE WEEK
TOXIC SOCKS
ACS MEETING NEWS: Silver
nanoparticles intended to control
odor release in the wash
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY researchers
have found that socks impregnated with odorfighting
silver nanoparticles release the nanoparticles
when washed. This study, the first to examine
how nanoparticles are released from commercially
available clothing,
raises concerns about
silver particles leaching
into wastewater and the
environment.
Troy M. Benn, a
graduate student at ASU,
presented these results
to the Division of Environmental
Chemistry at
last week’s ACS national
meeting in New Orleans.
Details of the work,
which Benn carried out
with ASU professor of civil and environmental engineering
Paul Westerhoff, recently appeared in Environmental
Science & Technology (DOI: 10.1021/es7032718).
Various nanoparticles are increasingly used to make
clothing free of wrinkles and resistant to stains, but
little is known about what happens to nanoparticles in
the laundry. The study is significant because it examines
whether such products release nanoparticles during
use, Mark R. Wiesner, an environmental engineer at
Duke University, said.
Benn and Westerhoff reasoned that the sock manu-
PHARMACEUTICALS Takeda buys Millennium to build U.S. business
the oncology drug market. Similar moves
were made in late 2007 by the Japanese
drug firms Eisai, which acquired MGI
Pharma, and Astellas Pharma, which
bought Agensys (C&EN, Dec. 17, 2007,
page 8).
Takeda, however, is spending significantly
more than its Japanese competitors
to buy a profitable, midsized
U.S. biotech business. The 15-year-old
Millennium had revenues of $528 million
in 2007; $265 million came from its
U.S. sales of the multiple myeloma drug
Velcade, and $167 million was royalties
on non-U.S. Velcade sales by its partner,
Johnson & Johnson.
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 10 APRIL 14, 2008
facturing process may control how much silver is
released during washing because the amounts varied
widely among the socks they tested.
Juan P. Hinestroza, assistant professor of fiber science
at Cornell University, agrees. He said the varying
amounts and morphologies of the silver released are
indeed functions of different processes used to deposit
the silver onto the textile material and the properties
of the textile substrate. He hopes this study will
motivate scientists to develop synthetic routes that
take advantage of the properties of silver nanoparticles
in textiles while preventing leaching into wastewater
streams.
The ASU researchers shook each of six brands of
socks in one-half liter of distilled water with no detergent
for one hour and then analyzed the effluent with
electron microscopy. The socks contained up to 1,360
μg of silver per gram of socks, and released as much as
650 μg of silver in both ionic and colloidal forms. “In
the environment, both ionic and nanosilver exhibit
adverse effects to aquatic organisms, although through
what appear to be different biological mechanisms,”
Westerhoff said.
The ASU researchers’ model indicated that both
kinds of silver would be trapped in biosolids in wastewater
treatment facilities. They said increased use
of nanoproducts could produce increased amounts of
silver in these biosolids, which could limit the use of
such biosolids as agricultural fertilizer. Benn added
that the Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t
currently regulate silver levels in biosolids from
wastewater treatment but does, for example,
list maximum concentrations for drinking water.
And in 2006, EPA officials announced that the agency
would begin regulating as a pesticide the silver ions
released in a washing machine that are intended to
kill bacteria (C&EN, Dec. 4, 2006, page 14).—RACHEL
PETKEWICH
Takeda has made other globalization
moves as well. In February, it set up a
$1.2 billion deal with Amgen to gain access
to 13 molecules in Amgen’s drug
development pipeline.
And the Japanese company recently
restructured its U.S. operations, in part
by dissolving and dividing up its 30-yearold
TAP Pharmaceutical Products joint
venture with Abbott Laboratories. If both
shareholders and regulators approve of
Takeda’s offer for Millennium—both companies’
boards have already approved
the deal—the biotech firm will become a
stand-alone subsidiary of Takeda.—ANN
THAYER

A sbestos
GRACE REACHES
ASBESTOS DEAL
LIABILITIES: Settlement could
allow firm to emerge from
bankruptcy by year’s end
claimants have reached an agreement
with W.R. Grace that may allow the firm to
emerge from seven years of bankruptcy by the
end of 2008.
The deal will set up a trust fund worth more than $3
billion to compensate all present and future asbestosrelated
personal injury claimants. Under the plan,
reached with claimant representative committees set
up by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh, Grace
will make an initial cash contribution of $250 million
to fund the trust and then pay a further $1.6 billion over
15 years. The company will also contribute rights to
its asbestos liability insurance coverage, which could
amount to about $900 million, and rights to buy 10 million
shares of Grace stock.
In addition, the trust will contain cash and stock
now worth about $1.2 billion from Fresenius Medical
Care and Sealed Air, companies that had acquired
ENERGY DEFINES
SUSTAINABILITY
ACS MEETING NEWS: Symposium lays
out challenges for chemists, chemical
engineers in energy research
IF INEXPENSIVE and nonpolluting electricity and
transportation fuels were available to meet global
energy demands, all other sustainability goals, such
as abundant food, clean water, and human health, could
be achieved. That realization has had a profound influence
on topics covered at American Chemical Society
national meetings in recent years, a trend that continued
at last week’s New Orleans meeting.
One of the meeting’s defining events, designed to
increase awareness of future needs in basic energy
research, was a symposium hosted by American Institute
of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) President Dale L.
Keairns and ACS President Bruce E. Bursten.
“As a global community we have addressed many
types of challenges in the past—developing nuclear
power, putting a man on the moon, and many others,”
Keairns said. “We put the fate of those challenges into
the hands of only a few. But responding to the global
energy challenge is much different. It requires a broad
NEWS OF THE WEEK
former Grace businesses. An asbestos claimants committee
had sued the two companies in 2002, charging
that Grace “fraudulently transferred” assets to the new
owners when it was technically bankrupt because of
asbestos claims. Once the trust is set up, Grace will be
shielded from further personal injury claims.
Grace CEO Fred E. Festa says the agreement “will be
good for our shareholders, customers,
creditors, and our employees.”
He adds that “a lot of work remains
to be done before we can confirm
a plan of reorganization, but I am
optimistic we will be successful in
reaching that goal by the end of this
year or early in 2009.”
One reason the bankruptcy case
has dragged on for seven years is that
Grace has forcefully contested asbestos
claimants’ estimates of its liability
for about 100,000 outstanding claims. The Pittsburgh
bankruptcy court judge was presiding over a trial to value
the asbestos claims when the two sides struck a deal.
Without the deal, the wrangling could have prolonged
the bankruptcy case for several more years.
Grace still has to settle property damage and attic
insulation claims. But the company says those issues
shouldn’t affect the timetable for emergence from
bankruptcy.—MARC REISCH
engagement of civil society and researchers involved in
leading-edge science and technology.”
Bursten added that energy is a problem “that transcends
national borders and ultimately affects the entire
global community.”
Keynote speaker Undersecretary Raymond L. Orbach,
director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Science,
said that satisfying growing global energy demand and
curtailing greenhouse gases in the century
ahead will require breakthroughs that
“forever transform the way we generate,
store, transmit, and use energy.”
DOE’s research agenda draws upon a
dozen workshops held recently to identify
energy research needs. Five workshop
leaders gave overviews of the challenges
facing chemists and chemical engineers
in key areas: solar energy utilization,
electrical energy storage, nuclear energy
systems, hydrogen production and storage,
and catalysis for energy applications. A common
problem pointed out in each presentation was the large
gap that remains between current science and technology
know-how and future energy requirements.
“We need to create awareness among the chemistry
and chemical engineering communities of just how
big the energy problem really is,” Bursten told C&EN.
“With that awareness, we can drive the changes needed
for a secure energy future.”—STEVE RITTER
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 11 APRIL 14, 2008
NEWSCOM
Investigators test
for asbestos at a
former W.R. Grace
plant in Texas.
Keairns (left) and
Bursten
STEVE RITTER/C&EN

ELI STAVITSKI/UT
STAVITSKI/UTRECHT UNIVERSITY
MONITOR
A new method can probe molecules,
such as the cationic fluorinated
styrene dimer depicted, as they form
in the channels of a zeolite crystal.
Biochemist Thomas R. Cech announced
on April 1 that he will step down as president
of Howard Hughes Medical Institute
(HHMI) in spring 2009. A nationwide
search for his successor is expected.
Cech has been president of HHMI
since January 2000. During his tenure,
HHMI has launched several new initiatives,
including the HHMI Professors
program, which provides grants to
research professors for the purpose of
transforming undergraduate education;
the Janelia Farm Research Campus
in Ashburn, Va.; and the recently an-
NEWS OF THE WEEK
SPYING ON
CATALYSTS
SPECTROSCOPY: Infrared method
probes reactions as they
occur in zeolites
FOR THE FIRST TIME, researchers have applied
infrared microspectroscopy to monitor catalytic
reactions as they occur within the pores of zeolite
crystals (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.,
DOI: 10.1002/anie.200705562).
The technique provides scientists
with a new procedure
for probing the detailed rela-
tionship between a catalyst’s
structure and
its function. The
method also ooffers
a means for
elucidating reaction re pathways
mediatedbyin
mediated by industrially rel-
evant evant catalysts catalyst such as zeolites.
Like law en enforcement agents
who searchfo
search for ways to spy on
criminals so th they can catch
the perpetrators perpetrato “in the act,”
chemists try to t develop meth-
ods to monito monitor catalysts under
typical condit conditions and catch the
catalysts pr promoting chemical
re reactions.
Developing
analytical
methods that
are compatible
with elevated
temperatures
and pressures
nounced competition for early-career
scientists (C&EN, March 17, page 8).
“A lot of the things I hoped to accomplish
are well on their way,
if not done,” Cech says. “The
next big thing that the Howard
Hughes Medical Institute
engages in deserves to have
somebody who’s going to see
it through. Some of these
projects are five to 10 years in
length, and I had never planned
to stay here that long. This
seems like an appropriate time
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 12 APRIL 14, 2008
and other standard catalysis reaction conditions is
challenging. Yet a few in situ microscopy and spectroscopy
methods that can scrutinize the internal surfaces
of porous catalyst materials during the course of a reaction
have already been developed. Now, researchers
at Utrecht University, in the Netherlands, have added
the molecular-structure-resolving power of vibrational
spectroscopy to that small but growing collection of in
situ analytical tools.
Demonstrating the technique, chemistry professor
Bert M. Weckhuysen, postdoc Eli Stavitski, and their coworkers
exposed micrometer-sized crystals of an acidic
zeolite, H-ZSM-5, to 4-fluorostyrene. They heated the
samples and then probed the styrene oligomerization
process in various ways with high-intensity synchrotron
IR radiation. In one set of experiments, the group focused
on a 5- × 5-μm region of a single crystal for a prolonged
period to monitor the evolution of the oligomerization
process over time in that spot. In other experiments, the
researchers scrutinized larger areas by scanning individual
crystals under the microscope’s field of view.
Among other outcomes, the team observed the
principal reaction intermediate, a bisphenyl-ylium cationic
dimer. They identified that species by comparing
calculated spectra to spectra measured experimentally.
The group also deduced the dimeric cation’s molecular
orientation within the zeolite’s channels and mapped
its microscopic distribution across the catalyst both
spatially and temporally.
Matthew Neurock, a professor of chemical engineering
at the University of Virginia, notes that the new IR
method, used either by itself or in conjunction with
fluorescence and UV-Vis techniques, “will provide unprecedented
resolution of the time and spatial mapping
of reactant, intermediate, and product molecules in
catalytically active microporous systems under actual
catalytic working conditions.” He adds that the method
“will greatly increase our understanding of molecular
transformations that follow during the course of catalytic
reactions.”—MITCH JACOBY
CAREER CHANGE Chemist-president Cech steps down at HHMI to return to academia
for me to return to being engaged directly
with research and with teaching.”
Cech plans to return to those activities
at the University of Colorado,
Boulder, where he has been
a chemistry professor since
1978. During his time at
HHMI, he has maintained a
small research group studying
telomeres (the DNA
sequences that cap chromosomes)
and telomerase (the
enzyme that synthesizes
telomeres).—CELIA ARNAUD
PAUL FETTERS FOR HHMI

COURTING JAPAN
CPhI JAPAN: Foreign suppliers
of pharmaceutical chemicals affirm
commitment to country’s market
LIKE PATIENT SUITORS, suppliers of active
pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and intermediates
are undeterred in courting Japanese drug
companies. Last week in Tokyo, exhibitors at the fine
chemicals trade show CPhI Japan suggested that those
pharma companies’ resistance to dealing with foreign
suppliers is diminishing.
Japanese pharma traditionally has been conservative
in sourcing ingredients. Although not unknown, reliance
on parties beyond a small circle of suppliers was rare.
Changes in Japan’s regulations, however, raised outsiders’
hopes of breaking through the circle (C&EN, May 15,
2006, page 29). That hasn’t happened as quickly as outsiders
had anticipated, but they are not discouraged.
Takuya Yamamoto, of trading company Koa Shoji,
said drug companies are still looking at the same suppliers,
but he expects the pool to increase eventually. Similarly,
Jagmohan M. Khanna, of Indian contract manufacturer
Jubilant Organosys, predicted that “the Japanese
market is going to open up gradually because of costs.”
According to Yamamoto, Europeans have an edge
among foreign suppliers. “They already know about
quality and are easy to trust,” he said. They are also famil-
JUNGLE SKY
AIR CHEMISTRY: Forest air can do more
oxidizing than previously thought
LONG-HELD BELIEFS about the chemical makeup
of the atmosphere above pristine rain forests
are being called into question by new research
that could inform air pollution modeling and regulation
in areas that are more urban.
All forms of foliage emit vast amounts of hydrocarbons
into the sky, far more than cars do. In fact, trees
and plants expel about 500 billion kg of isoprene per
year—which is approximately the combined weight of
every human in the world. But the atmospheric lifetime
of these hydrocarbons is just a few hours, much shorter
than that of anthropogenic hydrocarbons, says Jonathan
Williams, an atmospheric scientist at Max Planck
Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany.
Near urban centers, isoprene reacts with polluting
nitrogen oxides to form smog. Researchers have long
thought that above pristine jungles and forests, isoprene
is oxidized by hydroxyl radicals, thereby depleting
the overall oxidative potential of jungle skies.
NEWS OF THE WEEK
iar with drug master
files, the data that
Japanese law now
requires companies
to submit for APIs.
European firms
themselves tout
these qualities: regulatory
experience,
reliability, and a
deep understanding
of quality’s primacy.
As Wilhelm Stahl,
head of Saltigo’s pharma business, put it, “If you have
quality issues, you have a big mess.” Still, Stahl admitted
that breaking through in Japan will take time. “With
Japan, one has to take a long-term view,” he said.
Because of difficulties that can arise from cultural
differences, Japanese will always prefer to work with
Japanese, contended Ichiro Shinkai, of Beta-Chem, a
chemical development arm of Mitsui & Co. Foreigners
would do well to adapt Japanese business ways, he said.
Almac, a Northern Irish pharma services firm, heeds
the advice. Companies can fail in Japan for boorishness,
according to David Moody, vice president of
commercial operations. Almac has made inroads in the
country partly through the respectful demeanor of the
people it sends there, he claimed. The cultural sensitivity
has reaped projects that are small but have growth
potential, added Rosaleen McGuckin, vice president of
business development.—MAUREEN ROUHI
But when Williams, Jos Lelieveld, and their colleagues
from Max Planck Institute for Chemistry sent a
Lear jet packed full of equipment over South American
jungles, they found that OH radicals are not depleted
at all but exist at the same concentrations as over the
oceans. The authors suggest that hydroxyl radicals are,
in fact, being recycled, not used up, by jungle-emitted
isoprene (Nature 2008, 452, 737).
“Jungles rely on an oxidative atmosphere to create
the concentration gradients required for chemical
ecology to work”—so a pollinating insect can hone in
on nectar in a flower, for example, Williams says. “It’s
amazing that the jungle can maintain levels of HO∂”
required for a healthy ecosystem.
The new findings also call into question models that
air pollution regulators have been using to estimate
the levels of smog and ozone in forested areas downwind
of urban nitric oxide emissions, comments Alex
Guenther, a senior scientist with the National Center
for Atmospheric Research, in Boulder, Colo. “Hydroxyl
radicals are critical compounds in the air, but they are
also really hard to measure,” Guenther says. “When the
concentration of HO∂ changes, the concentration of
everything in numerical models changes.” Regulators
should, therefore, pay close attention to these findings,
he notes.—SARAH EVERTS
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 13 APRIL 14, 2008
CPhI Japan attracted
about 15,000 visitors,
organizers say.
ALEX GUENTHER/© 2008 NATURE
The air above South
American forests is
more oxidative than
previously thought.
MAUREEN ROUHI/C&EN

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PFIZER
LOOKING HIGH AND LOW
Researchers continue to
exploit natural products
in their search for novel
antibiotics.
AN UPHILL BATTLE
With short lives and uncertain profits, antibiotics are a unique
DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE for drug companies
LISA M. JARVIS, C&EN NORTHEAST NEWS BUREAU
IN THE EARLY 1990s, Eli Lilly & Co. put
out to pasture a compound that had once
held great promise as the first of a new
class of antibiotics. Daptomycin, a lipopeptide
discovered in a soil sample taken from
Turkey’s Mount Ararat, was just too challenging
to bother pursuing any further.
The problem was that, despite signs of
activity, the drug wasn’t very potent. But
when clinicians turned the dosage up or
administered the drug more often, trial
volunteers developed muscle damage. The
therapeutic window—the range in which a
drug can be given safely and effectively—
was simply too narrow.
Lilly had decades of experience developing
antibiotics; from the 1940s through the
1960s, it had introduced the seminal drugs
erythromycin, vancomycin, and cephalosporin
to the market. But for daptomycin,
scientists just couldn’t find a path forward
that made sense, says Barry I. Eisenstein,
who was vice president of Lilly Research
COVER STORY
Laboratories and head of infectious disease
research at the company from 1992 to 1996.
The fact that Lilly already marketed vancomycin,
a broad-spectrum antibiotic that
was considered the gold standard of care
at the time, made the decision to scrap the
drug easier. Good options to treat infections
were already out there. Why waste
more time on a drug that would compete
with a company breadwinner?
Daptomycin was shelved, and a few
years later Lilly got out of antibiotics research
altogether. In fact, the mid- to late-
1990s was marked by a mass exodus of big
pharma firms from antibiotics R&D. The
market seemed sated, and research was too
slow and financially unrewarding.
And yet a decade later, a clear need for
new compounds has arisen. Only two novel
classes of antibiotics have been introduced
MORE ONLINE
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 15 APRIL 14, 2008
in the past 40 years: oxazolidinones and
lipopeptides. And the overall number of
new, approved antibiotics—almost all
members of known classes—has steadily
declined, according to the Infectious Diseases
Society of America.
Meanwhile, several strains of bacteria
have outwitted vancomycin and other key
antibiotics, leaving doctors with few options
to combat what are often referred
to as “superbugs.” Methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), in particular,
has made headlines because of its alarming
ability to strike otherwise healthy people.
Thus the conundrum in antibiotics
research: Companies aren’t motivated to
look for novel drugs in a category that for
years was fairly well supplied and not very
lucrative. At the same time, bacteria have
a crafty way of rendering existing drugs
Learn about how tougher FDA approval regulations are affecting
developers of new antibiotics; go to www.cen-online.org.

obsolete, usually around the time companies
lose interest in finding replacements.
The result is a disheartening cycle in which
scientists barely catch up, only to again fall
behind the disease curve.
SMALL COMPANIES are starting to step
in where big pharma left off. Cubist Pharmaceuticals,
where Eisenstein now serves
as senior vice president of scientific affairs,
saw promise in daptomycin and licensed it
from Lilly in 1997. As Eisenstein enthusiastically
tells it, in six short years, Cubist scientists
managed to solve the dosing problem—giving
a higher dose less frequently
widened the therapeutic window—and
ushered the drug through late-stage trials,
past regulatory authorities, and to the
market. Last year, Cubist raked in $290
million in sales of Cubicin, its brand name
for daptomycin.
Cubist has been the pacesetter for the
cadre of biotechs devoted to developing
new antibiotics; today, companies such
as Targanta Therapeutics, Replidyne,
Optimer Pharmaceuticals, and Paratek
Pharmaceuticals have drugs on the edge
of commercialization. Like Cubist, many
of the tiny biotechs pursuing antibiotics
are built around chemists or physicians
who formerly led anti-infectives R&D and
commercialization efforts at
bigger firms like Lilly, Wyeth,
and Abbott Laboratories that
abandoned the field.
Cubist has proven that a
small company can bring a drug
to market without a partner and
lay the financial groundwork
for a robust new product pipeline.
The company’s Lexington,
Mass., headquarters bustles
with signs of expansion, a clear
reminder of its recent success.
But the industry needs to
make more progress if antibacterial
drug discovery is to
evolve. Much of the late-stage
new product pipeline at biotech
firms consists of molecules
licensed from U.S. or Japanese
drug companies. These molecules
are largely derivatives of
already-marketed compounds
rather than innovative new
classes.
Rather than delve into basic
research, though, biotechs must
focus their limited resources on
their lead compounds—those
well-understood
derivatives of older
drugs. That leaves
few research dollars
for the newer
discovery techniques,
such as
high-throughput
screening,
combinatorial
chemistry, and
structure-based
COVER STORY
HO
HO
O
HN
HN
HN
NH
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 16 APRIL 14, 2008
O
HO
O
O
O
O
H
N
N
H
drug design, needed to
make molecules from scratch.
OH
Cubist’s expanding headquarters
houses its nascent effort to build
the infrastructure for new technologies to
discover antibiotics. “We just had our first
profitable year,” notes Chet Metcalf, senior
medicinal chemist at Cubist. “Much of our
previous R&D work had gone into Cubicin.
We’re just now able to put profits back into
new molecules.”
Indeed, Lilly’s decision to scrap daptomycin—a
drug that just required a bit more
creative thinking—underscores the particular
challenges of discovering and developing
novel antibacterial compounds. Developing
a new antibiotic is a sisyphean task, thanks
to the dauntingly steep evolutionary hill researchers
must climb. “The organisms we’re
SHRINKING HARVEST After fertile years in the 1940s
and 1950s, development of new antibiotics waned.
Year
introduced
Class of
drug
1935 Sulfonamides
1941 Penicillins
O
O
O
O
H
N
O
NH 2
HN
NH
O
1944 Aminoglycosides Penicillin
1945 Cephalosporins
HO O
1949
1950
1952
O
Chloramphenicol
Tetracyclines
H H
2N Macrolides/
lincosamides/streptogramins
O
N
N
H
S
H H
Keflex
• H2O 1956 Glycopeptides
1957 Rifamycins
O O
1959 Nitroimidazoles
F
OH
1962 Quinolones HN N N
• HCl • H2O 1968 Trimethoprim
2000 Oxazolidinones
2003 Lipopeptides
HN S
SOURCE: Can. J. Infect. Dis. Med. Microbiol. 2005, 16, 159
R
O
O
N
N
H
O
O
O
HO
H
N
NH 2
H 2 N
O
N
H
O
O
N
H
O
O –
Cipro
O
Daptomycin
H
N
O
trying to inhibit have been
around for millions, if
(CH 2 ) 8 CH 3
not billions, of years and
have a 20-minute generation
cycle,” points out
Cubist’s chief scientific
officer, Steven C. Gilman.
That’s a lot of time to devise means of surviving
environmental threats.
And bacteria tolerate the most extreme
conditions on Earth. They live on the floor
of the ocean or at the core of a snowflake.
They thrive in toxin-laden soil deep below
Earth’s surface as easily as in the acidic
turmoil of the digestive tract. Of course,
not all bacteria are pathogenic, but those
that are make formidable adversaries for
medicinal chemists and microbiologists
looking for molecules that can overcome
their natural defense mechanisms.
Then, once researchers beat evolution
and make it to the top of the hill—once
they have found that one mole-
cule that can stop a pathogen—
the ball starts rolling down
again. Resistance is not an “if ”
but a “when,” Gilman says. As
bacteria figure out how to evade
antibiotics, not only does the
entire discovery process start
over but a company’s key revenue
generator loses steam.
To top it off, antibiotics are
among those quaint, old-fashioned
drugs that patients eventually
stop needing. Lilly, for example,
abandoned daptomycin
at a time when it was enjoying
its first taste of billion-dollar
success with Prozac, a depression
treatment that patients
take indefinitely. Such consistency
in generating blockbuster
sales—the kind investors have
come to expect from large
companies—just isn’t the norm
for antibiotics.
Yet scientists can also use
evolution to their advantage.
Bacteria are battling it out with
each other for survival, which

H 2 N
HO
means nature has come up with some good
defenses against pathogens. Novel classes
of antibiotics have traditionally been discovered
by digging through soil samples
that tend to be laden with actinomycetes, a
group of bacteria that make secondary metabolites
useful in fighting infections.
Those natural products then serve as
a springboard for chemists to generate
derivatives. Medicinal chemists have typically
exploited the potential of �-lactam
antibiotics—any molecule with a �-lactam
ring at its center, such as penicillin derivatives
and cephalosporins. By tweaking the
five- or six-member ring fused to �-lactam,
chemists found that they could crank up
antibacterial activity.
In fact, natural products and their
derivatives continue to dominate both
recent antibiotic product launches and
companies’ late-stage drug development
pipelines. In addition to Cubicin, the pipeline
includes Merck & Co.’s platensimycin,
discovered in soil from South Africa, and
Targanta’s oritavancin, found in a sample
from Haiti.
That reliance on nature to make the best
medicine hasn’t been completely voluntary.
In an effort to develop new antibiotics
from scratch, scientists have tried many
ways to tap into the knowledge that came
with the unraveling of the genome and the
advent of combinatorial chemistry and
high-throughput screening. Yet so far
those efforts have failed.
“Despite all the work we
haven’t come up with a single
new antibiotic based on
the genome; it was a total
waste,” says Stuart Levy,
cofounder of Paratek
and director of
the Center for
Adaption Genet-
HO
O
O
O
HN
O
HO
HO
HO
N
H
O
HO
O
O
Cl
H
N
OH OH
O
O
OH
NH
O
O
H
N
O
Oritavancin
O
O
NH 2
Cl
H
N
Cl
OH
NH
O
O
ics & Drug Resistance at Tufts University.
Thomas R. Parr, Targanta’s chief scientific
officer and a former Lilly researcher,
agrees. “The ability to take a putative target
molecule and try to guess what’s going to
fit into the receptor slot, binding pocket,
or active site has not been a very successful
approach,” he says. “Nature is a more clever
and competent chemist than a human
being is at finding starting points.”
The difficulty can be summed up in a
lack of chemical entry points, Cubist’s
Metcalf says. Bacterial targets are different
from those found in the human body, so
screening libraries of known compounds
that are designed to work against human
targets isn’t effective. “You can’t often find
a chemical entry point, or when you find
one it doesn’t work against the target in the
cell,” Metcalf notes.
Furthermore, medicinal chemists are
typically trying to design a compound that
can take out multiple strains of bacteria in
one fell swoop, a particularly difficult feat
when starting from square one.
SOME COMPANIES have tried to use the
total genome sequences in bacteria and
humans to find unique and essential genes,
notes Robert C. Moellering Jr., professor
of medical research at Harvard Medical
School. The idea is to then knock out those
genes and kill the bacteria. The problem has
been sorting through gene codes to figure
out the right one and then finding a small
molecule that can get in and block it. “So far,
that’s been too difficult a task to overcome,”
Moellering says. “Some big pharma companies
have spent more than $100 million on
these projects with nothing to show for it.”
Thus, researchers turn back to nature.
Natural products, however, are limiting.
Scientists have already picked most of the
low-hanging fruit—the classes of compounds
that tend to dominate soil samples.
“The easy targets are all known and have
been exploited,” Moellering says.
With such business and scientific challenges
in mind, companies are taking a wide
range of approaches to finding new anti-
biotics. Some executives believe natural
products will continue to be the primary
H
N
source of novel molecules, while others
are convinced scientists must
CH 3
find a way to use advanced
technologies to build com-
pounds from the bottom up. The answer
could also be a happy medium, where
companies apply newer techniques to speed
up their search for useful natural products.
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 17 APRIL 14, 2008
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Targanta is in the camp that believes
natural products will continue to be
the way forward, although it does keep
an eye on newer tools. The company
is devoting the bulk of its resources to
bringing oritavancin, a semisynthetic
glycopeptide licensed from Lilly, to
market. The Cambridge, Mass.-based
biotech filed a New Drug Application
with the Food & Drug Administration
in January and is expecting a response
by December so that the drug could
launch in 2009.
Even Targanta’s earlier-stage efforts
are focused on derivatives of natural
products. “The bugs are smarter than
the chemists,” Parr says. “I think there
is still great promise to find things by
looking to nature.” The challenge, he
adds, will be to accelerate the process of
sifting through natural products to find
useful molecules while figuring out how to
streamline the chemistry needed to turn
those molecules into drugs.
Meanwhile, Boston-based Paratek is
mining an older natural product class that
it believes has not been fully exploited.
15
10
5
0
COVER STORY
SHRINKING ARSENAL
Antibacterial drug approvals are on the
decline in the U.S.
Antibacterial drug approvals
20
1983–87 1988–92 1993–97 1998–02 2003–07
SOURCE: Infectious Diseases Society of America
The company’s lead molecule is a derivative
of tetracycline, an antibiotic that hit
the market in the 1950s. However, little
new chemistry has been introduced since
then to overcome resistance or other issues
with the drug. Paratek chemists made
thousands of tetracycline derivatives to try
to cut resistance while preserving antibac-
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 18 APRIL 14, 2008
terial activity. Eventually, they hit on
some promising compounds.
“This four-ring structure has a lot
going for it,” Levy says of tetracycline.
His team is now analyzing the data
from Phase II trials of PTK-0796, a
broad-spectrum derivative for intravenous
and oral use.
Optimer, meanwhile, is focused
on developing narrow, or at least
narrower, spectrum antibiotics that
take out just one or two pathogens;
broad-spectrum drugs, in contrast,
use brute force to wipe out a range of
bugs that may be causing an infection.
The narrower approach is not useful in
all settings, concedes Michael Chang,
Optimer’s president and CEO, particularly
in the absence of rapid diagnostics
to detect the specific bacteria infecting a
patient. But certain indications in patients
call for narrow-spectrum drugs, and with
fewer targets to hit, researchers could have
an easier time designing them.
The San Diego-based firm’s lead compound,
OPT-80, is an 18-membered macrocycle
that treats Clostridium difficile infection
(CDI), an infection in the lining of the colon
that is a prime candidate for a narrow-spectrum
drug. A broad-spectrum antibiotic like
vancomycin, currently the only approved
treatment for CDI, kills most of the flora in
the gut, but C. difficile protects itself by forming
spores. When antibiotic use is stopped,
the C. difficile grows again, and this time its
growth isn’t tempered by other bugs. “It
grows with a vengeance,” Chang says.
OPT-80 would be the first very-narrowspectrum
antibiotic on the market, Chang
says. The drug is currently in two Phase III
trials; results from the first trial are expected
in 2008 and from the second in the first
half of 2009. If all goes well with the trials
and regulatory authorities, the drug could
hit the market by 2010.
Replidyne is also exploring a narrowspectrum
approach as part of its overall
R&D strategy. The Louisville, Colo.-based
company identified a compound against C.
difficile from assets it licensed from Glaxo-
SmithKline. The compound blocks methionyl
transfer RNA synthetase, an enzyme
involved in synthesizing proteins. By halting
the production of toxic proteins, the
drug renders the bacteria harmless, says
Nebojsa Janjic, Replidyne’s chief scientific
officer. The company plans to file an Investigational
New Drug (IND) application
with FDA, the first step in initiating human
tests of the drug, by the end of the year.

A second program seeks to overcome
some of the more virulent bugs by inhibiting
bacterial DNA replication, the organism’s
means of reproducing and sustaining
an infection. Replidyne has identified a series
of compounds that inhibit replication
and hopes to select one IND candidate by
the end of the year.
Cubist, with one successful drug under
its belt, is probably in the best position
among the small biotechs to move beyond
the natural products approach and into
novel drug discovery techniques. The
company is incorporating computational
chemistry, chemoinformatics, and structure-based
drug design into R&D.
AT THE SAME TIME, Cubist continues
to exploit compounds found in nature by
improving known drugs and isolating new
compounds that could be engineered into
drugs. That effort is aided by better assays
that can weed out the known antibiotics
that tend to dominate natural product
samples.
Cubist’s Metcalf believes the way forward
is to figure out how to create new libraries
that take into account the differences between
bacterial cells and human cells. Fragment-based
drug design isn’t biased to any
particular type of target, he notes, and can
be a starting point to using structural knowledge
to advance a molecule into a drug.
However, substantial resources will be
required to incorporate new techniques
into antibiotics drug discovery. Usually,
that kind of money comes only from big
pharma. Pfizer, which bolstered its antibiotics
capabilities in 2005 through the
acquisition of Vicuron Pharmaceuticals, is
one of the few major companies with substantial
activities in the area.
Although Pfizer’s lead compound, dalbavancin,
belongs to the same class as vancomycin,
the company is also trying to bring
new technology to bear on antibiotic development.
“I think there’s now opportunity
to marry some technologies,” says Paul S.
Miller, head of antibacterials research at
Pfizer. In recent years, researchers have
been able to get at new organisms, such as
those dwelling at the depths of the ocean or
at extreme temperatures. Simultaneously,
scientists are beginning to understand how
to use genomic tools to manipulate the
genes of an interesting organism to tweak
and improve the molecules it produces.
Furthermore, scientists can revisit the
sample libraries accumulated in decades
past—the stuff found in the backyard, as
Miller puts it—and apply new techniques to
find interesting molecules. Many times, only
a tiny fraction of what was contained within
those soil samples could be cultured, he
notes. Today, the potential exists for using
genome DNA amplification technology to
fish out genes responsible for assembling a
compound. Those genes can then be cloned
in a laboratory organism to determine
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 19 APRIL 14, 2008
whether it could make an interesting drug.
“The microbial diversity on the planet is
enormous, and we’ve only been able to characterize
the tip of that iceberg,” Miller says.
Interest from big pharma does appear
to be percolating: Merck has several programs
in the early stages of development;
GSK is reportedly active in the area; and
Johnson & Johnson has partnered with the
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Swiss firm Basilea for the development of a
broad-spectrum cephalosporin.
Even a modest revival in antibiotics
R&D from big pharma could help fertilize
drug discovery efforts in the industry. “A
lot of the work and the new creative stuff
we’re beginning to explore in the natural
product area involves partnering with
others who bring something to the table,”
Miller says. Smaller companies may have
access to new sample sources or cuttingedge
technology, while Pfizer brings the
chemistry and microbiology infrastructure
to the collaboration.
Miller is concerned that the lack of
interest in the field might impede collaboration
that can lead to advances. “Competition
is really good,” he says. “We get ideas
from each other, and when there are fewer
companies, there are fewer sources of ideas
For Excellence in Organic Chemistry
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COVER STORY
“Antibiotics are different than other
drugs. They uniquely depreciate because
of Darwinian selection principles.”
and less cross-fertilization of scientists
moving around.”
TO SPUR COLLABORATION and competition,
some researchers say, government
needs to do more to recognize the pitfalls of
the antibiotics business. They say one way
of encouraging investment in R&D would
be to create new incentives, such as extending
the patent lives of molecules that may
have sat on laboratory shelves for years.
“Antibiotics are different than other
drugs,” Cubist’s Eisenstein says. “They
uniquely depreciate because of Darwinian
selection principles.” In diseases
such as cancer, he points out, any resistance
that develops is contained within
the patient; the drug is still effective for
the rest of the population with the disease.
But with antibiotics, that resistant
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 20 APRIL 14, 2008
strain can spread to the general population.
“There are cases that a drug has not even
been approved but already developed resistance,”
Optimer’s Chang notes. When a
drug has a limited life span, its commercial
potential is compromised. “Where is the
incentive?” he asks.
Furthermore, in an attempt to delay the
cycle of resistance, physicians tend to hold
off on prescribing the newest drugs, using
them only in the sickest patients stricken
by the most severe organisms, Eisenstein
says. But keeping the newest antibiotics as
a last line of defense “paradoxically kills
the supply,” he argues. Companies aren’t
eager to refill the pipeline if they don’t
stand to make money on new products.
Some incentives are necessary, scientists
say, because bugs continue to learn new
ways of evading the current arsenal of drugs.
“Sixty years ago, the leading causes of serious
infections were Pneumococcus and S.
aureus. Today, it’s still the same problems,”
Harvard’s Moellering says. “Meanwhile,
they’ve become more resistant to antimicrobials,
and we haven’t done much at all to decrease
the prevalence of those infections.” ■
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Mammary Gland and Breast Cancer Proteomics
Volume 7, Issue 4 • April 2008
Guest Editors: Sam Hanash, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Serhiy Souchelnytskyi, Karolinska Institute Biomics Center (Sweden)
Targeting Therapy for Breast Carcinoma by ATP Synthase Inhibitor Aurovertin B
Tsui-Chin Huang, Hsin-Yi Chang, Chun-Hua Hsu, Wen-Hung Kuo, King-Jen Chang, and Hsueh-Fen Juan
Combined Experimental and Statistical Strategy for Mass Spectrometry
Based Serum Protein Profiling for Diagnosis of Breast Cancer:
A Case-Control Study
Anne K. Callesen, Werner Vach, Per E. Jørgensen, Søren Cold, Qihua Tan, René dePont
Christensen, Ole Mogensen, Torben A. Kruse, Ole N. Jensen, and Jonna S. Madsen
Proteome Profiling of Breast Tumors by Gel Electrophoresis and
Nanoscale Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry
Louise Alldridge, Gergana Metodieva, Christina Greenwood, Khalid Al-Janabi, Laura Thwaites,
Paul Sauven, and Metodi Metodiev
Targeted Glycoproteomic Identification of Biomarkers for
Human Breast Carcinoma
Karen L. Abbott, Kazuhiro Aoki, Jae-Min Lim, Mindy Porterfield, Rachelle Johnson,
Ruth M. O’Regan, Lance Wells, Michael Tiemeyer, and Michael Pierce
Multiplexed Cell Signaling Analysis of Human Breast Cancer Applications
for Personalized Therapy
Julia D. Wulfkuhle, Runa Speer, Mariaelena Pierobon, Julie Laird, Virginia Espina,
Jianghong Deng, Enzo Mammano, Sherry X. Yang, Sandra M. Swain, Donato Nitti,
Laura J. Esserman, Claudio Belluco, Lance A. Liotta, and Emanuel F. Petricoin III
Novel Breast Cancer Biomarkers Identified by Integrative Proteomic
and Gene Expression Mapping
Keli Ou, Kun Yu, Djohan Kesuma, Michelle Hooi, Ning Huang, Wei Chen, Suet Ying Lee,
Xin Pei Goh, Lay keng Tan, Jia Liu, Sou Yen Soon, Suhaimi Bin Abdul Rashid, Thomas C. Putti,
Hiroyuki Jikuya, Tetsuo Ichikawa, Osamu Nishimura, Manuel Salto-Tellez, and Patrick Tan
New Protein Clustering of Breast Cancer Tissue Proteomics Using
Actin Content as a Cellularity Indicator
Ida Pucci-Minafra, Patrizia Cancemi, Nadia Ninfa Albanese, Gianluca Di Cara,
Maria Rita Marabeti, Antonio Marrazzo, and Salvatore Minafra
Special Issue
“Currently, researchers are implementing numerous proteomics approaches that target the mammary gland and its associated pathologies.
This special issue of JPR provides a snapshot of the progress in the field and a window on the various strategies being pursued to tackle the
challenges at hand, which stem from the complexity of these tissues and the extensive heterogeneity inherent in diseases of the mammary gland.”
—Sam Hanash and Serhiy Souchelnytskyi
Mammary Gland and Breast Cancer Proteomics Papers from Volume 7, Issue 4
—————————————— Articles ——————————————
Application of Protein Microarrays for Multiplexed Detection of Antibodies
to Tumor Antigens in Breast Cancer
Karen S. Anderson, Niroshan Ramachandran, Jessica Wong, Jacob V. Raphael,
Eugenie Hainsworth, Gokhan Demirkan, Daniel Cramer, Dina Aronzon,
F. Stephen Hodi, Lyndsay Harris, Tanya Logvinenko, and Joshua LaBaer
Evaluation of Data-Dependent versus Targeted Shotgun Proteomic
Approaches for Monitoring Transcription Factor Expression in Breast Cancer
Charanjit Sandhu, Johannes A. Hewel, Gwenael Badis, Shaheynoor Talukder, Jian Liu,
Timothy R. Hughes, and Andrew Emili
Plasma Proteome Profiling of a Mouse Model of Breast Cancer
Identifies a Set of Up-Regulated Proteins in Common with
Human Breast Cancer Cells
Sharon J. Pitteri, Vitor M. Faca, Karen S. Kelly-Spratt, A. Erik Kasarda, Hong Wang,
Qing Zhang, Lisa Newcomb, Alexei Krasnoselsky, Sophie Paczesny, Gina Choi,
Matthew Fitzgibbon, Martin W. McIntosh, Christopher J. Kemp, and Samir M. Hanash
Identification of Breast Cancer Peptide Epitopes Presented
by HLA-A*0201
Oriana E. Hawkins, Rodney S. VanGundy, Annette M. Eckerd, Wilfried Bardet, Rico Buchli,
Jon A. Weidanz, and William H. Hildebrand
Differentiating Proteomic Biomarkers in Breast Cancer by Laser Capture
Microdissection and MALDI MS
Melinda E. Sanders, Eduardo C. Dias, Baogang J. Xu, James A. Mobley, Dean Billheimer,
Heinrich Roder, Julia Grigorieva, Mitchell Dowsett, Carlos L. Arteaga, and Richard M. Caprioli
Proteomic Analysis of Microsomes from Lactating Bovine Mammary Gland
Lifeng Peng, Pisana Rawson, Danyl McLauchlan, Klaus Lehnert, Russell Snell, and
T. William Jordan
A Proteomic Analysis of the Plasma Glycoproteins of a MCF-7 Mouse
Xenograft: A Model System for the Detection of Tumor Markers
Christina I. Orazine, Marina Hincapie, William S. Hancock, Maureen Hattersley, and Jeff H. Hanke
—————————————— Reviews ——————————————
Breast Tumor Microenvironment: Proteomics Highlights the Treatments
Targeting Secretome
Shui-Tein Chen, Tai-Long Pan, Hsueh-Fen Juan, Tai-Yuan Chen, Yih-Shyan Lin, and
Chun-Ming Huang
Humoral Immunity Directed against Tumor-Associated Antigens as
Potential Biomarkers for the Early Diagnosis of Cancer
Hailing Lu, Vivian Goodell, and Mary L. Disis
Proteomics of Breast Cancer: The Quest for Markers and Therapeutic Targets
Hubert Hondermarck, Christophe Tastet, Ikram El Yazidi-Belkoura, Robert-Alain Toillon,
and Xuefen Le Bourhis
Reproducibility of Mass Spectrometry Based Protein Profiles for
Diagnosis of Breast Cancer across Clinical Studies: A Systematic Review
Anne K. Callesen, Werner Vach, Per E. Jørgensen, Søren Cold, Ole Mogensen,
Torben A. Kruse, Ole N. Jensen, and Jonna S. Madsen
For a complete listing of all JPR Special Issues, go to http://pubs.acs.org/JPR

WHEN THE POPULAR PRESS writes
about the emergence of “superbugs,” bacteria
that resist all of the weapons in the
antibiotic arsenal, public enemy number
one is always methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
aureus (MRSA).
The gram-positive bug lends itself to
sensational headlines given the thousands of
cases of infection reported each year, including
those of otherwise healthy young people.
But industry observers say a bigger problem
of antibiotic resistance lies in gram-negative
organisms, which tend to strike the very old,
the very young, and the very sick.
“These are people who are in the hospital
and have a lot of other things wrong
with them,” says George Talbot, who has
worked on the development of infectious
disease drugs at both big and small pharmaceutical
companies and now serves as
a consultant to the industry. What is making
doctors nervous is the woefully thin
pipeline of drugs to treat these infections
versus the comparatively robust cache of
drugs to treat gram-positive organisms.
The epidemiology of hospital infections
has a natural cycle. Decades ago, when
COVER STORY
IMMINENT THREAT
As GRAM-NEGATIVE BACTERIA become resistant to current
antibiotics, the search for new drugs accelerates
LISA M. JARVIS, C&EN NORTHEAST NEWS BUREAU
Talbot was doing his residency and internship
in the University of Pennsylvania
hospital system, doctors were concerned
that some types of gram-negative
bacteria were showing resistance
to available medicines. Big pharma
responded, new drugs were developed,
and their fears gradually
subsided.
Subsequently, gram-positive
bacteria moved to the forefront,
Talbot says. Resistant strains
emerged as more antibiotics
were prescribed and artificial
implants—places where grampositive
bacteria love to dwell—
became more common.
Several strains of gram-positive
organisms are, indeed, showing
resistance to some agents in the
U.S., but an adequate stream of
drugs flowing through the pipeline
should address future need, says Robert
C. Moellering Jr., professor of medical research
at Harvard Medical School. As such,
he notes that the urgency for new drugs is
probably somewhat overstated by news
reports. An “it could happen to you” perception
exists for MRSA that has probably
reinforced fears, Talbot adds.
The pipeline of new drugs for treating
gram-negative bacteria, on the other hand,
carries just a trickle. “While we all had our
attention focused on
MRSA, these other
gram-negative bugs
started to rear their ugly
heads,” says Paul Miller,
head of antibacterials
research at Pfizer.
PESKY BUG
Virulent strains
of Pseudomonas
aeruginosa worry
scientists.
Although few people have died because
of untreatable gram-negative infections,
“the fact that we’re seeing any of these is a
concern,” Moellering says.
Stuart Levy, cofounder of Paratek Phar-
ROCHE

“There are a slew of gram-negatives
that are threats and nothing of
great merit in the pipeline.”
maceuticals and director of the Center for
Adaption Genetics & Drug Resistance at
Tufts University, agrees. “There’s absolutely
no question that gram-negatives are the
threat of today,” he says. “The gram-positives
and MRSA may be called superbugs
because of their virulence and resistance,
but there are still drugs to treat them.”
Levy points to a number of gram-negative
bacteria, particularly Pseudomonas
aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii,
that are susceptible to only one drug—or in
some cases no drugs.
THE LACK OF NEW DRUGS to treat gramnegative
bacteria, doctors say, has a basis in
both business and science. On the business
side, these drugs will treat a smaller patient
population than broad-spectrum antibiotics
and, like all antibiotics, are taken for a
finite period. The limited market and tough
target add up to an uninteresting business
opportunity for many companies.
Then there is the tricky science of developing
new drugs against gram-negative
organisms. The category itself is an indication
of how tough the bacteria are to tackle:
Gram-negative bacteria are so-named
because they have an outer membrane
that doesn’t pick up the crystal-violet dye
used in the stain test to distinguish grampositive
and -negative organisms.
If something as innocuous as a stain
can’t penetrate the cell, imagine trying to
develop a molecule that not only has to get
in but then kill the bacteria, points out Chet
Metcalf, senior medicinal chemist at Cubist
Pharmaceuticals. To do its job, an antibiotic
needs to get past an outer membrane, the
cell wall, and then an inner membrane. The
challenge is the outer membrane.
That membrane is covered with lipopolysaccharides—lipids
that act as a permeability
barrier—and it is packed with
efflux pumps that eject the antibiotic from
the cell. Gram-positive organisms, on the
other hand, lack the outer membrane and
have fewer ways of kicking a drug out.
Worse, gram-negative bacteria excel at
making enzymes that can inactivate drugs.
For example, �-lactamases, enzymes responsible
for resistance to �-lactam antibiotics
such as penicillins and cephalosporins, are
becoming a problem, Talbot says. In some
parts of the world, bacteria making those
enzymes are beginning to extend beyond the
hospital and into the community at large.
“This is a big concern, even for treatment of
more routine infections, such as urinary tract
infections,” Talbot adds.
Given the many barriers that gramnegative
bacteria put up, natural products
offer the best solution for attacking them,
researchers say. The problem is that natural
molecules active against gram-negative
organisms are hard to find. According to
Pfizer’s Miller, if a chemist were to screen
a library of 10,000 promising compounds
against both P. aeruginosa and the grampositive
bacteria S. aureus, anywhere from
10 to 100 molecules would likely be active
against S. aureus but only one against P.
aeruginosa.
Then, when a molecule does show
promise in killing gram-negative bacteria,
it is likely to be more toxic than
molecules active against gram-positive
organisms. “The kind of potent things
you find initially that kill Pseudomonas
also kill Staphylococcus because they’re
simply punching holes in the organism,”
Miller says. That’s a failing strategy, he
adds, because it usually means the compound
will “punch holes in every living
thing it can find.”
This all adds up to a tough chemistry
challenge for drug developers. “Nature
isn’t trying to make a compound with
pleasant medicinal characteristics as its
first step,” observes Thomas R. Parr, chief
scientific officer at Targanta Therapeutics.
The challenge also explains the anemic
industry pipeline of drugs to treat gramnegative
infections. “There are a slew of
gram-negatives that are threats and nothing
of great merit in the pipeline,” Paratek’s
Levy acknowledges.
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Yet nearly every company in the antiinfectives
arena claims to be in the early
stages of developing compounds active
against gram-negative bacteria. “Everybody
is looking, and so are we,” says Cubist’s
Metcalf. Cubist is moving a gram-negative
program forward, although Metcalf
won’t provide details about its therapeutic
approach.
OPTIMER PHARMACEUTICALS says it
is looking at developing an agent against
Pseudomonas. Replidyne is interested in
the area but is not pursuing a specific
compound. Nebojsa Janjic, Replidyne’s
chief scientific officer, notes that the company’s
lead drug candidate, feropenem,
does show activity against some gramnegative
organisms.
Pfizer has one compound, an oral sulopenem,
in late Phase I trials that it hopes
to advance to Phase III tests within the
next year, Miller says. Though the drug
does not belong to a new class of antibiotics,
its oral availability is an improvement
over existing penems, which are all administered
intravenously. Given rising medical
It’s in the Details.
COVER STORY
costs, hospital officials are eager to give
oral drugs that allow them to get patients
out of intensive care, if not the hospital,
sooner, Miller notes.
Earlier-stage research
at Pfizer is aimed primarily
at treating drug-resistant
infections in the hospital.
“The majority of our research
right now is really
focused on trying to find
brand-new classes of agents
that work against these
resistant gram-negative organisms,”
Miller says.
Paratek is taking two
approaches to dealing with
gram-negative bacteria.
The first is to come up with
a classic antibiotic or two-
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drug combination that can wipe out the
offending organisms. Because resistance
is closely linked to the efflux pumps in the
membrane, Paratek is pursuing molecules
that could block the pumps and render the
cell vulnerable to tetracycline or one of its
derivatives.
www.jostchemical.com
Levy
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 24 APRIL 14, 2008
The company’s second strategy is to find
small molecules that block the “multiple
adaptational response” operon, a set of
genes that together act as a
master switch that controls
the expression of roughly
80 proteins. Turning that
switch on makes the organism
virulent, and Paratek is
trying to develop a vaccinelike
compound, rather than
an antibiotic, that would
target that switch. The
“acute vaccine” would be
given to at-risk patients—
those in the intensive care
unit, for example—to prevent
infection from even
starting.
Paratek now has three
proof-of-concept models showing that
treating a patient before the disease strikes
is effective. “This pill with no antibacterial
activity enfeebles the organism and prevents
Pseudonomonas from causing infection,”
Levy says. The company is seeking
funding to start preclinical studies. ■
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JUBILANT WILL ACQUIRE
CONTRACT FIRM DRAXIS
India’s Jubilant Organosys has agreed to
acquire Draxis Health, a Canadian company
that provides contract manufacturing
of finished drugs and makes radiopharmaceuticals.
The purchase price, about
$255 million, represents a 41.2% premium
over Draxis’ stock price before it began to
rise last month. Jubilant is already a large
provider of custom research and manufacturing
services. Chairman Shyam S. Bhartia
says the purchase of Draxis will add to his
company’s contract manufacturing capabilities
and take it into the radiopharmaceuticals
business.
LONZA WILL BOOST
NIACIN CAPACITY
Lonza will increase its production capacity
for the B-3 vitamins niacin (shown) and niacinamide
by more than 40% with a threeyear,
$50 million project. The Swiss company
says it will build
N
O
OH
a 15,000-metric-tonper-year
facility at one
of its three nicotinate
manufacturing sites
in Visp, Switzerland,
and in Guangzhou and
Nansha, China. The company says the new
facility will take advantage of “very promising
innovations in technology and process
development that are currently in pilot
operations.”
ROHM AND HAAS BUYS,
SELLS IN ELECTRONICS
Rohm and Haas has acquired South Korea’s
Gracel Display for $40 million. The eightyear-old
firm has about 55 employees who
develop and manufacture organic lightemitting
diode materials. Rohm and Haas
says it has invested more than $270 million
over the past 12 months to build a flatpanel
display technologies business. Separately,
the Philadelphia-based company has
agreed to sell its 40% stake in South Korea’s
UP Chemical for $112 million to a group of
South Korean investors. UP is a specialist
in dynamic random-access memory and
high-k gate dielectric precursor technology
used to make semiconductors. Rohm
and Haas bought its stake in UP in 1998 for
$3.5 million. It continues to be involved in
BUSINESS CONCENTRATES
EUROPEAN DRUGMAKERS
LOOK EAST FOR ACTIVES
Two Europe-based drug companies have struck agreements with Asian
firms with the goal of lowering their costs for active pharmaceutical ingredients
(APIs). Switzerland’s Nycomed has signed a deal with India’s Zydus
Cadila under which it will transfer all API production from its facilities in
Singen, Germany, and Linz, Austria, to Cadila plants in India by 2011. About
200 jobs out of 1,400 at the two sites may be affected. “API production
is under increasing cost pressure from countries with lower wages,” says
Barthold Piening, Nycomed’s executive vice president for operations. “We
will focus on the [finished] pharmaceutical production because this is an
area for future innovation.” Meanwhile, Actavis, the Icelandic generic drug
company, has acquired a 90% stake in China’s Zhejiang Chiral Medicine
Chemicals for an undisclosed sum. Actavis says the purchase of the sixyear-old
firm is part of its strategy of getting direct access to low-cost API
manufacturing. Actavis earlier established R&D and API facilities in India.
the high-k field through an amidinate compound
licensing agreement signed last year
with Harvard University.
CHLORINE LEAK
SETTLEMENT REACHED
Railroad operator Norfolk Southern has
agreed to a confidential settlement of a
lawsuit brought by Avondale Mills. The
textile firm shut its operations in July
2006, blaming its failure on a January
2005 Norfolk Southern train derailment
and chlorine spill that wrecked its denim
plant in Graniteville, S.C. The crash and
leak killed nine people and injured more
than 250 others (C&EN, Jan. 17, 2005, page
11). Norfolk Southern previously settled
class-action suits brought by Graniteville
residents covering personal injuries and
property damage.
ANOTHER EXPANSION
SET FOR ABU DHABI
Borouge, a joint venture between Austrian
polyolefins maker Borealis and Abu Dhabi
National Oil Co., is studying another expansion
of its petrochemical complex in
Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The partnership is considering adding 2.5
million metric tons of polyolefin capacity,
including a new low-density polyethylene
plant, by 2014. The joint venture currently
has 600,000 metric tons of polyethylene
capacity. A project to add 2 million metric
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 25 APRIL 14, 2008
tons of polyethylene and polypropylene
capacity is already under construction and
is expected to be completed at the site by
2010. Borealis and one of its owners, International
Petroleum Investment, revealed
plans last month for a separate, massive
chemical complex to be built in Abu Dhabi
by 2013.
DUPONT OPENS
STORM SHELTER
TEST FACILITY
DuPont has opened its first storm shelter
test facility at the Chestnut Run research
site in Wilmington, Del. The firm says it
will use the multi-
million-dollar
facility to test different
materials
for the DuPont
StormRoom, which
is reinforced with
its high-strength
aramid fiber Kevlar.
The room can serve
as a laundry or powder
room when not
needed to protect
people during hurricanes
and tornadoes.
Separately,
DuPont just signed
an agreement to
DUPONT
provide the shelters for sale to new-home
buyers in 30 states through national homebuilding
franchise Epcon Communities.

EVONIK NAMES HEAD
FOR NORTH AMERICA
Evonik Industries has named Thomas
Bates head of its North American operations.
Bates will retain
his current duties as
manager of Evonik’s
site in Mobile, Ala.,
the German company’s
largest North
American plant. Bates
joined Degussa, now
part of Evonik, in 1998
as director of manufacturing
for silicas
and chemical cata-
lysts. Evonik has about 4,000 employees in
57 locations throughout North America.
PRAXAIR OXYGEN WILL
TREAT DRINKING WATER
FOR THE OLYMPICS
Praxair has signed an exclusive agreement
to supply oxygen to Beijing No. 3 Water
Works, which will provide drinking water
for the Olympic Games. The industrial
gases company says it is concluding oxygen
supply contracts with two other Beijing
water works and expects to have oxygen
plants running at all three by May. Beijing
draws its drinking water from the Yangtze
River. According to Praxair, the city is re-
BUSINESS
ROUNDUP
EVONIK
DUPONT has raised its
first-quarter earnings
estimate to about $1.29
per share from a previous
outlook of $1.14 to
$1.19. The company says
growth in agricultural
businesses and emerging
markets is offsetting
higher-cost ingredients
and challenges in some
U.S. markets.
ARKEMA is shutting
down production of
methacrylic-butadienestyrene
impact modifiers
at its plant in Axis, Ala.,
and will consolidate production
in Vlissingen, the
Netherlands. The products
are used in polyvinyl
Bates
chloride resins and engineering
polymers. The
company says the move
will save it about $5 million
during the first year.
BAYER MaterialScience
has purchased Resina
Chemie for an undisclosed
sum. Based in
Foxhol, the Netherlands,
Resina makes polyurethane
systems for the
refrigeration and construction
industries.
ROHM AND HAAS has
acquired ACIL, the exclusive
distributor of the
U.S. resin maker’s powder
coatings in France.
The company has also
launched a service that
provides next-day delivery
of orders of 275 kg
BUSINESS CONCENTRATES
placing chlorine as a water disinfectant and
retrofitting the three plants to treat water
with activated carbon and an oxygen-fed
ozone system.
NEKTAR ENDS INHALED
INSULIN PROGRAMS
Nektar Therapeutics, a developer of drug
delivery technologies, has stopped efforts
to find a partner for its inhaled insulin
program after Pfizer, its former partner,
released negative clinical results last week.
An ongoing review of clinical data for the
Pfizer product Exubera showed an increase
in lung cancer cases among former smokers
using inhaled insulin compared with
a control group. Pfizer pulled Exubera
from the market in October 2007 after
18 months of limited patient interest and
dismal sales. To conclude their product development
relationship, Pfizer paid Nektar
$135 million and agreed to transfer product
rights if Nektar found another partner.
HARVARD AND MERCK
FORM RESEARCH PACT
Harvard University’s Office of Technology
Development has signed a multiyear
license and sponsored-research agreement
with Merck & Co. focused on new
osteoporosis therapies. Merck will fund
or less to powder coatings
customers across
Europe.
BAYER MaterialScience
will supply commercial
quantities of carbon
nanotubes to Clariant
for incorporation into
polymer additives and
compounded thermoplastics.
Clariant will initially
use nanotubes in a
new conductive additive
in its CESA product line.
Potential applications
include conductive machine
components and
packaging for electronic
components.
ASPEN AEROGELS has
opened a $30 million
plant in East Providence,
R.I., that triples its capac-
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 26 APRIL 14, 2008
research in the lab of immunology professor
Laurie Glimcher. In return, it will get
licenses to specific molecules that may
result from the work. Glimcher studies
the molecular pathways that lead to bone
growth and looks for intervention points
for enhancing bone formation or preventing
osteoporosis in adults. Her lab has
already identified several key mediators
of bone growth that Merck hopes to use in
the development of therapies.
BIOTECH COMPANIES
PLAN JOB REDUCTIONS
Neurogen has received $30.6 million from
private investors that it says will allow it to
advance clinical development programs in
insomnia, anxiety, restless legs syndrome,
and Parkinson’s disease. The company had
revealed last month that its auditors had
doubts about its continued survival. At the
same time, the Branford, Conn., company
is cutting its workforce by about 45 people
in research and administration. In February,
it announced the elimination of about
70 employees. Neurogen employed 149
people at the end of 2007. Separately, Keryx
Biopharmaceuticals is cutting its workforce
in half to about 25 employees. The
New York City-based company recently
received a negative outcome in a Phase III
clinical trial of Sulonex for the treatment of
diabetic nephropathy.
ity to make nanoporous
aerogel insulation products.
The company says
its aerogels are up to
eight times more effective
than other insulation
products.
BASF has acquired BCD
Rohstoffe für Bauchemie,
a supplier of polymer
dispersions for cementbased
coating systems
and air-entraining agents
used in mortar and
cement. The acquisition
includes the firm’s
expertise, patents, and
formulations.
DOW CHEMICAL’S
Amerchol business
will market zinc oxide
products in North and
Latin America that are
manufactured by Advanced
Nanotechnology
of Perth, Australia. Dow
says Advanced Nano’s
zinc oxides can be used
in nonwhitening, nongreasy
sunscreens that
absorb both UVA and
UVB rays.
IRONWOOD Pharmaceuticals
is the new name for
Microbia, a Cambridge,
Mass., company developing
drugs for irritable
bowel syndrome and
hypercholesterolemia.
Ironwood is also majority
owner of Microbia
Precision Engineering, an
industrial biotechnology
company that develops
bioprocesses for the
production of specialty
chemicals.

SOUTHERN COPPER
SULFURIC ACID is one of those unheralded
lubricants that keep the gears of the
industrial economy spinning. Although less
in the limelight than petrochemicals such
as ethylene or polyethylene, it is in fact the
largest volume chemical in the world. Over
the past six months, it has become a very
expensive chemical as well.
The spot market price for sulfuric acid
sold on the U.S. Gulf Coast is four times
higher today than it was a year ago. And
because sulfuric acid is critical to so many
manufacturing operations, the price runup
is causing grief for a wide range of industrial
users.
The story of sulfuric acid’s rise is intertwined
with the stories of metals, fertilizers,
grains, and other commodities that
have been skyrocketing in price in recent
months because of insatiable demand from
China and other developing countries. Although
industry observers advance various
explanations for why acid prices are rising,
they all agree that some kind of market hysteria
is also at work.
Robert Boyd, founder of the sulfur and
sulfuric acid consulting firm PentaSul, traces
the run-up back to what at the time must
have seemed like an inconsequential hiccup:
the inability of the Phoenix-based copper
company Southern Copper to get a Peruvian
sulfuric acid plant up and running on time.
BUSINESS
THE ACID TOUCH
RISING PRICES for sulfuric acid have widespread industrial impact
MICHAEL MCCOY, C&EN NORTHEAST NEWS BUREAU
Smelters of copper, nickel, and other
metals play a pivotal role in the sulfuric
acid business. Traditional refining of sulfidic
copper ores creates copious amounts
of sulfur dioxide gas, which most modern
smelters capture and convert into sulfuric
acid. Yet refining copper via the comparatively
new solvent extraction/electrowinning
technique requires huge quantities of
sulfuric acid to leach metal out of copper
oxide-rich ores. Depending on their location,
metal companies can be big acid sellers
or big acid buyers.
Early last year, Southern was set to become
a big acid seller following the installation of
abatement equipment designed to capture
more than 92% of the company’s sulfur dioxide
emissions in the form of 1 million metric
tons of sulfuric acid annually. However, Boyd
says the plant didn’t get fully going until May.
In the meantime, Southern was forced to buy
sulfuric acid on the open market to satisfy the
customers it had lined up.
That open market, however, was becoming
crowded with producers of metals and
fertilizers seeking sulfuric acid for their
own operations. Prices for these commodi-
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 27 APRIL 14, 2008
GIVE AND
TAKE Refining
copper,
shown here
at Southern
Copper’s Ilo,
Peru, smelter,
can produce
or consume
sulfuric acid.
ties were hitting all-time
highs, and sellers were
desperate to cash in while
they could.
Since the initial market
tightening last spring,
the situation has only
intensified. “I have never
seen anything like it, and
I have been in the busi-
ness for 23 years,” says Jack Weaverling,
senior vice president of the Texas-based
sulfuric acid marketer Shrieve Chemical.
Part of the problem, Weaverling and
other industry players say, is the way that
disparate events are converging to drive up
the price of sulfuric acid.
These days, metal makers have an incentive
to turn out as much copper as they can.
According to the London Metal Exchange,
copper is selling for more than $3.80 per
lb today, compared with only about $1.40
at the beginning of 2005. Many firms are
turning to the solvent extraction method
and need acid to run these facilities. For
example, at the same time that Southern is
capturing and selling acid at its new Peruvian
operation, the company plans to build
another copper facility in Peru that will
consume more than two-thirds of that acid.
EVEN CRAZIER than metals is the phosphate
fertilizer market, thanks to booming
global demand for corn and other foodstuffs.
A World Bank report puts the average
2006 price of diammonium phosphate
(DAP), the most widely traded phosphate
fertilizer, at $260 per metric ton on the
U.S Gulf Coast. Last month, according to
Penta Sul, DAP broke $1,000 per metric ton.
U.S. phosphate fertilizer producers use
sulfuric acid to convert phosphate rock,
mined chiefly in central Florida, into phosphoric
acid. Their operations account for
fully 60% of U.S. sulfuric acid consumption.
Although most big fertilizer producers
make their own acid, times of outsized
demand can prompt them to look to outside
supplies. And with the returns they
are getting on DAP, they can afford to pay
whatever the market is charging.
According to NorFalco, an Ohio-based
company that markets sulfuric acid from
several Canadian smelters and is one of
North America’s largest suppliers, fertil-
Disparate events are converging to drive up
the price of sulfuric acid to record highs.

REQUEST MORE AT ADINFONOW.ORG
izer makers and other industrial firms can
no longer count on the U.S. role as the
world’s dumping ground for excess acid.
In a recent analysis, Kim Ross, NorFalco’s
director of market development, explains
that U.S. buyers now have to compete with
aggressive purchasers from metal and fertilizer
companies around the world.
Even the Midwest ethanol boom is driving
up demand for sulfuric acid. Ethanol
is made from corn, and corn needs lots of
fertilizer to grow. Moreover, ethanol plants
themselves require sulfuric acid to manage
the acidity of water used in corn processing,
fermentation, and cooling. NorFalco
calls ethanol the fastest growing U.S. outlet
for sulfuric acid.
Some observers maintain that the
problem isn’t so much sulfuric acid as it is
the acid’s raw material, elemental sulfur.
Although sulfur was once mined, today
it is largely recovered from natural gas
and oil-refining operations. For years, the
amount recovered exceeded demand, and
oil and gas companies were forced to store
the mineral in huge piles. For most of
this decade, sulfur was being delivered to
BUSINESS
Florida fertilizer companies for about
$60 per long ton.
BUT THE SULFUR stockpile peaked
in 2003, notes PentaSul’s Boyd, and by
2005 the industry was drawing it down.
Priced at less than $60 per long ton just
a year ago, sulfur contracts in Tampa,
Fla., had risen to $250 by first-quarter
2008, according to Boyd. Panicky buyers
at Chinese fertilizer companies
have paid as much as $600 per metric
ton for delivered sulfur, although Boyd
emphasizes that such spot market
prices don’t apply to companies that
have long-term contracts.
Although not completely tied to
sulfur, prices for sulfuric acid are following
the raw material up. PentaSul’s
latest bulletin places the current Gulf
Coast spot price for sulfuric acid at
between $250 and $270 per metric
ton, compared with about $60 at this time
last year.
At Shrieve Chemical, Weaverling says
sulfur producers are pushing for a price
increase of between $150 and $240 per long
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 28 APRIL 14, 2008
ton for the second quarter of the year. Given
that it takes about 1 ton of sulfur to make
3 tons of acid, sulfuric acid buyers could be
looking at their own price increase of $80
per metric ton or even more.
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Petroleum
5%
Ore leaching
7%
Agricultural
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10%
Industrial
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11%
Annual U.S. sulfuric acid
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These record price tags may be easy for
metal refiners and fertilizer producers to
swallow since their products are also fetching
record prices, but they are not so palatable
for purchasing managers at industrial
chemical companies that use sulfuric acid
in their operations.
Angie Copenhaver, global procurement
strategist at specialty chemical giant Rohm
and Haas, is such a buyer. “In the specialty
chemical industry, there are some classes
of raw materials that are ubiquitous,” she
says. “Sulfur and sulfur derivatives is one
such group.”
According to Copenhaver, Rohm and
Haas consumes sulfuric acid at 18 of its
manufacturing plants. For example, it takes
1 ton of sulfuric acid to produce 1 ton of
boric acid, which Rohm and Haas uses to
produce several key product families. Add
in other sulfur derivatives and the impact
runs throughout the company. “It hits all of
our business groups,” she says.
Rohm and Haas says it is unable to keep
absorbing higher costs for sulfuric acid
and other raw materials. One attempt to
recoup them is an April 1 increase of any-
The 2008 Franklin Institute Awards Ceremony
where from 4 to 8 cents per lb for polymers
and additives used in coatings. Yet paint
industry customers, already hit by the
housing downturn, are in no mood to pay
more for their raw materials, Copenhaver
acknowledges.
SMALLER COMPANIES are feeling sulfuric
acid’s bite as well. Graver Technologies
is a Delaware-based producer of separation,
purification, and filtration products.
At its Newark, N.J., plant the company
manufactures ion-exchange resins used
by power companies and other industrial
firms to remove contaminants from process
and wastewaters.
Keith Platoff, purchasing manager at the
Newark facility, says he has seen the price
of sulfuric acid double over the past year to
almost $200 per ton, and he’s being warned
about further price increases. The plant
uses the acid mainly to regenerate ion-exchange
resins and to neutralize wastewater
before disposal.
Just as at Rohm and Haas, Graver can’t
easily pass on the higher costs to customers.
“The ion-exchange market is very
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 29 APRIL 14, 2008
competitive,” Platoff notes, “and we need
to keep a lid on costs.”
He says Graver has studied alternative
acids and new sulfuric acid suppliers;
still, a switch would have to be made with
extreme care because Graver’s customers
depend on its ion-exchange resins to
produce ultraclean water. Any reduction in
water quality in a big power plant, Platoff
notes, could cause irreparable damage to
very expensive turbines and other powerplant
systems.
At Rohm and Haas, Copenhaver points
out that widespread switching away from
sulfuric acid would entail prodigious
amounts of R&D and reengineering. “If we
believed this was going to continue on a
long-term basis, we would look at switching,”
she says. “But I do believe this is a
bubble.”
Boyd, the consultant, agrees that current
prices aren’t supported by supply-and-demand
economics and thinks they will come
back down. Yet he cautions that it will be
later rather than sooner. “In the long term,
sulfur and sulfuric acid will be back in balance,
but not before 2009,” he says. ■
the franklin institute salutes
The 2008 Franklin Institute Awards Laureates
Celebrating the Ben Franklins of today
and inspiring the Franklins of tomorrow
The 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry
Albert Eschenmoser, ETH Zürich and The Scripps Research
Institute, for his lifetime of research into the structures of
a cell’s nucleic acids and his contributions to understanding
just why RNA and DNA have the structures they do.
For a full list of this year’s Laureates
please visit: fi.edu/franklinawards.
REQUEST MORE AT ADINFONOW.ORG

WHEN HE LEFT REICHHOLD in 1998, John
S. Gaither had worked for the resins company
for 32 years holding such positions as
president of three divisions, chief operating
officer, and chairman of European operations.
Six years later, in 2004, he returned as
president and chief executive officer of the
then-money-losing firm. And it wasn’t long
after, at the end of September 2005, that he
and five other executives bought Reichhold
from its owner, Japan’s Dainippon Ink &
Chemical, for a mere $2.00.
Today, with a little more than $1 billion
in annual sales from 18 plants in 11 countries,
Reichhold is a profitable private firm
employing 1,600 people, says the 64-yearold
Gaither. Its biggest products are unsaturated
polyester and alkyd resins for boat
hulls, shower stalls, inks, and paints. The
company is seeking new business in the
developing economies of Latin America,
Eastern Europe, and Asia. And it has a resins
plant under construction in India and
another facility on the drawing board to be
built in China.
That’s the short story.
The longer story dates back to 1987,
when Dainippon made a surprising hostile
bid for the then-60-year-old Reichhold. It
was surprising because the conventional
wisdom at the time was that Japanese
companies did not stage hostile takeovers.
Dainippon, though, was a different kind
of Japanese firm. A longtime licensee of
Reich hold technology, Dainippon ultimately
succeeded in taking over its former
licensor for $540 million.
“It was not a successful acquisition,”
Gaither says today. Dainippon borrowed
heavily against Reichhold’s assets to pay
for the acquisition. “Cultural disconnects”
BUSINESS
REICHHOLD’S
COMEBACK
Two years after a management buyout, CEO John
Gaither steers old-line firm in a GLOBAL EXPANSION
MARC S. REISCH, C&EN NORTHEAST NEWS BUREAU
disturbed Dainippon’s relationship with
Reichhold during the nearly 20 years it
owned the resins maker. And Reichhold
went through seven CEOs during the
Dainippon years, “creating a lot of confusion
and disgruntled employees,”
Gaither recalls.
“Many people left the
company.
“When I left in 1998, I
never dreamed I would
come back,” Gaither says.
He stayed around Research
Triangle Park, N.C.,
home to Reichhold and
also a hotbed of biotech
and other new technology
companies. He served a
stint as chief operating
officer of start-up firm
Industrial Microwave
Systems. He then followed
with a stretch as chairman
of another venture-
capital-funded company,
Synthematix, a developer
of lab notebook software
that was eventually sold to
high-throughput technology
firm Symyx.
Just as he was getting close to buying a
chemical firm with some partners, Gaither
got a call from Dainippon about running
Reichhold. “I had stayed in touch with
Dainippon and actually approached them
a couple of times about buying the company.”
Although they weren’t quite ready to
sell Reichhold, they convinced him to come
back in May 2004.
Gaither persuaded a number of former
executives to rejoin Reichhold with him.
“We didn’t buy this company for a
quick flip.” Besides, “we’re having
too much fun to sell now.”
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 30 APRIL 14, 2008
“We all knew each other. We respected
each other. We trusted each other,” he says.
Among those who came back were William
A. Branson, now senior vice president for
operations and supply chain, and Rodney
Biddle, senior vice president for global
coatings. “Like me,” Gaither says, “they
both had more than 30 years with the company.
I think we all felt like we were coming
home and we had some unfinished business
to do.”
A short time after Gaither returned to Reichhold,
Dainippon put its Japanese unsaturated
polyester resin business into a joint
venture with Hitachi Chemical. “As soon as
I saw that, I thought Reichhold can’t be too
strategic for them,” Gaither says. “And sure
enough, they asked
me if I was still interested
in acquiring
Reichhold. And I said
‘absolutely.’ ”
At the time of the
sale’s closing in September
2005, Dainip-
ENTERPRISING
Reichhold is
counting on
new technology
research to boost
sales.
pon revealed that Reichhold had a 2004 net
loss of $218 million on $930 million in sales.
The deal Gaither and his associates made
called for them to pay the bargain-basement
price of $1.00 for the firm’s U.S. assets and
$1.00 for assets in the rest of the world. But
even though Dainippon forgave $229 million
of Reichhold’s outstanding debt, the
new owners were still on the hook for the
remaining $202 million.
REICHHOLD

Within a few weeks of the closing, Gaither
and his associates paid off $30 million of
the debt with cash on hand and a bank line
of credit. In 2006, they paid off the balance
due Dainippon after floating a $200 million
bond issue set to mature in 2024 and paying
investors 9% interest.
According to Gaither, the process of rehabilitating
Reichhold actually started with
his return in 2004, when
he and his team began improving
the productivity of
the company’s operations.
Dainippon had already
spent a lot of money on the
firm’s plants. “They certainly
were not neglected,”
he says. But many of the
improvements “were made
in an ivory tower.” The
improvements were well
thought out but just needed
some practical refinement.
The new owners talked
with plant workers and
brought back some of the
Gaither
older engineers who had left the company.
With a bit of “tweaking and debottlenecking,”
the firm reduced production costs by
25%. “That stopped the bleeding,” Gaither
says. A headcount reduction of 15% also
lowered costs and completed the return to
profitability.
WITH COSTS under control and money
coming in, Reichhold began to expand. In
India, in the Pune district of Maharashtra
state, the firm is building a 10,000-metricton-per-year
unsaturated polyester resin
plant scheduled to open later this year.
The 10-acre site has room for expansion,
Gaither says. China will be next, he adds,
noting his company has plans for a similarsized
project there.
In Eastern Europe, Reichhold’s Czech
Republic production partner, Spolchemie,
recently completed a 30,000-metric-ton
unsaturated polyester plant with Reichhold’s
help and is already planning a 20%
increase in capacity. Reichhold takes the
plant’s entire output, Gaither says. In Turkey,
the firm recently started an unsaturated
polyester joint venture that is already
profitable, he says.
Three years ago in Brazil, Reichhold
acquired unsaturated polyester producer
Indústria Brasileira de Resinas, located
in Bahia state. The facility supplemented
production at a Reichhold facility in São
Paulo state and boosted the firm’s com-
posite resins capacity in the country by 20%.
The revived Reichhold is no doubt drawing
the attention of its rivals. John Roberts,
a financial analyst at Buckingham Research
Group, suggests that Ashland, also a maker
of unsaturated polyester resins, might
want to buy it. Because Ashland sold its
petroleum interests to partner Marathon
in 2005 for $3 billion, it has a lot of cash to
invest, and Roberts suggests
that Reichhold could be an
acquisition target. Others
that might be interested
include competitors such
as Hexion Specialty Chemicals,
DSM, Cytec Industries,
and New Zealand-based
Nuplex.
But Gaither says he and
his partners are not interested
in selling out. “We
didn’t buy this company
for a quick flip,” he says.
Besides, “we’re having too
much fun to sell now, and
we believe we can create a
more valuable company over time.”
One way the firm expects to boost its
value is by invigorating its R&D apparatus.
The firm operates major R&D centers in
Research Triangle Park; São Paulo state;
and Sandefjord, Norway. “One of my biggest
disappointments when I returned to
Reichhold was that we were developing
new products, but they were not innovative
products,” Gaither says.
That changed most significantly about
six months ago with the introduction
of a family of waterborne alkyd-based
coating resins. Solvent-borne alkyds are
widely used in industrial and architectural
coatings, but they emit volatile organic
compounds—precursors of atmospheric
smog—as they dry. Reichhold says its novel
latex alkyd offers product and environmental
performance as good as or better than
solvent-based counterparts. “I think it has
a chance to rejuvenate our coatings resins
business,” Gaither says.
Reichhold will continue to grow aggressively
in the developing economies of
Eastern Europe, Asia, and Latin America,
Gaither predicts. Although Reichhold is an
old-line company, it has robust franchises
in coatings and composites resins, he says.
Gaither is confident that with new technologies
and an expanding global manufacturing
operation, the company’s profitability
and continued independent survival are
sure bets. ■
REICHHOLD
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 31 APRIL 14, 2008
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NPRA
Glass
AT THE ANNUAL petrochemical industry
meetings held late last month in Texas, high
energy costs and a sluggish economy were
at the top of the agenda, followed by plenty
of the usual fretting about looming Middle
Eastern plants. Despite the ominous outlook,
petrochemical makers were upbeat.
The largest of these meetings is the National
Petrochemical & Refiners Association’s
(NPRA) International Petrochemical
Conference, held in San Antonio. This year
it ran from March 30 to April 1 and drew
more than 3,200 attendees.
The event’s keynote speaker was Sherman
J. Glass Jr., who until recently was
a senior vice president at ExxonMobil
Chemical. Now president of ExxonMobil
Refining & Supply, he gave his assessment
of energy and petrochemical markets in the
coming decades.
Between 2005 and 2030, as the world’s
population grows by 30% and its economy
doubles, energy demand will increase by
40% to 325 million barrels per day on an oil
equivalent basis, Glass said. “Clearly, a wide
variety of energy resources will be needed to
meet this increased demand,” he said. “But
fossil fuels—oil, natural gas, and coal—are
the only energy sources of sufficient scale,
flexibility, and affordability to meet the majority
of the world’s energy needs.”
Glass said fossil fuels will continue to
supply about 80% of the world’s energy over
BUSINESS
PETROCHEMICAL
FUTURES
Although they have much to worry about,
petrochemical makers REMAIN OPTIMISTIC
the period. Despite high growth for energy
sources such as biofuels, wind, and solar,
these alternatives will account for only 2%
of energy in 2030, up from 0.5% today.
Global chemical demand, meanwhile, will
increase by an annual rate 2% above overall
economic growth through 2030. Some 60%
of this growth will come from Asia, particularly
China. In this, Glass’s company sees opportunity.
ExxonMobil Chemical is doubling
capacity at its Singapore chemical complex
by 2011 and is planning a refining and petrochemical
project with partners Saudi
Aramco and Sinopec (China Petroleum &
Chemical Corp.) in Fujian, China.
Although demand will grow, supply will
too. At a conference held by consulting
group Chemical Market Associates Inc. in
Houston the week before the NPRA meeting,
CMAI President Gary Adams said the
current era of prosperity for petrochemical
makers will begin to slip away as new production
capacity opens in the Middle East.
“By late 2008, it will start to be evident that
markets are softening,” he said.
Indeed, Adams said petrochemical makers
should be worried that their profits are
already being eroded by high energy and
feedstock costs. However, he expects that
the chemical industry trough will be a relatively
short and mild one, and he foresees a
recovery by 2012.
Petrochemical consultancy DeWitt &
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 32 APRIL 14, 2008
Co. also held a conference the week before
NPRA. There, T. Kevin Swift, chief economist
for the American Chemistry Council, painted
a dark economic picture for U.S. chemical
makers. The good news is that, owing to a
weak dollar, chemical exports from the U.S.
have been strong. Yet falling home prices and
rising energy costs, he said, are cutting into
consumer spending. “The hard evidence suggests
that we are in a recession,” he added.
“The rest of the world may get the
sniffles from the U.S. getting the recessionary
cold,” he said. U.S. troubles aside, Swift
expects the global economy to expand by
more than 4% in 2008.
ALTHOUGH OIL and natural gas continue
to be the chemical industry’s main raw materials,
some in Texas offered alternatives.
At the CMAI conference, J. Brian Ferguson,
chief executive officer of Eastman Chemical,
challenged the conventional wisdom
that places like the Middle East and Trinidad
will have a large chemical production
cost advantage far into the future.
As evidence, Ferguson offered up two
Eastman-backed projects on the U.S. Gulf
Coast to make ammonia and methanol by
first gasifying petroleum coke, a coallike
by-product of oil refining, into the chemical
raw material syngas. “Eastman can match
and beat products produced overseas with
advantaged raw materials,” he said.
Gasification is being seriously considered
elsewhere in North America as well. At an
event during the NPRA meeting sponsored
by Canadian government officials, Fred du
Plessis, a consultant with Kline Group, presented
the results of his study on using coke
gasification to make chemicals in Alberta.
Du Plessis projected that some 3 million
bbl per day of bitumen extracted from the
Northern Alberta oil sands will be refined
into fuels by 2015. Because this process yields
about 50% of “bottoms” that are converted
into coke, refiners will face a large coke surplus
that cannot be exported economically.
“It may seem like a problem … but we see that
as the key to gasification technology,” he said.
By 2015, du Plessis argued, Alberta could establish
an integrated site that converts coke
into chemicals such as urea, acetic acid, vinyl
acetate, methanol, olefins, and polyolefins.
Today’s petrochemical managers are wary
of expansions based on cheap Middle Eastern
natural gas. But if visionaries such as Ferguson
and du Plessis have it right, the executives
of the future may instead be complaining
about too much production from cheap
North American coke. —ALEX TULLO

Make your next
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Selected most-cited articles from 2007:
JOURNAL OF
MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:
Philip S. Portoghese
University of Minnesota
#1 most-cited journal in
Medicinal Chemistry with
ISI Impact Factor: 5.115
http://pubs.acs.org/JMC
Novel 2,7-Dialkyl-Substituted 5(S)-
Amino-4(S)-hydroxy-8-phenyloctanecarboxamide
Transition
State Peptidomimetics Are Potent
and Orally Active Inhibitors of
Human Renin
Goschke, R.; Stutz, S.; Rasetti, V.; Cohen,
N.C.; Rahuel, J.; Rigollier, P.; Baum, H.P.;
Forgiarini, P.; Schnell, C. R.; Wagner, T.;
Gruetter, M.G.; Fuhrer, W.; Schilling, W.;
Cumin, F.; Wood, J.M.; Maibaum, J.
J. Med. Chem.; (Article); 2007; 50(20);
4818-4831. DOI: 10.1021/jm070314y
Novel Vanilloid Receptor-1
Antagonists: 1. Conformationally
Restricted Analogues of trans-
Cinnamides
Norman, M.H.; Zhu, J.; Fotsch, C.; Bo, Y.;
Chen, N.; Chakrabarti, P.; Doherty, E.M.;
Gavva, N.R.; Nishimura, N.; Nixey, T.;
Ognyanov, V.I.; Rzasa, R.M.; Stec, M.;
Surapaneni, S.; Tamir, R.;
Viswanadhan, V. N.; Treanor, J.J.S.
J. Med. Chem.; (Article); 2007; 50(15);
3497-3514. DOI: 10.1021/jm070189q
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Discovery of 2-[(2,4-Dichlorophenyl)
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Giblin, G.M.P.; O’Shaughnessy, C.T.;
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Brown, A.J.; Haslam, C.P.; Clayton, N.M.;
Wilson, A.W.; Chessell, I.P.;
Wittington, A. R.; Green, R.
J. Med. Chem.; (Letter); 2007; 50(11);
2597-2600. DOI: 10.1021/jm061195+
JOURNAL OF
COMBINATORIAL
CHEMISTRY
EDITOR:
Anthony W. Czarnik
University of Nevada
#2 in ISI Impact Factor in Applied
Chemistry with 3.153.
http://pubs.acs.org/JCC
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Solution-Phase Parallel Synthesis of
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Yang, T.M.; Liu, G.
J. Comb. Chem.; (Article); 2007; 9(1);
86-95. DOI: 10.1021/cc060124t
Multicomponent Reactions to Form
Heterocycles by Microwave-Assisted
Continuous Flow Organic Synthesis
Bremner, W.S.; Organ, M.G.
J. Comb. Chem.; (Report); 2007; 9(1);
14-16. DOI: 10.1021/cc060130p
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Liu, G.; Li, L.; Kou, B.; Zhang, S.; Zhang, L.;
Yuan, Y.; Ma, T.; Shang, Y.; Li, Y.
J. Comb. Chem.; (Article); 2007; 9(1);
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JOURNAL OF
CHEMICAL INFORMATION
AND MODELING
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:
William L. Jorgensen
Yale University
#2 most-cited journal in Computer
Science, Information Systems
ISI Impact Factor: 3.423
http://pubs.acs.org/JCIM
Chemical Fragment Spaces for
de novo Design
Mauser, H.; Stahl, M.
J. Chem. Inf. Model; (Article); 2007; 47(2);
318-324. DOI: 10.1021/ci6003652
Comparison of Topological, Shape,
and Docking Methods in Virtual
Screening
McGaughey, G.B.; Sheridan, R.P.;
Bayly, C.I.; Culberson, J.C.;
Kreatsoulas, C.; Lindsley, S.; Maiorov, V.;
Truchon, J.F.; Cornell, W.D.
J. Chem. Inf. Model; (Article); 2007; 47(4);
1504-1519. DOI: 10.1021/ci700052x
Ligand-Based Virtual Screening
by Novelty Detection with Self-
Organizing Maps
Hristozov, D.; Oprea, T.I.; Gasteiger, J.
J. Chem. Inf. Model; (Article); 2007; 47(6);
2044-2062. DOI:10.1021/ci700040r

COALITION SUES EPA
OVER FOUR PESTICIDES
A coalition of farmworker advocates and
environmental activists has filed a lawsuit
against EPA that seeks to halt the use of
four organophosphate pesticides. The
compounds—methidathion, ethoprop,
methamidophos, and oxydemeton-methyl—have
put thousands of farmworkers
and families at risk of serious illnesses,
including cancer and reproductive deformities,
allege attorneys for Earthjustice, an
environmental law firm representing the
plaintiffs. The organophosphates are used
primarily in California on a wide variety
of fruit, vegetable, and nut crops. The lawsuit,
filed in the U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of California, in San Francisco,
alleges that in allowing the pesticides
to remain on the market, EPA has failed to
satisfy its legal obligation to ensure that
the chemicals will not have “unreasonable
adverse effects” on farmworkers, children,
and the environment. An EPA spokesman
says the agency is reviewing the issues
raised by the litigation and will decide on a
course of action at the appropriate time.
HEALTH IMPACTS OF
CLIMATE CHANGE
Anticipating more human health problems
from global warming, the World Health
Organization and several United Nations
partners announced a new research agenda
to produce better estimates of the scale and
nature of human health vulnerability due to
changing climate, as well as to find healthprotecting
strategies and tools. Margaret
Chan, WHO director-general, warned that
warming may be gradual but the effects—
more storms, floods, droughts, and heat
waves—will be abrupt and acutely felt. She
predicted that global warming will influence
some of the most fundamental determinants
of health: air, water, food, shelter, and
freedom from disease. The impact will be
global, she said, but the consequences will
not be evenly distributed. “In short, climate
change will affect problems that are already
huge, largely concentrated in the developing
world, and will be difficult to control,”
Chan said. She announced a new climatechange
program to be run by WHO along
with the UN Environmental Programme,
the Food & Agricultural Organization, and
the UN World Meteorological Organization.
The program will provide better sur-
GOVERNMENT & POLICY CONCENTRATES
NEW LAWS PROPOSED IN CANADA
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper last week announced plans to
overhaul his nation’s food, drug, and product safety laws. Harper’s legislative
package, delivered to the House of Commons on April 8, would
modernize the existing Food & Drugs Act and create a new Canada Consumer
Product Safety Act. Proposed changes to
the Food & Drugs Act would require makers of
pharmaceuticals and other health products to
provide results of government-specified tests to
demonstrate that a product remains safe and
effective once it is on the market. It would also
allow regulators at Health Canada to share data,
including confidential business information,
when appropriate, with other regulatory agencies
and the public. Harper’s proposed product
Harper
safety law would prohibit the manufacture, advertisement,
or sale of consumer products that are a danger to human
health or safety. It would require suppliers to maintain accurate records of
the sources of their products and would give regulators the power to pull
unsafe consumer products from retailers’ shelves and to order recalls.
“We welcome this federal initiative and look forward to working with the
federal government on this important project,” says Shannon Coombs,
president of the Canadian Consumer Specialty Products Association.
veillance and forecasting, stronger basic
health services, and more effective means to
help people adapt to a changing climate and
to limit climate change’s effect on health.
TRADE DEAL FACES
FIGHT IN CONGRESS
With strong support from U.S. industry,
President George W. Bush has sent Congress
a controversial free-trade agreement
with Colombia, a move that will force
lawmakers to vote on the pact within 90
legislative days. The measure faces an uphill
battle. Democratic leaders in both chambers
say support for the trade deal will hinge
on renewal and expansion of a program
designed to help workers who lose their jobs
as a result of foreign competition. The pact
with Colombia would level the playing field
for U.S. exporters by immediately providing
nearly complete access to a $30 billion market.
U.S. manufacturers currently face 14%
tariffs on average for industrial products
shipped to the South American country.
U.S. exports to Colombia include chemicals,
plastics, cereal, heavy machinery, and electronics.
Dow Chemical annually exports
more than $300 million worth of products
from the U.S. to the Colombian market. Du-
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 34 APRIL 14, 2008
NEWSCOM
ties on the majority of these products would
be eliminated under the pact.
NIH BUDGET LOSING
GROUND
Over the past five years, funding for NIH has
dropped in constant dollars, according to
data compiled by the Federation of American
Societies for Experimental Biology.
Specifically, FASEB reports funding for NIH
in constant dollars was $31.7 billion in fiscal
2004, but has fallen 13% to a projected $27.5
billion for fiscal 2009. This drop in funding
resulted in a decline in the total number of
RO1 grants—from 29,061 in 2004 to 27,850
in 2007. “We have seen a substantial decline
in NIH’s purchasing power, curtailing the
ability of scientists to take advantage of new
opportunities and respond to new health
challenges,” says Howard Garrison, director
of FASEB’s Office of Public Affairs. This
period of decline comes on the heels of a
five-year doubling of the agency’s budget.
And, according to the FASEB analysis, if the
1998 to 2003 doubling had not taken place,
and if NIH had continued at its historic rate
of growth from 1998 through 2008, then the
agency’s budget would be several billion
dollars higher than it is today.

SCOTT J. FERRELL/CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY
THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY’S ability to
determine how science is used to shape the
national debate over product safety is being
investigated by a key House committee.
“Our committee intends to determine
what influence the chemical industry
yields over the scientific community and
whether that influence is proper,” said Rep.
John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the
House Energy & Commerce Committee,
in a statement releasing an April 2 letter to
the American Chemistry Council (ACC).
The letter seeks a long list of documents
from the U.S. chemical industry’s primary
lobbying arm.
In mid-March, Dingell’s committee
also asked the Environmental Protection
Agency for related documents and raised
similar concerns that agency science is biased
in the chemical industry’s favor. Both
requests demand the information within
two weeks from the dates of the letters.
The genesis of the congressional investigations
is ACC’s successful demand that
EPA retroactively remove the views of the
chairwoman who had overseen a peer re-
GOVERNMENT & POLICY
EPA SCIENCE
INVESTIGATED
House committee probe of INDUSTRY BIAS
in agency review reaches former ACS president
CHERYL HOGUE AND JEFF JOHNSON, C&EN WASHINGTON
view assessment on a family of flame retardants.
The agency struck the chairwoman’s
views after the report had been published.
The investigation, however, goes beyond
this apparent influencing of EPA.
Among the requested data from ACC are
“all records of payments and communications”
between former American Chemical
Society president William F. Carroll and
ACC. Carroll served as ACS president in
2005 and, as a member of the three-year
presidential succession, was a member of
the society’s board of directors in 2004–06.
The Energy & Commerce Committee
is particularly concerned about “crosspollination”
between Carroll’s role as the
head of a society of chemical professionals
while at the same time serving as a chief
industry proponent for the vinyl industry, a
committee staff member says.
Carroll has worked for Occidental
Chemical continuously for nearly 30
years and is currently the company’s vice
president for chlorovinyl issues. He was
identified in the House committee letter
as an executive with the Vinyl Institute, an
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 35 APRIL 14, 2008
REDACTED
EPA’s support
of industry’s
request to strike
a peer reviewer’s
comments has
led to a House
committee probe
directed by Rep.
John D. Dingell
(right).
industry group allied
with ACC. But Carroll
strongly denies
this: “I was never an
executive with the institute.
Our company
is a member, but I
have never worked for
them,” he says.
Carroll has had a
long relationship with
ACC, however, and
was acting managing director of ACC’s
chlorine division for six months in 2006.
And in 1994–96, he was a staff member of
the Chlorine Chemistry Council, an ACC
subsidiary. Carroll says he was never on the
payroll of ACC or the chlorine council.
The committee is also seeking information
on nine scientists with industry
contacts who served on EPA review panels,
as well as information on a law office and a
public relations firm.
ADDITIONALLY, the committee is exploring
industry and science ties through information
it is seeking about ACC’s relationship
to the International Society for Regulatory
Toxicology & Pharmacology and its
journal, Regulatory Toxicology & Pharmacology,
which is owned and published by
Elsevier. The society, the committee staff
member says, is funded by several corporations
and associations, including ACC.
Environmental and public health advocates
have been critical of the journal. Jennifer
Sass, a toxicologist with the Natural
Resources Defense Council, says that in
studies the journal publishes, previously
reported toxic or adverse health effects
from chemical exposure are downplayed,
dismissed, or simply not mentioned. The
journal includes mainly mathematical
models and meta analyses of other published
studies, she adds, and its editorial
board includes attorneys who represent
corporations.
Dingell asked ACC for records of any
payments to journal officials, but Gio B.
Gori, editor of the journal, tells C&EN he
has never received money from ACC and
is paid for his editing work by Elsevier. “I
don’t know why they’re investigating us,”
he says. “We have nothing to hide.”
At the heart of the investigation is
Deborah C. Rice, a former EPA scientist
and currently a toxicologist with the state
of Maine, who chaired an EPA external peer
review panel set up to conduct a toxicological
review of polybrominated diphenyl

GOVERNMENT & POLICY
“Peer reviewers should be free to say whatever they think, and
to have retroactive retaliation sends the message that if you say
something unpopular with EPA, your views may get dropped.”
ethers (PBDEs). The review of this group
of flame retardants began in 2002. The European
Union and several U.S. states have
banned penta-BDE and octa-BDE. The
main BDE found in commerce in the U.S. is
deca-BDE, which is incorporated into plastics
in the housings of television sets and
other electric and electronic equipment, as
well as upholstery for furniture and other
items.
The peer review panel examined EPA’s
draft assessment of BDEs, which includes
agency expert judgments on how much
exposure to each BDE is
safe. These judgments
can have far-ranging
regulatory effects.
EPA places its peerreviewed
judgments on
safe doses of chemicals
and the scientific justification
behind them
in a database called the
Br
Br
Br
Br Br
Integrated Risk Information System,
which is available on the Web. EPA, other
federal agencies, state environmental
departments, and even regulators in foreign
countries rely on the database. For
instance, they often depend on the database’s
safe daily dose numbers to decide
how much cleanup a polluter must do at a
contaminated site.
Rice is a world-class toxicologist, according
to several toxicologists interviewed
by C&EN, some of whom are associated
with EPA and did not wish to comment
publicly. She was a toxicologist with
Health Canada and the U.S. EPA’s National
Center for Environmental Assessment,
which is conducting the PBDE review.
Rice declined to comment to C&EN, as
did EPA officials.
Rice was selected for the peer review
panel in 2006 and was one of five reviewers.
The panel met in February 2007 and
issued its assessment in mid-March, when
EPA posted the report on its website.
On May 3, 2007, ACC wrote to George
M. Gray, EPA assistant administrator for
R&D, complaining about “the appearance
that [the] peer review panel’s leadership
might lack the impartiality and objectivity
necessary to conduct a fair and impartial
O
Deca-BDE
review of the data.” Rice, the letter says,
had testified before the Maine State Legislature
on behalf of a state agency, the
Center for Disease Control & Prevention,
where she works. There, she advocated a
phaseout of deca-BDE.
Rice simply conveyed the policy position
of her employer to state lawmakers,
says Sonya Lunder, senior analyst with the
Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit
advocacy and research organization.
In a Jan. 8, 2008, letter to ACC, Gray
announced that the agency had removed
all of Rice’s comments
Br Br
Br
Br
Br
from the final peer review
report. The agency had
redacted her comments
from the report and reposted
it to the website.
In his Jan. 8 letter,
Gray said his letter was
a follow-up to a June 15,
2007, meeting with ACC
to discuss Rice’s involvement. Gray wrote
in his letter that EPA made the changes
because “one of the panel members had a
potential conflict of interest.”
At ACC’s urging, Gray said he had also
reviewed initial and final comments of
other panel reviewers to determine if the
chairwoman had influenced their views.
His review found “minor additions” from
reviewers but provided no evidence that
Rice had “significantly influenced the other
panelists.”
Rice “has no conflict of interest that
I’m aware of,” says Merrill Goozner, director
of the Integrity in Science project at
the watchdog group Center for Science
in the Public Interest. Under federal laws
and policies for advisory panels, conflicts
of interest have to do with advisers’ potential
financial gain or loss from their
recommendations.
Goozner’s group and environmental
organizations regularly write letters to EPA
contending that external peer reviewers
have financial conflicts of interest. “ACC
has every right to write a letter to EPA,
just like we do,” he tells C&EN. It is the
agency’s job, Goozner says, to investigate
the situation and determine if a reviewer
indeed has a conflict.
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 36 APRIL 14, 2008
EPA, however, “made the wrong decision”
in Rice’s case, Goozner says.
“Apparently, EPA didn’t want to hear
from this person because industry disagreed
with her conclusions,” says David
Michaels, a professor of environmental and
occupational health at George Washington
University.
Michaels, former Department of Energy
assistant secretary for environment, safety,
and health, says the removal of Rice from
the panel is consistent with other actions
the Bush Administration has taken to stack
advisory groups with scientists favorable to
its views and to silence opponents.
LUNDER AND other scientists interviewed
by C&EN warn of the chilling effect Gray’s
actions may have on other scientists asked
to take part in peer reviews. They note that
Rice had already been vetted and selected
by EPA and the contractor that put together
the panel.
“Peer reviewers should be free to say
whatever they think,” Lunder says, “and to
have retroactive retaliation by removing
your name sends a message that if you say
something unpopular or out of line with
EPA, your views may get dropped. It challenges
the whole principle of review by an
unbiased panel without fear of retribution.”
In a statement released earlier this
month, ACC said its “strong support for
science” and “an independent peer review
process” led it to raise concerns with EPA
about Rice’s membership on the PBDE
panel. “We believe EPA acted appropriately
and consistently with the rules governing
membership in scientific review panels,”
the industry group said.
“ACC will work with the Energy & Commerce
Committee to provide it with the
requested materials pertaining to this
matter,” the statement said.
The final toxicological human health
assessment of PBDE is expected this
month. It is now being examined by the
White House’s Office of Management
& Budget, according to EPA officials. An
official familiar with the draft said Rice’s
toxicological studies are cited in the assessment
although her views on the draft
had been struck. ■

U.S. EMPLOYMENT PEAKED in December 2007. The month
marked the end of a weak and relatively short period of job growth.
This period generated a 6% increase in payrolls and lasted for 52
months. The growth phases of the eight earlier bust-and-boom employment
cycles since 1948 produced average payroll gains of 18%
and lasted an average of 67 months.
Prior to this one, the two most recent job upturns—from 1982 to
1990 and from 1991 to 2001—both posted payroll gains of close to
23% and lasted for 90 and 117 months, respectively. The down phase
of the first eight job cycles lasted an average of 12 months. For the
just completed ninth cycle, it took 30 months to hit bottom.
These sobering statistics and the near-halt to growth in the
gross national product in the fourth quarter of 2007 should have
brought an end to denial and obfuscation about the economy. But
they apparently haven’t.
In recently acknowledging some economic weakness, the Bush
Administration still boasted that the latest job recovery beat the
previous record of 48 months of uninterrupted month-to-month
gains. This is true but misleading.
During the boom phase of earlier employment cycles, payroll
estimates occasionally showed isolated and tiny month-to-month
declines. But they did not break the upward momentum. More
than four years of uninterrupted growth may be a talking point. But
what matters about an employment upturn is not perfect uninterrupted
growth but how long it lasts and how many jobs it generates
in the end.
The publisher of Forbes, the self-styled “Capitalists’ Tool,” as
recently as last month assured the magazine’s readers about four
economic matters they need not be pessimistic about. To wit:
■ The 70% of Americans who believe the U.S. is on the wrong
economic track—because they are essentially the same 70% who
disapprove of the Bush presidency in general and so are not commenting
just on the economy.
■ What the media is reporting about the economy—because it is
an election year and the “out party” always exaggerates anything
negative about the economy, and the media goes along.
■ What business journalists write anyway—because they are mostly
incompetent, antibusiness, and left-of-center.
■ The subprime mortgage crisis—because the related losses are
not large. “In any typically volatile trading day, U.S. stocks gain
and lose [as much] every hour,” the publisher writes.
Incidentally, in the same Forbes issue, the editor-in-chief
proclaimed there is “no way” carbon
dioxide has anything to do with world temperature
changes.
For Democrats, a tempting partisan explanation
for what’s going on with the economy is
that it’s what you’d expect when a Republican is
in the White House. A ranking of the four-year
presidential terms since 1948 by the percentage
payroll gains they witnessed reveals that the six
CHEMICAL HINDSIGHTS
Job Market Blues
Economic slowdown, job dip, and changing world economy should bring
critical analysis of the OUTLOOK FOR THE DOMESTIC WORKFORCE
MICHAEL HEYLIN, C&EN WASHINGTON
What matters about
an employment
upturn is not perfect
uninterrupted growth
but how long it lasts
and how many jobs it
generates in the end.
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 37 APRIL 14, 2008
Democratic terms take six of the top seven spots. Republicans take
fourth and the lower eight positions.
Striking as these data may appear, they do not establish cause
and effect. There are too many complications, such as the finite
economic powers of the White House and the times Congress and
the presidency are split between the parties. And when there has
been a party change in the White House, there is the inevitable cry
from the new Administration that it was left an economic mess.
The counterclaim by those leaving is that any economic success
that the newcomers may enjoy is due to the solid economic foundation
they were handed.
The current wars are probably not a factor in the job downturn;
the U.S. has a record of flourishing during wartime. Demographics
are not a factor because the workforce continues to grow at a
steady pace. And although all data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
may not be ideal, the agency is widely regarded as scrupulous,
consistent, and credible with its measures of employment.
This puts focus on the current turmoil in the financial and credit
markets and the devaluation of the dollar—which aren’t helping—
as well as on technological change, worldwide competition, and
the outsourcing of jobs overseas. Was 1992 third-party presidential
candidate Ross Perot onto something with his little charts and his
alarm over the “giant sucking sound” of U.S. jobs going overseas?
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS of an economy able to generate
ever- increasing wealth, mostly for those who can afford it, without
consistently generating enough living-wage jobs to keep up with
population growth?
Despite some painful times, the U.S. did quite well from 1948
to 2000 overall. Payrolls fell for only 15% of the time and never by
more than about 3% in the past 50 years. Percentage payroll gains
during the upturns since 1948 exceeded losses during the downturns
by 6 to 1.
During the 2001 to 2007 cycle, however, payrolls declined 37%
of the time and payroll gains exceeded losses by a narrower 3 to 1.
The relatively high labor costs in the U.S., combined with today’s
technology and the new phenomenon of a truly competitive
world economy that technology is rapidly engendering, do not augur
well for the domestic workforce.
Avoiding a tipping point for U.S. employment will be a great
challenge to the nation’s policymakers, business leaders, and science
technology communities. How long can faith
in the ability to provide services and to produce
goods ever more cost efficiently—which includes
the lowest possible domestic labor costs—continue
to be seen as the bedrock of a sustainable
and healthy U.S.? Maybe it is time to think more
broadly.
Views expressed on this page are those of the
author and not necessarily those of ACS.

2008 / Volume 71 / 12 Issues
Impact Factor: 2.418 - HIGHEST EVER!
Total Citations: 10,647
Indexed in PubMed/MEDLINE
A. Douglas Kinghorn, Editor-in-Chief
Jack L. Beal Professor and Chair
Division of Medicinal Chemistry &
Pharmacognosy
Ohio State University, College of Pharmacy
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Daneel Ferreira
University of Mississippi
William H. Gerwick
University of California at San Diego
Richard G. Powell
National Center for Agricultural
Utilization Research
USDA
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Alice M. Clark
University of Mississippi
BOOK REVIEW EDITOR
John H. Cardellina II
Walkersville, Maryland
Impact Factor and citation data as reported in the
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FOR NATURAL PRODUCTS RESEARCH
Microorganisms • Plants • Marine Organisms • Chemistry • Biosynthesis • Pharmacology of Compounds
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O
CH 3 O
O
FUNGAL ENZYME
DECONSTRUCTED
The antibiotic erythromycin and other
products of a ubiquitous family of enzymes
known as polyketide synthases are produced
in a fundamentally different way in
fungi than they are in bacteria. A team led
by Craig A. Townsend at Johns Hopkins
University has now teased apart the individual
functions of each active domain in a
fungal polyketide synthase that produces
the carcinogen aflatoxin B1 (shown). Such
an accomplishment gives scientists a broad
framework with which to understand how
fungal enzymes operate (Science 2008, 320,
243). In bacteria, each catalytic domain
in polyketide synthases performs a single
synthetic operation that leads progres-
sively toward the end product.
Fungal polyketide synthases, on
O
O
the other hand, reuse
certain domains in
O
iterations of catalytic
cycles. The group
“deconstructed”—
dissected and reconstituted—the
enzyme into seven catalytic
domains and examined the functions of
each using mass spectrometry to monitor
the steps along the reaction pathway.
CATALYST ARCHITECTURE
REVEALED
Researchers have assembled the first
three-dimensional experimental images
of cobalt-based catalysts used in Fischer-
Tropsch processes to convert synthesis
gas to hydrocarbon fuels and feedstocks (J.
Am. Chem. Soc., DOI: 10.1021/ja710299h). A
better understanding of the architecture of
such metal complexes may enable efforts to
design more efficient or more specific catalysts.
Led by Ilke Arslan of Sandia National
Laboratories, the group used scanning
transmission electron tomography to study
two catalyst combinations of cobalt and
rhenium: 20% Co/0.5% Re on γ-alumina and
12% Co/0.5% Re on α-alumina/nickel-aluminate.
In both cases the Co was oxidized
to Co3O4, which is an inactive form, but the
researchers expect the overall morphology
would be the same for the reduced state. In
the first composition, Co3O4 fills pores in
the alumina matrix by forming interlocking
oxide-alumina clusters. In the second system,
Co3O4 forms nanocages on the surface,
enclosing the Ni-aluminate component.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY CONCENTRATES
PLANT PATHOGEN GUIDES
CANCER RESEARCH
The bacterium Pseudomonas syringae is infamous for the brown rot spots
it leaves on apples, pears, and many other crops. Now, a team of U.S. and
European researchers led by Robert Dudler of the University of Zurich, in
Switzerland, report the mechanism behind this plant pathogen’s virulence
and propose that this mechanism could inform cancer drug development
(Nature 2008, 452, 755). The bacterium
produces a peptide virulence factor called
syringolin A (shown) that facilitates infection
by inhibiting the plant cell’s proteasome.
The proteasome is essential for
regulating many cellular functions in both
plant and human cells. A hydroxyl group
on one of the proteasome’s threonine
residues does a Michael-type 1,4-addition to
syringolin A’s �,�-unsaturated carbonyl (shown in red), forming a covalent
bond. Because the proteasome is a promising anticancer target and syringolin
A has been shown to thwart ovarian and neuroblastoma cancer cells,
the authors note that this novel mechanism could guide the design of new
proteasome inhibitors.
The authors propose that the larger exposed
catalytic surface area for the second catalyst
may contribute to greater selectivity for producing
larger hydrocarbons.
YEAST GETS A
PROTECTIVE COATING
Chinese researchers have devised a way
to protect yeast cells with a mineral coating
similar to an eggshell (Angew. Chem.
Int. Ed., DOI: 10.1002/anie.200704718).
Such a coating can extend the shelf life
of cells during storage. Ruikang Tang and
coworkers at Zhejiang University altered
the surface properties of the yeast cell with
a mixture of polyelectrolytes. The high
density of carboxylate groups in one of the
polyelectrolytes provides active nucleation
sites for the precipitation of calcium
phosphate on the cell, which
becomes completely encased in
the mineral. Encapsulated cells
enter a resting state and can be reactivated
by dissolving the shell in a pH 5.5 HCl
solution. Many of the protected cells remain
viable after one month in water. They
can also withstand harsh conditions, such
as exposure to a mixture of enzymes that
would usually digest the cell wall. In both
cases about 15% of the cells die, possibly
because of defects in the shells.
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 39 APRIL 14, 2008
H
O
O
HN
N
H
H
N
SIMPLE SYNTHESIS OF
CHIRAL �-AMINO ACIDS
Efficient routes to chiral, monosubstituted
γ-amino acids—a long-standing synthetic
challenge—have been developed independently
by two groups. When the researchers
found that they were each working on
the same problem, they cooperated with
each other to publish simultaneously instead
of racing to be first. Chiral γ-amino
acids are widely used building blocks to
create drugs and foldamers, biomoleculelike
compounds with well-defined conformations.
These amino acids are commonly
synthesized with chiral auxiliaries, which
have to be removed in a separate step. Now,
Samuel H. Gellman’s group at the University
of Wisconsin, Madison, and Helma Wennemers
and coworkers at Switzerland’s
Asymmetric
O
+ NO2 catalyst
HO *
R
O
R
University of Basel have developed
enantioselective conjugate addition reactions
of aldehydes to nitroethylene using
different organocatalysts—a prolinol
derivative and a tripeptide, respectively
(J. Am. Chem. Soc., DOI: 10.1021/ja800345r
and 10.1021/ja801027s). The basic reaction
(shown) efficiently produce highly
enantioenriched γ-amino acids.
O
N
H
O
N
H
O
OH
NH 2

SHUTTERSTOCK
TEN BUCKS says that the last time you
looked up at the sky on an overcast day,
musings about the behavior of bacteria in
the clouds did not flit across your mind.
Many of us think of the sky as an evolving
mixture of inanimate entities: water vapor,
nitrogen, oxygen, ozone, aerosols, polluting
particles, and increasingly, carbon dioxide.
But a more comprehensive list would
include pollen, algae, dandruff, and bacteria.
On average, these so-called biogenic
aerosols, which are swept up into the atmosphere
by wind, account for about 20%, by
mass, of the particulate matter in the sky.
In the air above tropical rainforests, that
figure can be as much as 75%.
“When you unravel the chemical composition
of the atmosphere, you quickly
find that there are a lot of biological particles
up there,” says Ulrich Pöschl, an
atmospheric scientist at the Max Planck Institute
for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany.
Although microbiologists have long
known that bacteria float about in the sky—
more than 4 miles from Earth’s surface—
the bugs were seen simply as “severely
stressed-out passive passengers” in the air,
accidentally windswept out of their more
surface-bound niches, says Cindy E. Morris,
a microbiologist at France’s National Institute
of Agronomic Research, in Montfavet.
After all, our blue sky can be a pretty
harsh environment: It’s cold. There are oxidants.
And there is intense ultraviolet light
that can wreck the heartiest of genomes.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
BACTERIA IN CLOUDS
Microbial METEOROLOGISTS investigate how
airborne microbes might influence weather
SARAH EVERTS, C&EN BERLIN
FLUFFY
BUSINESS
Microbes live
in clouds, but
what exactly
are they doing
up there?
Worst of all, the sky is a dry, desiccating
place for biological cells.
But bacteria are resilient: They are famous
for eking out an existence in extreme
habitats. Think ice, the plaque on your
teeth, deep ocean thermal vents, even airplane
fuel tanks. Why not the atmosphere?
It is only recently that scientists have begun
to think that bacteria, in particular, may
not be up there just for the ride. In 2006, the
first workshop on microbial meteorology
was held in France, and the community has
been growing since then, Morris says. She
estimates there are between 30 and 50 labs
around the world investigating this topic.
These researchers are providing growing
evidence that in the wet oasis of the
clouds, where bacteria can at least remain
hydrated, the microbes aren’t just loitering—they’re
getting down to business.
For example, bacteria in clouds are using
the energy stored in adenosine triphosphate
to take care of their biochemical
needs. Bacteria have been caught breaking
down airborne carbon compounds, including
organic aerosols. This observation
begs the questions: Is the metabolic life
of bacteria playing a role in atmospheric
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 40 APRIL 14, 2008
chemistry? Can this airborne microbial
population act as a carbon sink or source?
Do the bacteria degrade pollution?
EVEN MORE TANTALIZING, the bacterium
called Pseudomonas syringae, which is
found regularly in clouds, has proteins on
its cell surface that can nucleate the formation
of ice, the precursor to most forms of
precipitation. Some atmospheric scientists
are starting to wonder if P. syringae and other
bacteria in the air may influence weather
by initiating rain and snow.
A recent Science paper whetted the palates
of many cloud microbiologists by revealing
that ice-nucleating biological particles such
as bacteria are ubiquitous in snowfalls from
all around the world (2008, 319, 1214).
One of the authors, Brent C. Christner,
a microbiologist at Louisiana State University,
says he’s excited about the data.
But he acknowledges that it’s one thing to
find cloud-living, ice-nucleating bacteria in
snowfalls; it’s another thing to say conclusively
that the bugs initiated the snowfall.
“Just because you can culture bacteria
from snow doesn’t mean they actually
caused the snowfall,” he adds. “I’d like to
think so, but the proof isn’t there yet.
“It’s like sifting through the ashes of a
major blaze, finding a lighter in the rubble,
and saying, ‘Aha! This is the cause of the
blaze.’ ”
But catching bacteria in the act of icenucleation,
at altitude, in situ, is exactly
what Christner, Morris, and others in the
field are hoping to do.
On Earth P. syringae is a plant pathogen
that lives on the surfaces of a wide variety
of foliage—from tea plant leaves in Zimbabwe
to corn stalks in the U.S. The microbe
uses its ice-nucleation skills to freeze
water on these leaves. Specifically, P. syringae
can catalyze the formation of frost at
−2 °C, whereas pure water on a leaf surface
doesn’t spontaneously freeze before the
temperature drops to several tens of degrees
below 0 °C.
The frost causes the plant cells to burst,
allowing the pathogenic bacterium to gain
entry and infect the plant or its fruit, explains
Steve Lindow, a plant microbiologist
at the University of California, Berkeley.
“Ice nucleation leading to precipitation
could be a ‘do-it-yourself’ landing strategy
for bacteria in the atmosphere.”

Besides its role in infection, some researchers
are now asking if the bacterium’s
ice-nucleating ability helps P. syringae orchestrate
its own redistribution by paving
a way back down to Earth after it has been
swept up into the sky.
“The speculation is that ice nucleation
leading to precipitation could be a ‘do-ityourself
’ landing strategy for bacteria, rather
than passively waiting for precipitation
to form around them,” Pöschl explains.
“It’s amazing to think that bacteria might
have evolved a way to remove themselves
from the atmosphere,” Christner adds.
The bacterium’s ice-nucleating machinery
is a colossal 180-kilodalton protein that
has a bizarre repetitive motif, Lindow says.
The bulk of the protein is composed of up
to 60 repetitions of a 48-amino acid unit.
Scientists suspect the majority of the protein
rests on the bacterium’s outer membrane,
anchored there by sections of the
protein that dip deep into the lipid bilayer.
No one has yet determined a threedimensional
structure of this protein. Its
mammoth size and membrane anchors
have made it impossible to crystallize for
structural studies. However, several protein-folding
simulations suggest the final
form includes a lot of �-strand secondary
structures that could provide a platform
conducive to ice nucleation, says Andrey
Kajava, a staff scientist at the Research
Center for Macromolecular Biochemistry,
in Montpellier, France.
THE AMINO ACIDS most important to the
protein’s ice-nucleating ability are thought
to be serine and threonine residues. Both
amino acids are plentiful in the protein and
easily form hydrogen bonds with water.
Models suggest that a plane of these serine
and threonine side chains form hydrogen
bonds with water in the same orientation
and distance as do water molecules in an
ice crystal. So as soon as the temperature
dips below zero, the water molecules on
and near the surface are already conveniently
aligned to form ice.
The protein is such a successful ice
nucleator that when it was first discovered
in the 1970s, a company formed to sell
freeze-dried P. syringae to the artificial
snow industry. The bacterial powder, sold
as Snomax, is commonly added to the water
that ends up as snow on ski slopes.
P. syringae is also rapidly becoming a
cloud microbiologist’s “model organism”—
like the mouse of the medical science
community. But many other microbes can
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subsist in the sky, with a variety of survival
strategies. Bacteria such as Bacillus and fungi
such as Cladosporium retreat into spores
for air travel. Other frequent flyers produce
a selection of protective pigments like carotenoids
or chlorophylls that can absorb UV
light, or they employ enzymes such as superoxidases
to cope with the atmosphere’s
oxidative conditions.
Many in the burgeoning
meteorological microbiology
field have pondered whether
it is a matter of time before
they will identify bacteria
that choose clouds as their
preferred niche and don’t
just travel intermittently into
the sky. But even the most
enthusiastic proponents of
cloud microbiology say the
sky is probably not a niche.
“Bacteria can hang on to life in
a cloud. But just barely,” Morris says. Cold
temperatures, in particular, would prevent
the growth kinetics one would expect in a
niche. The lack of abundant food in the sky
further slows growth kinetics, Morris adds.
Although the presence of living bacteria
in clouds is broadly accepted, there are
some who aren’t convinced they play an
important role in precipitation. When in
situ mass spectrometry is used to detect
ice-nucleating particles in clouds, bacteria
comprise only 1 to 10%, says Daniel Cziczo,
an atmospheric scientist at Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory. He says mineral
dusts are much more abundant and prob-
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
ably play a more dominant role in nucleating
precipitation.
But proponents counter that in situ
mass spectrometers cater to the detection
of particles much smaller than bacteria and
could be underestimating the amount of
bacteria in clouds.
Cziczo acknowledges that the dynamic
range of existing instruments might pre-
AIRBORNE
Pseudomonas
syringae is a
bacterium that can
live in the clouds.
SUPPORTING PHARMA AND BIOTECH COMPANIES WORLDWIDE
vent the detection of
all the bacteria in the
atmosphere. The upper
limit of particles
that can enter their
instruments’ measurementschambers
is about 2 μm,
which is at the lower
end of the range of
microbial size.
Another skeptic
is Karen Junge, a
researcher in the
Applied Physics
Laboratory at the
University of Washington,
Seattle. She
has a laboratory setup
that allows her to
evaluate ice nucleators under controlled
conditions that resemble those in the
atmosphere. In preliminary experiments
that she is currently verifying, Junge says
she has found that there needs to be a very
high concentration of P. syringae before
the bacteria can initiate ice formation
in her chamber. The concentrations of
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WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 42 APRIL 14, 2008
INRA
bacteria required are much higher than
those measured in clouds by existing techniques,
she notes.
“To get any final proof about the role of
bacteria in precipitation, we need to develop
better in situ detectors that can do a
good job of analyzing them,” Junge says.
Those who believe bacteria do play some
role in precipitation have one trump card:
P. syringae holds the high-temperature record
for ice nucleation, −2 °C.
The warmest that mineral dusts can
nucleate the formation of ice is at −7 °C, and
that’s with low efficiency; ice nucleation
improves as the temperature drops, reaching
an optimum at around −20 °C. Cloud droplets
won’t spontaneously freeze when it’s
warmer than −40 °C, says Paul DeMott, an
atmospheric scientist at Colorado State University,
Fort Collins. So even if bacterial ice
nucleators are only 1% of all ice nucleators,
they could ignite a nucleation cascade because
they have the highest activity at warmer
temperatures. “A tiny bit of nucleation can
lead to a lot of ice formation,” DeMott notes.
Once a bit of ice has formed, collisions with
water or other ice crystals can quickly grow a
snow crystal until it is massive enough to fall
from the cloud to Earth.
With so many unknowns about the actions
of bacteria in the clouds, and with the
bacteria-precipitation connection still a
matter of controversy, microbial meteorology
is still in its infancy, Pöschl says. “At
this point the only thing you can say conclusively
is that there are some really interesting
questions to be answered.” ■

2008 / Volume 51 / 24 Issues
Impact Factor: 5.115 - HIGHEST EVER!
Total Citations: 38,868
Indexed in PubMed/MEDLINE
Philip S. Portoghese, Editor-in-Chief
Distinguished Professor
Department of Medicinal Chemistry
University of Minnesota, College of Pharmacy
SENIOR EDITORS
Yusuf J. Abul-Hajj
University of Minnesota
Jürgen Bajorath
University of Bonn
Richard A. Glennon
Virginia Commonwealth University
Stephen S. Hecht
University of Minnesota
Laurence H. Hurley
University of Arizona
BOOK REVIEW EDITOR
Joseph G. Cannon
University of Iowa
EUROPEAN EDITORS
Povl Krogsgaard-Larsen
The Danish University of Pharmaceutical
Sciences
Carlo Melchiorre
University of Bologna
PERSPECTIVES EDITOR
William J. Greenlee
Schering-Plough Research Institute
Impact Factor and citation data as reported in the
2006 Thomson Scientific Journal Citation Reports®.
;OL 4VZ[ *P[LK 1V\YUHS
PU 4LKPJPUHS *OLTPZ[Y`
http://pubs.acs.org/JMC
Novel Compounds • Macromolecular Targets • Modeling/QSAR • Pharmacokinetics • Diagnostic Agents
Completing its 50th volume of publication in 2007, the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
publishes original research on the correlation of molecular structure to biological activity
with a focus on the relationships of chemistry to biological activity. This includes design and
synthesis of novel biologically active compounds, molecular modifications designed to target
drugs to specific tissues, the role of metabolism in drug actions, application of NMR and X-ray
crystallography to investigate molecular recognition at receptors, molecular modeling studies
that furnish fresh insight into the design of novel agents, and molecular biology studies of
the interaction of ligands and receptors.
In addition to the rapid publication of research findings, this renowned journal also publishes
Perspectives devoted to single research topics, Letters, Brief Articles, and extensive Book
Review sections.
Visit http://pubs.acs.org/JMC to:
• View the 50th Anniversary website, featuring the top 50 most cited
articles of the first 50 years of publication
• View listings of current, most accessed and most cited JMC articles
• Read articles ahead of the print issue as Articles ASAPSM • Read the free sample issue (Vol. 51, Iss. 1)
• Sign up for E-mail Alerts and RSS Feeds
• Register as an author on the ACS Paragon Plus Environment and submit
your manuscript

DESIGNER: TYPE INSIGHT WHAT’S OR HINDSIGHT THAT STUFF?
AFTER COLOR BAR IN WHITE
THE WASH CYCLE is complete.
You toss your wet
laundry into the dryer and
chase it with a dryer sheet.
Most people don’t know how
the thin sheets freshen and
soften clothes or that they
were developed by a chemist
who wanted to help his wife
out with the laundry.
In the late 1960s, Conrad
J. Gaiser and his wife,
Audrey, lived on the top
two floors of a four-story
duplex. Their laundry room
was on the ground floor, and
every time Audrey would
wash a load, she had to run
down the stairs to catch the final rinse
cycle in order to add fabric softener. Liquid
fabric softeners, which are commonly
cationic, can’t be mixed with detergents,
which are anionic, because the mixture
forms a precipitate.
Conrad, who had worked for a number
of years in the soap and detergent industry,
wanted to make his wife’s life easier
and got to work producing the first known
dryer sheet. Laurel Gaiser, Conrad’s
daughter, tells C&EN how her father applied
fabric softener to a piece of cotton
flannel, likely from her mother’s sewing
room. He named his prototype Tumble
Puffs, Laurel says.
In 1969, Conrad received a U.S. patent
for this invention, and shortly thereafter
he sold the rights to Procter & Gamble,
which then marketed the product as
Bounce dryer sheets.
The first version of the product had
several problems, including getting
trapped in the lint vent and distributing
the softener unevenly onto clothes, says
Gordon F. Brunner, who was P&G’s associate
director of research and development
at the time. The company ironed out
the wrinkles and launched the product
nationally in 1975.
Today, many competing brands of dryer
sheets are available. Each brand uses a slightly
different formulation to achieve three
primary goals: to soften clothes, to prevent
static cling, and to deliver a fresh scent.
dryer sheets
The science that gives clothing a soft feel and fresh scent as it prevents STATIC CLING
Most dryer sheets are made from a
nonwoven polyester material coated with
a softening agent that has a long hydrophobic
chain. Fatty acids, fatty alcohols, and alcohol
ethoxylates are all possible softening
agents. P&G uses quaternary ammonium
salts of fatty acids as its primary softening
agents, whereas Unilever, which produces
Snuggle dryer sheets, uses a stearic acid.
DURING TUMBLE DRYING, the coating
containing the softener melts and the
compounds get transferred onto the fabrics
being dried. The newly attached fatty
chains give the fabric’s surface a slippery
feel, which people interpret as softness.
The compounds also help dissipate static
charge by lubricating and increasing the
surface conductivity of the fabric fibers.
It’s important that the softening agents
have a relatively high melting point, notes
Bien Santos, section head in products research
at P&G. If the melting point is too
low, “it will make your sheet very sticky
inside the box, and you don’t want that,”
Santos says. “What you want is something
that’s solid at room temperature and either
softens or melts inside the dryer so you can
effectively transfer it onto clothes.”
Some dryer sheets also contain small
amounts of inorganic compounds—such
as montmorillonite, a naturally occurring
calcium clay—that help control the viscosity
of the fabric softener coating as it begins
to melt in the dryer. “You don’t want
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 44 APRIL 14, 2008
it to come off the nonwoven
sheet too quickly, or you
might have streaks of softener
actives on some parts
of the clothes and none on
others,” Santos says. “You
want it as evenly distributed
as possible.”
Aside from providing softness
and preventing static
cling, dryer sheets also deliver
a fresh scent to laundered
clothes. This is done by
adding fragrance molecules
to the softener coating. Jack
Linard, senior manager of
scientific and regulatory affairs
at Unilever, says that
one challenge in developing dryer sheets
is to minimize the amount of fragrance
molecules that are lost through evaporation
during the high-heat manufacturing
process and in the dryer.
Linard says they choose fragrance molecules
that can best survive the high temperatures
inside the dryer. Moreover, they
have patented a process in which the fragrance
molecules are sprayed onto the substrate
after the softening agents—which
are heated until molten and pressed into
the nonwoven fabric—has cooled. This
minimizes loss of the fragrance molecule.
P&G staves off the degradation of
fragrance molecules by encapsulating
the molecules in cyclodextrins. In the
dryer, water molecules evaporating from
wet clothes help release the perfume
molecules from the cyclodextrin carriers,
according to Günter Wich, corporate
R&D director of biotechnology at Wacker
Chemie AG, the company that produces
cyclodextrins for P&G.
These days, dryer sheets are no longer
just used in the dryer. Consumers use the
sheets for everything from polishing shoes
to keeping mosquitoes at bay. P&G even
has a website devoted to the off-label application
of dryer sheets. Whether all the
alternative applications are based on sound
science is left to the reader’s discretion.
But one thing is for sure: The chemistry in
the seemingly simple sheet packs in a lot of
potential.—LINDA WANG
CINDY YAMANAKA/ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

ACS COMMENT
Your Role In Making ACS
A Premier Advocacy Organization
GIVING THANKS! First, let me say,
“Thank you!” Thank you to all the ACS
members who substantially increased
their engagement with policymakers in
2007 and who, by their efforts, successfully
advocated for several key legislative
priorities, including the America Competes
Act. ACS had a significant role in securing
passage of this law, which authorizes $43.3
billion over three years for research in the
physical sciences and education programs
in science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM). This was the culmination
of two years of
advocacy in conjunction
with other science and technology
organizations and
education groups, as well as
with companies and trade
groups.
But that’s not all. Last
year, your efforts led to successful
House passage of the
Green Chemistry Research
& Development Act of 2007
(H.R. 2850), and we worked
closely with key senators
in drafting the America’s
Climate Security Act of 2007 (S. 2191) to
incorporate ACS priorities, notably directing
anticipated carbon auction revenues to
fund advanced energy research programs.
Reaching out to the office of every freshman
member of Congress, we introduced
these legislators to ACS, our community,
and our primary policy issues such as innovation
and competitiveness.
It has been a privilege to lead and actively
participate in many of these efforts. The
opportunities to testify in front of congressional
subcommittees, to share the podium
at a press conference with two members
of the House of Representatives, and to
directly engage legislators and senior staff
in critical national policy dialogues are
among my proudest achievements as your
president.
Not every ACS member will testify on
Capitol Hill, but each of us has an important
role to play. If we the scientists don’t
CATHERINE T. HUNT, IMMEDIATE PAST-PRESIDENT
speak up for science and technology, who
will? ACS has long been a key voice for science
at the federal government level, but
this is not the time to rest on our laurels.
WHAT’S THE PLAN? In our “ACS Strategic
Plan 2008 and Beyond” (www.acs.org/
strategicplan), the board has committed
to working with you to build on our successes
and move the society to a new level
of advocacy. Specifically, in Goal 5, we have
vowed to make ACS “a premier advocacy
organization for members and the profession,
creating and communicating
policy statements
in accordance with our congressional
charter.”
The Office of Legislative
& Government Affairs
recently expanded and
enhanced the Legislative
Action Network (LAN).
This is your lifeline to
updates on federal legislation
and your call to action
when the need arises. Now
you will find more alerts,
stronger messages, ongoing
policy debates, and links to new articles—
all designed to enhance your interest and
jump-start your involvement. As a member
of ACS, you are backed by a passionate and
influential organization that is dedicated to
supporting you as a member of our profession
and a voice for science and technology.
Find out more about this program by visiting
www.act4chemistry.org.
I’m asking you to join me in our grassroots
efforts. If you are not already a member
of LAN, please join today by visiting
www.act4chemistry.org/register. If you are
a member, keep those e-mails and letters
coming! But don’t stop there.
PETER CUTTS PHOTOGRAPHY
LOCAL SECTIONS. What about starting
your own Government Affairs Committee?
In the past two years, the number of local
section Government Affairs Committees
has nearly tripled to 71. These committees
are arranging a wide range of activities
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 45 APRIL 14, 2008
from write-in campaigns to visits with federal
legislators. What will it take to get all
190 local sections to establish Government
Affairs Committees?
In 2008 and 2009, working with members
across Alabama, Arkansas, California,
Pennsylvania, and Tennessee, we are reinvigorating
our science advocacy at the
state level. Members like you will be engaging
their state officials with ACS messages
tailored to each state’s ongoing dialogue
about improving K–12 science education.
This is an opportunity to get training, get
involved, and make a difference—a real difference
to the future of science education
in the U.S.
DIVISIONS AND COMMITTEES. Let’s not
forget technical divisions and committees.
How can they get more engaged in advocacy?
In writing targeted policy statements?
In contacting their legislators? Divisions
and committees could be key to improving
the effectiveness of ACS policy statements
and messages, key to enhancing our reputation
as a credible resource for scientific
information, and key to understanding and
improving science policy.
THE ASK! I am asking you to join in creating
a strong future for science and technology
in this country and around the world.
You can start now by joining the online
discussion of Goal 5 and sharing your
thoughts and ideas on how to set a course
and drive toward achieving this goal. I look
forward to hearing your thoughts, ideas,
and suggestions.
Working together, we can make ACS the
premier organization for educating and
engaging legislators, the media, the public,
and the next generation—from legislating
STEM education and green chemistry to
promoting the importance of chemistry
in our everyday lives from cell phones to
lifesaving medicines. Working together,
not only will we be fulfilling our national
charter but also making our ACS vision a
reality: “Improving people’s lives through
the transforming power of chemistry.” ■

ACS Careers
Career Workshops at ACS Regional Meetings
The ACS Career Center will provide
career workshops that will specifically
help experienced chemical professionals
or younger members and students on
career development, valuable lessons
on the workplace, as well as unique
insight on the job market.
The following workshops will be presented:
� Job Searching Strategies
� Résumé Preparation for Chemical Professionals
� Interviewing Skills for Chemical Professionals
(Please check the meeting program booklet for a
listing of times.)
A consultant will also be available to provide résumé
reviews and career assistance. Individual 30 minute
résumé reviews will be also be offered. Bring a copy
of your résumé. Sign-up will be available at meeting
registration.
These services are free and available to ACS members,
national affiliates and student affiliates.
For more information go to
www.acs.org/careers
These services will be held at the following meetings:
40th Middle Atlantic Regional Meeting (MARM)
May 17-21, 2008 • Queens, NY
40th Central Regional Meeting (CRM)
June 10-14, 2008 • Columbus, OH
Joint 63rd Northwest/21st Rocky Mountain
Regional Meeting (NORM/RMRM)
June 15-18, 2008 • Park City, UT
37th Northeast Regional Meeting (NERM)
June 29-July 2, 2008 • Burlington, VT
42nd Western Regional Meeting (WRM)
September 24-27, 2008 • Las Vegas, NV
64th Southwest Regional Meeting (SWRM)
October 1-4, 2008 • Little Rock, AR
43rd Midwest Regional (MWRM)
October 8-11, 2008 • Kearney, NE
60th Southeastern Regional
Meeting (SERM)
November 12-15, 2008 • Nashville, TN
“I owe a lot to ACS Careers for helping me
market myself effectively, prepare for my job
search, and find my current academic position.”
Anil Mahapatro, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor,
Center for Biotechnology and Biomedical Sciences &
Department of Chemistry,
Norfolk State University

Donald J. Abraham
Windermere, Fla.
Andreas Acrivos
Stanford, Calif.
Charles Adams
Cartersville, Ga.
Alice J. Adler
Boston
Julius Adler
Madison, Wis.
William C. Agosta
Friday Harbor,
Wash.
S. K. Airee
Martin, Tenn.
Jerry D. Albert
San Diego
George H. Albrecht
Chevy Chase, Md.
Amleto
Alessandrini
River Edge, N.J.
Donald E. Alguire
Chapel Hill, N.C.
Lewis E. Allen
Rochester, N.Y.
ACS NEWS
ACS HONORS ITS
50-YEAR MEMBERS
The American Chemical Society and its local sections are honoring those who have been members
for 50 years in 2008. This year, there are 858 50-year members. Each member will receive a certificate,
a special pin, and a permanent badge entitling him or her to free registration at all ACS
national and regional meetings.
Harold R. Almond
Maple Glen, Pa.
Robert Lin Sung
Amai
Las Vegas, N.M.
Clyde J. Ambacher
Mountlake Terrace,
Wash.
Kenneth K.
Andersen
Durham, N.H.
Bethlehem K.
Andrews
Metairie, La.
John C. Angus
Cleveland
Raymond Annino
North Smithfield,
R.I.
Joseph J.
Antkowiak
Amherst, N.Y.
Alva App
Southern Pines, N.C.
Maurice L. Arel
Nashua, N.H.
Goro Asato
Escondido, Calif.
Leland T. Atkins
Chico, Calif.
John F. Auchter
Trinity, Fla.
Dolores E. Avner
Pittsburgh
David G. Baarda
Milledgeville, Ga.
Maria L. Bade
Concord, Mass.
Edward A. Baetke
Marinette, Wis.
William S. Bahary
New York City
Lionel J. Bailin
Foster City, Calif.
William F. Baitinger
Chicago
Avraham Baniel
Jerusalem
Shelton Bank
West Tisbury, Mass.
Sam M. Barker
Elizabethton, Tenn.
Philip Barnhard IV
Mount Carmel, Ill.
Jordan B. Barth
East Brunswick, N.J.
Clifton E. Barton
Kernersville, N.C.
Kenneth R. Barton
Spartanburg, S.C.
J. Dolf Bass
Webster, N.Y.
James E. Bates
Amarillo, Texas
Merle A. Battiste
Gainesville, Fla.
Giuseppe Baudo
Lorgues, France
John W. Bayer
Perrysburg, Ohio
Orville T. Beachley
Jr.
Buffalo
Marjam G. Behar
Lafayette Hill, Pa.
Charles E. Bell
Norfolk, Va.
Howard S. Bender
Brewster, Mass.
Osiel H. Benitez
Richmond, Va.
Clifton F. Bennett
Zillah, Wash.
James H. Bennett
Kenner, La.
N. Leo Benoiton
Ottawa, Ontario
David J. Bentley
Albuquerque, N.M.
Finn Bergishagen
West Bloomfield,
Mich.
Mary Louise
Bergishagen
West Bloomfield,
Mich.
R. E. Berkley
Durham, N.C.
Leonard Berkowitz
Berkeley Heights, N.J.
Neil S. Berman
Tempe, Ariz.
Robert Berman
Arlington, Mass.
Edward W. Bermes
Northbrook, Ill.
Carl Bernofsky
Shreveport, La.
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 47 APRIL 14, 2008
Charles S. Beroes
Sag Harbor, N.Y.
R. Stephen Berry
Chicago
J. Aaron Bertrand
Decatur, Ga.
Max Bettman
Southfield, Mich.
Eleanor E. Bevege
San Diego
R. P. Bhatt
Waukegan, Ill.
Duane L. Bidlack
Chambersburg, Pa.
David L.
Biederman
Columbia, Tenn.
H. James Bigalow
New Milford, Conn.
David W. Bingham
Mukilteo, Wash.
Carl B. Bishop
Clemson, S.C.
William D. Blackley
Lakeland, Minn.
Robert L. Blakeley
Queensland,
Australia
Elwood P.
Blanchard
Mendenhall, Pa.
William F. Blatt
Tucson, Ariz.
Peter
Blickensderfer
Redlands, Calif.
Gunar J. Blumberg
Glenview, Ill.
Dean H. Bollman
Albany, Ore.
Walter D. Bond
Knoxville
Russell A. Bonham
Chicago
James F. Bonk
Durham, N.C.
Willem F. H.
Borman
Evansville, Ind.
Solomon Borodkin
Cliffside Park, N.J.
Daniel A. Boryta
Mooresboro, N.C.
Ajay K. Bose
Easton, Pa.
Donald E. Boswell
Wilmington, N.C.
James Bottomley
Orlando, Fla.
Constantine J.
Bouboulis
Annandale, N.J.
Orley R. Bourland
Walkersville, Md.
John C. Bowen
Huntingdon Valley,
Pa.
Everett C. Bowers
Winchester, Va.
June D. Boyett
Denison, Texas
Jerald S. Bradshaw
Provo, Utah
Conrad Brandt
Berthoud, Colo.
William T. Brannen
Superior, Colo.
David A. Brant
Alexandria, Va.
Charles W. Brauer
Jefferson City, Mo.
John I. Brauman
Stanford, Calif.

Rudolf G.
Brautigam
Dorchester, Mass.
Jack D. Breazeale
Kapaa, Hawaii
Jerome J. Breiter
Park City, Utah
Carrie N. Bremmer
Kansas City, Mo.
Robert P.
Bretherick
Churchville, Pa.
Robert G. Briody
Corpus Christi,
Texas
Kenneth H.
Brockschmidt
Atlanta
Thomas W. Brooks
Columbia, S.C.
Victor Broto
Seattle
Donald J. Brown
Kalamazoo, Mich.
Theodore M.
Brown
Tempe, Ariz.
Geoffrey C.
Burgess
Toukley, Australia
John L. Burmeister
Newark, Del.
Harold M. Burnett
Albuquerque, N.M.
John B. Bush
Laguna Beach, Calif.
Ralph Caduto
Palm Coast, Fla.
Drury S. Caine
Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Allan Cairncross
Lewes, Del.
Antonio Campiglio
Pavia, Italy
Edward A. Caress
Falls Church, Va.
Daniel G. Carfagno
Centerville, Ohio
Donald M. Carlton
Austin, Texas
Halbert C.
Carmichael
Raleigh, N.C.
Robert H.
Carnighan
Goshen, Ky.
George E. Cartier
Springfield, Mass.
Guido Cavina
Rome
Virginia C.
Chamberlain
Hendersonville, N.C.
Ronald D.
Chamberlin
Wadsworth, Ohio
Lee M. Chambers
Cincinnati
Bruce B. Chandler
Knoxville
George Chaplenko
Englewood, N.J.
Meredith Chappell
Winnsboro, S.C.
Albert E. Charlberg
Rosamond, Calif.
Mark C. Chen
Wilmington, Del.
Cheng Yin Cheng
Stroudsburg, Pa.
Forest A. Cheves
Orange Park, Fla.
Shiao Hung Chiang
Pittsburgh
David M. Chisdes
Jamestown, Tenn.
Gwendolyn N.
Chmurny
Frederick, Md.
Mark Civera
Washington, D.C.
Thomas H. Clark
Knoxville
Thomas J. Clark
Arcata, Calif.
George A. Clarke
Cazenovia, N.Y.
James E. Cobb
Alcoa, Tenn.
Edward D. Cohen
Fountain Hills, Ariz.
John E. Cole
Wilmington, Del.
Bruce M. Collins
Lewes, Del.
Joseph C. Collins
Valatie, N.Y.
Donald J. Connolly
Naples, Fla.
Edward W. Cook
Coventry, Conn.
James O. Cope
Aptos, Calif.
Aubert Coran
Longboat Key, Fla.
Sam R. Coriell
Germantown, Md.
Joseph F.
Cornelius
Silver Lake, Ohio
John C. Craig
San Francisco
Richard A.
Crawford
Noblesville, Ind.
ACS NEWS
John D. Crecca
Granville, Ohio
Richard M.
Culbertson
Laurens, S.C.
Lynn H. Cummings
Land O’ Lakes, Fla.
Thomas J. Curphey
Hanover, N.H.
Alvin W. Czanderna
Denver
Henry O. Daley Jr.
Seminole, Fla.
John H. Daller
Vancouver, Wash.
Clifford J. Daly
Pasadena, Calif.
Joseph C. Danner
Dana Point, Calif.
Vincent J. Dardin
Vero Beach, Fla.
D. N. David
Virginia Beach, Va.
Frank F. Davis
El Cerrito, Calif.
Howard J. Davis
Cape May, N.J.
John A. Davis
Littleton, Colo.
M. Lloyd Davis
Little Rock
Fred C. Dawson
Casper, Wyo.
Robert L. Dawson
Wilmington, Del.
Thomas L. Dawson
Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Wilson H. Decamp
Leesburg, Va.
Anne Deckard
Grand Rapids, Mich.
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 48 APRIL 14, 2008
Donald F. Decou
Naperville, Ill.
James H. DeLap
Deland, Fla.
Donald C. DeLuca
Center Ridge, Ark.
Allen A. Denio
Newark, Del.
George S. Denning
Norwich, N.Y.
Avery J. Dennis
Whispering Pines,
N.C.
Alfred D. Denton
Denton, Texas
Ara H.
Dermarderosian
Drexel Hill, Pa.
Mary L. Davison
DeShazo
Huntsville, Texas
John L. Deutsch
Geneseo, N.Y.
Roger G. Dick
Mesa, Ariz.
Dean W.
Dickerhoof
Golden, Colo.
John T. Dickman
Columbus, Ohio
C. John DiCuollo
Collegeville, Pa.
Lawrence J.
Dieterman
Winona, Minn.
Roland DiLeone
Norwalk, Conn.
Wendell L. Dilling
Midland, Mich.
Lloyd J. Dolby
Eugene, Ore.
Hubert Donohue
Aurora, N.C.
Peter Dorn
Lagrangeville, N.Y.
Warren R. Doty
Bella Vista, Ariz.
Harry W.
Dougherty
Cary, N.C.
James A.
Dougherty
Sugar Land, Texas
Robert W.
Dougherty
Belleair, Fla.
Jack E. Doughty Jr.
Fullerton, Calif.
David L. Douglas
Bloomington, Minn.
Phillip R. Douville
Middletown, Conn.
Fred B. Dowling
Baton Rouge, La.
Elisabeth M. Drake
Auburndale, Mass.
Harald J. Drews
Richmond, Calif.
Walter Drobot
Tucson, Ariz.
Benton S. Duffett
Alexandria, Va.
J. Regis Duffy
Charlottetown,
Prince Edward
Island
Richard E. Dugan
Madison, Wis.
George L. Dunn
Avalon, N.J.
William R.
Dunnavant
Salt Lake City

Manfred Eberhardt
San Jose, Calif.
M. Robert Edelson
Edina, Minn.
Lumir J.
Ehernberger
Lancaster, Calif.
F. E. Ehrenfeld
Mount Laurel, N.J.
Jacob Eichhorn
Midland, Mich.
Milton Elefant
Marlton, N.J.
M. A. Eliason
St. Peter, Minn.
David W. Ellis
Newmarket, N.H.
Robert W. Eltz
Chesterfield, Mo.
William H.
Engelmann
Henderson, Nev.
Don England
Searcy, Ark.
Chris Enke
Placitas, N.M.
James H.
Espenson
Palm Desert, Calif.
Richard D. Estes
Marietta, Ga.
Leslie S. Ettre
Middletown, Conn.
William Eykamp
Arlington, Mass.
Hugh A. Farber
Lake Leelanau, Mich.
Kelly Farhat
St. Paul, Minn.
Frank L. Fasano
Summerland Key,
Fla.
Alexander J.
Fatiadi
Takoma Park, Md.
Dennis D. Faulk
Hot Springs, Ark.
Ronald Fecher
Fair Lawn, N.J.
Herbert Feder
Williamsville, N.Y.
Martin R. Feldman
Silver Spring, Md.
Arthur M. Felix
West Caldwell, N.J.
John J. Ferraro
Altamonte Springs,
Fla.
Morrison G. Ferrier
Ludlow, Mass.
Leonard W. Fine
Phoenix
Melvin F. Fine
Bel Air, Md.
Ora Flaningam
Bonita Springs, Fla.
William H. Flank
Chappaqua, N.Y.
William V. Floutz
Trenton, Mich.
Arthur Fontijn
Troy, N.Y.
Richard W. Franck
New York City
Henry Frankel
Edison, N.J.
Noel E. Franks
Cardington, Ohio
Eena M. Franz
Shoreham, N.Y.
Anthony Fratiello
South Pasadena,
Calif.
Hans R. Friedli
Boulder, Colo.
Roberta K. Friend
Kentfield, Calif.
Raymond F.
Friesecke
San Rafael, Calif.
Edward J. Friihauf
Montpelier, Vt.
Jose Fripiat
Mexico City
Margaret A. Frisch
Mahopac, N.Y.
John W.
Fronabarger
Sun Lakes, Ariz.
Marjorie Fuller
Evansville, Ind.
Ross K. Fuller
Santa Clara, Calif.
Keiichiro Fuwa
Tokyo
William Gaffield
Williamsburg, Va.
James Gagen
Martin, Tenn.
Hend
Galal-Gorchev
Bethesda, Md.
Walter W. Gale
The Woodlands,
Texas
Paul E. Gallagher
New Brighton, Pa.
Richard Galluccio
Perkasie, Pa.
Thomas J. Galvin
Wilmington, Del.
Roger H. Garst
Seneca, S.C.
Kenneth J. Gatchel
Kentwood, Mich.
Phillip H. Geil
Urbana, Ill.
Harvey George
Dover, Mass.
Harold R.
Gerberich
Corpus Christi,
Texas
John Gergely
East Watertown,
Mass.
Raymond S.
Gibson
Houston
George L. Gilbert
Granville, Ohio
Ronald J. Gillespie
Hamilton, Ontario
John K. Gillham
Princeton, N.J.
Alvin P. Ginsberg
Berkeley Heights, N.J.
Ralston C. Glatz
Coaldale, Pa.
William H. Glaze
Georgetown, Texas
Kathryn L. Glynn
Rocky Hill, Conn.
Nathan Gochman
Anaheim, Calif.
Norman L.
Goldman
Flushing, N.Y.
Howard J. Goldner
Highland Park, Ill.
Bernard M.
Goldschmidt
New York City
Jack M. Goldstein
Wayland, Mass.
Frank J. Gomba
Severna Park, Md.
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 49 APRIL 14, 2008
Ildefonso Luis
Gomez
Longmeadow, Mass.
Alan L. Goodman
Garnet Valley, Pa.
Annette W. Gordon
Springfield, Mo.
Thomas A. Gosink
Golden, Colo.
Thomas A. Gover
St. Peter, Minn.
Joseph Gradischer
Stevens, Pa.
Robert E. Gramera
Durango, Colo.
David M. Grant
Salt Lake City
Howard E. Green
Los Angeles
Walter Greizerstein
Williamsville, N.Y.
Samuel O. Grim
Venice, Fla.
Anthony M.
Grimaldi
Wilmington, Del.
Alex Gringauz
Woodmere, N.Y.
Daniel W. Grisley
Webster, N.Y.
Rill Grosklos
Cutler, Ohio
William E. L.
Grossman
New York City
Hans L. Gruber
Innsbruck, Austria
Richard C.
Gueldner
Binghamton, N.Y.
A. Thomas Guertin
Palm Coast, Fla.
Clarence R.
Guibert
Mars, Pa.
George G.
Guilbault
Cork, Ireland
Georges Guiochon
Knoxville
John W. Gunn
Rockville, Md.
Wolfgang Gunther
West Chester, Pa.
Feliks Gutmanis
Milwaukee
Donald E. Gwynn
Overton, Texas
James R. Hahn
Midland, Mich.
Donald R. Halenz
Angwin, Calif.
Donald F. Halpern
Broomfield, Colo.
Ahmad Hamidi
Escondido, Calif.
Stephen
Hanessian
Montreal
Samir B. Hanna
Apache Junction,
Ariz.
Rodney E.
Harrington
Waldoboro, Maine
Durward S. Harris
Clarksville, Tenn.
Louis S. Harris
Richmond, Va.
John W. Harrison
North Myrtle Beach,
S.C.
Maurice I. Hart
Dalton, Pa.

John H. Hash
Nashville
Jerry P. Heeschen
Gettysburg, Pa.
Richard W. Hein
Hudson, Ohio
George E. Heinze
East Brunswick, N.J.
Charles W. Heitsch
Bourbon, Mo.
Byron G. Held
Charles City, Iowa
Grover C. Helsley
Rosemont, N.J.
August R. Hempel
Chesterfield, Mo.
Charles W. Henry
Bedford, Pa.
Jan A. Herman
Quebec City
Jan Hermans
Bynum, N.C.
Theodore T.
Herskovits
Bronx, N.Y.
George G. Hess
Xenia, Ohio
Donald A. Hickson
Benicia, Calif.
Gene A. Hiegel
Fullerton, Calif.
Warren W.
Hillstrom
Bel Air, Md.
John J. Hinchen
Manchester, Conn.
John W. Hinebauch
Chippewa Falls, Wis.
J. William Hirzy
Washington, D.C.
Joseph J. Hlavka
Tuxedo Park, N.Y.
Norman J.
Hochella
Medway, Mass.
James J. Hodan
East Amherst, N.Y.
Robert J. Hodges
Forked River, N.J.
William G.
Hodgson
Nyack, N.Y.
Robert J. Hofer
Bella Vista, Ark.
Allan S. Hoffman
Seattle
Donald L. Holden
Des Plaines, Ill.
John B. Holden
North Mankato,
Minn.
Russell J. Holecek
Boulder, Colo.
Robert A. Hollis
Venice, Fla.
Robert E. Holman
Charlottesville, Va.
Virginia H.
Holsinger
Arlington, Va.
P. Donald Hopkins
Louisville
John M. Horn
Houston
Robert F. Hornbeck
Livermore, Calif.
Martin I. Horowitz
Valhalla, N.Y.
Robert H. Horrocks
Kingston, R.I.
Daniel B. Howell
Lincoln, Neb.
Frederick M.
Hudson
Camden, Ariz.
Robert W. Huffman
Flagstaff, Ariz.
Ezekiel H. Hull
Greensboro, N.C.
Roger Humberger
Pocatello, Idaho
Eugene R.
Hunsucker
Mogadore, Ohio
Paul P. Hunt
Trenton, Ga.
Wayne Hyde
Natchitoches, La.
James B. Hyne
Calgary, Alberta
Robert N. Iacona
Voorhees, N.J.
Harold B. Igdaloff
Los Angeles
Ivor Ilmet
East Amherst, N.Y.
George R. Imperial
Highland Mills, N.Y.
John E. Irsak
Westlake, Ohio
Raymond E. Isbell
Sheffield, Ala.
K. Bruce Jacobson
Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Norman Jacobson
Las Vegas
Graham A.
Jamieson
Bethesda, Md.
Elmer R. Jensen
Nanuet, N.Y.
Johann A. Joebstl
Blue Bell, Pa.
ACS NEWS
Clarence Johnsen
Cupertino, Calif.
Carl R. Johnson
Hartfield, Va.
Emmett J. Johnson
New Orleans
Mary Lynn
Johnson
Denton, Texas
John J. Jonas
Meadows of Dan, Va.
Lucius G. Jordan
Aiken, S.C.
Lois C. Just
Lakewood, Colo.
James S.
Kaltenbronn
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Jack A. Kampmeier
Rochester, N.Y.
Gerasimos J.
Karabatsos
East Lansing, Mich.
Frank E. Karasz
Amherst, Mass.
Marcus Karel
Newtonville, Mass.
Donald D. Kasarda
Berkeley, Calif.
Peter S. Kay
Cincinnati
Edwin L. Kelley
Succasunna, N.J.
James V. Kennedy
Pittsburgh
Robert W. Kennedy
Gray, Tenn.
James P. Kerin
St. Paul, Texas
Neil V. Kern
Kerrville, Texas
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 50 APRIL 14, 2008
Henn Kilkson
Wilmington, Del.
You Sun Kim
Seoul, South Korea
R. Bruce King
Athens, Ga.
Roy W. King
Gainesville, Fla.
Thomas H. Kinstle
Bowling Green, Ohio
Joel Kirschbaum
Williamsburg, Va.
Michael S. Kisiel
North Tonawanda,
N.Y.
Lester A. Kitchman
Silver Spring, Md.
Eugene R. Klim
Titusville, N.J.
Harold O. Klingele
Niagara Falls, N.Y.
Irwin L. Klundt
Saddlebrooke, Ariz.
Richard N.
Knowles
Niagara Falls, N.Y.
Yung Ling Ko
Hockessin, Del.
Donald J. C.
Koestler
Philadelphia
Kenneth J. Kohlhof
Katonah, N.Y.
Soter G. Kokalis
Hoffman Estates, Ill.
Thomas J. Kondis
Pittsburgh
Jerry N. Koral
Palm Beach Gardens,
Fla.
Karl Kordesch
Graz, Austria
David P. Kosow
Gaithersburg, Md.
Theodore R.
Kozlowski
Horseheads, N.Y.
Charles S.
Kraihanzel
Bethlehem, Pa.
John J. Krajewski
Wheeling, Ill.
Joseph J. Kraker
Virginia, Minn.
Roslyn E. Kramer
Chestnut Hill, Mass.
James A. Kratt
Louisville
Arthur Krause
Pensacola, Fla.
Louis Kravetz
Houston
Rubin Kravitz
Virginia Beach, Va.
Jerome T. Kresse
Buffalo
Kotra V.
Krishnamurty
Pasco, Wash.
David Kristol
Matawan, N.J.
Marvin L.
Kronenberg
Needham, Mass.
Paul R. Kruesi
Golden, Colo.
George Kucker
North Miami Beach,
Fla.
Otto J. Kukla
Conway, S.C.
Rudolph K. Kullnig
Nassau, N.Y.

Joseph L. Kurz
Lonedell, Mo.
Kenneth Kustin
San Diego
Ti Kang Kwei
Warren, N.J.
Jorge Labat
Mill Valley, Calif.
William B.
Lacefield
Greenwood, Ind.
Robert B. LaCount
Waynesburg, Pa.
Arthur L.
Laferriere
Sun City Center, Fla.
Julian Lakritz
Edison, N.J.
Philip S. Lamprey
York Beach, Maine
Henry B. Lange
St. Augustine, Fla.
Horst G. Langer
Wayland, Mass.
Jules S. Lapides
Broomall, Pa.
Richard E. Laramy
Ponca City, Okla.
Gary A. Larsen
Tiffin, Ohio
Robert C. Larson
Lincoln, Neb.
Roman J. Lasota
Green Lane, Pa.
Augustin Latorre
Rancho Santa Fe,
Calif.
Ulla Riitta Helena
Laurila
Paris
Glenn E. Lavering
Long Beach, Calif.
Amy S. Law
Landenberg, Pa.
Edward W. Lawless
Kansas City, Mo.
Priscilla C. Le Brun
Canfield, Ohio
Yuan Chuan Lee
Baltimore
John C. Leffingwell
Canton, Ga.
Carl E. Legate
Spring, Texas
Theodore Legatt
Livingston, N.J.
Jacob Lehrfeld
Buffalo Grove, Ill.
Andrew Lent
Easton, Conn.
David H. Leroy
Sterling, Va.
John M. Lesniak
Waretown, N.J.
Duane Letourneau
Moscow, Idaho
Monte J. Levitt
Shreveport, La.
Jerome F. Levy
Marblehead, Mass.
Samuel C. Levy
Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Tao Ping Li
Chesterfield, Mo.
Leonard M. Libbey
Corvallis, Ore.
Herbert J. Lilling
Silver Spring, Md.
Sven T. Lindstedt
Gothenburg, Sweden
Timothy J. Linehan
Rochester, N.Y.
John W. Liska
Mount Juliet, Tenn.
Thomas V. Liston
San Rafael, Calif.
Marcia D. Litwack
Gaithersburg, Md.
Oreste W.
Lombardi
Lake City, Fla.
Wendell P. Long
Newark, Del.
Donald H. Lorenz
Basking Ridge, N.J.
Ira Loter
Wanaque, N.J.
Doris K. Love
Beacon, N.Y.
John P. Lowe
State College, Pa.
Wesley A. Lybrand
Charlotte, N.C.
Jerrold W. Lynch
West Monroe, La.
D. R. MacKenzie
South Setauket, N.Y.
John D. Mackenzie
Los Angeles
Richard N. Macnair
Cambridge, Mass.
Frank Madera
Orsini
Geneva, Ill.
Barbara S. Magid
Merrick, N.Y.
Ralph W. Magin
Scottsdale, Ariz.
Raymond E.
Maginn
Columbus, Ohio
Bernard L.
Mahoney
Fredericksbrg, Va.
Norman E.
Mahoney
Quincy, Mass.
William J. Maier
Clifton, N.J.
Frank B. Mallory
Bryn Mawr, Pa.
Remo R. Maneri
Scottsdale, Ariz.
Eloisa B. Mano
Rio de Janeiro
John J. Marcinek
Brooklyn, N.Y.
A. E. Marcinkowsky
Charleston, W.Va.
Gianlorenzo
Marino
Perugia, Italy
Herman H.
Martens
Reno, Nev.
Donald J. Martin
Wyckoff, N.J.
Joseph Marton
Newtown, Pa.
Allen S. Mason
Santa Fe, N.M.
Egon Matijevic
Potsdam, N.Y.
Bibhuti R.
Mazumder
Timonium, Md.
Ronald J. McCaully
Limekiln, Pa.
Sue McCoy
Afton, Va.
Charles H.
McFarland
Ocala, Fla.
Henry A. McGee Jr.
Richmond, Va.
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 51 APRIL 14, 2008
Neil Mckelvie
Forest Hills, N.Y.
John A. McLean
Detroit
Joseph C.
McManus
Mount Pleasant, S.C.
Marvin J.
McMurray
Julian, Calif.
Henry R.
Menapace
Stow, Ohio
Wilford Mendelson
King of Prussia, Pa.
P. Gary Mennitt
Canaan, N.Y.
Basil W. Mercer
Harrison, Idaho
Halley A. Merrell
Cornelius, N.C.
Sidney H. Metzger
Pittsburgh
Robert B. Meyer
Tremont, Ill.
Adolph L. Micheli
Harrison Township,
Mich.
H. Harvey Michels
Storrs Mansfield,
Conn.
Stuart Michelson
Lansdale, Pa.
Ray V. Mihailovich
Langhorne, Pa.
Joseph B. Milgram
Cleveland
Conrad E. Miller
Bridgewater, Va.
Edward G. Miller
North Manchester,
Ind.
Gerald R. Miller
Rockville, Md.
James M. Miller
Lititz, Pa.
Lowell D. Miller
Village Loch Loyd,
Mo.
Robert H. Miller
Madison, N.J.
Stephen J. Miller
Salem, Mass.
Sam S. Mims
Prairieville, La.
Harry J.
Minnemeyer
New Haven, Ill.
Frank A. Momany
Peoria, Ill.
Robert J.
Moolenaar
Midland, Mich.
Gordon G. Moore
Willow Grove, Pa.
Desmond F.
Mordant
San Miguel de
Allende, Mexico
Lee Roy Morgan
New Orleans
Richard W. Morris
Jacksonville, Fla.
Edelgard B. Morse
Little Compton, R.I.
Kenneth B. Moser
Decatur, Ill.
Rita M. Mueller
Crestview Hills, Ky.
Anil K. Mukherji
Webster, N.Y.
Joseph D. Mullen
Minneapolis

Roderick A. Mundy
Charlottesville, Va.
Hector J. Munn
Newberg, Ore.
Burnaby Munson
Newark, Del.
Marjory B. Murphy
Enid, Okla.
Billy O. Musser
Sonora, Calif.
Kazuo Nakamoto
Fox Point, Wis.
Eli Namanworth
Cincinnati
William E.
Narcowich
Wilmington, Del.
John J. Naughton
San Antonio
Edward S. Neiss
New Canaan, Conn.
James R. Nelms
Chesterfield, Mo.
Irving S. Neshin
Monroe Township,
N.J.
Robert C. Neuman
Santa Barbara, Calif.
Akio Nishino
San Jose, Calif.
James E. Norris
Mobile, Ala.
John C. Nowakoski
Lexington, S.C.
Loys J. Nunez
Memphis
George F.
Nurnberger
Bradenton, Fla.
Stanley H. Nusim
Aventura, Fla.
Thomas R. Oakes
Stillwater, Minn.
Frederick W. Obear
Signal Mountain,
Tenn.
John F. O’Brien
Gillette, N.J.
James J. O’Connor
Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Thomas L.
O’Connor
Albany, N.H.
Peter Ofner
Boston
Donald Ofte
Albuquerque, N.M.
Gerald M.
Olderman
Bedford, Mass.
Alvin M. Olson
Mobile, Ala.
James M. Olson
Battle Lake, Minn.
Donald A. Orth
Aiken, S.C.
James L. Otis
Amarillo, Texas
Yoshio Otsuji
Osaka
Guy Ourisson
Strasbourg, France
Michael A. Oxman
Bethesda, Md.
Lester Packer
Orinda, Calif.
S. Shaw Painter
Port Orange, Fla.
Burton J. Palmer
Tucson, Ariz.
Hans P. Panzer
Stamford, Conn.
S. Peter Pappas
Midland, Texas
Krzysztof I.
Parczewski
Bethesda, Md.
Patrick L. Parker
Bald Knob, Ark.
Vivian B. Parker
Washington, D.C.
Judith A. Pauley
Potomac, Md.
Myrna S. Pearson
Norton, Mass.
Brian W. Pengilly
Akron, Ohio
John T. Penniston
Cambridge, Mass.
Clark W. Perry
Danbury, Conn.
Henry F. Peters
Brooklyn, N.Y.
J. I. Pettit
Fredericksburg, Va.
Marshall Phillips
Thornton, Pa.
Norman E. Phillips
Berkeley, Calif.
Charles H. C. Pian
Lexington, Mass.
Harold W. Pier
Remsen, N.Y.
Ronald A. Pieringer
Lafayette Hill, Pa.
Louis A. Pilato
Bound Brook, N.J.
Joseph C. Pisciotta
Summit, N.J.
Allen G. Pittman
El Cerrito, Calif.
Larry Plonsker
Wellington, Fla.
ACS NEWS
Eugene G.
Podrebarac
Shawnee Mission,
Kan.
J. Kenneth
Poggenburg
Encinitas, Calif.
John W. Poole
Plymouth Meeting,
Pa.
Lido Porri
Milan, Italy
Thomas J. Porro
Westport, Conn.
Townsend H.
Porter
Sarasota, Fla.
Daniel Post
Hendersonville, N.C.
Jack E. Powell
Ames, Iowa
Dusan Prevorsek
Ridgefield, Wash.
Zoe G. Proctor
Elizabethtown, Pa.
Heino Puhk
North Olmsted, Ohio
Lee J. Pullen
Racine, Wis.
David L. Pytynia
Orland Park, Ill.
Allen E. Rabe
Wilmington, Del.
David V. Ragone
Wellesley Hills, Mass.
Robert L. Randall
Washington, D.C.
Fredrik Randvere
Hollywood, Fla.
Jay A. Rashkin
Monticello, N.Y.
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 52 APRIL 14, 2008
J. O. Rasmussen
Berkeley, Calif.
Gary H.
Rasmusson
Buffalo
Mitchel J. Rayes
Greenbush, Mich.
Garry A. Rechnitz
Honolulu
Charles L. Reed
Wilmington, Del.
Weldon N. Reed
Port Washington,
Wis.
John Reehling
West Chester, Pa.
Colin B. Reese
London
Miguel A. F. Refojo
Wellesley, Mass.
Walter
Reifschneider
Walnut Creek, Calif.
Joseph R. Reiner
Center Harbor, N.H.
Ferenc M. Relle
Columbus, Ohio
Ronald V. Repetti
Guilford, Conn.
Rosetta N. Reusch
Okemos, Mich.
Fritz Reusser
Portage, Mich.
Ralph C. Reynolds
Rochester, N.Y.
L. Willard Richards
Geyserville, Calif.
Anne L. Rieger
Pawtucket, R.I.
Robert E. Ringer
Marianna, Fla.
Calvin D. Ritchie
Ormond Beach, Fla.
Julian L. Roberts
Redlands, Calif.
Richard W.
Roberts
Rothschild, Wis.
John Roboz
New York City
John F. Robyt
Ames, Iowa
Luis C. Rojas
Guadalajara,
Mexico
Rose K. Rose
Flushing, N.Y.
William P. Rose
Pleasanton, Calif.
David Rosenthal
Haifa, Israel
Andre Rosowsky
Boston
Louis A. Ross
Houston
Albert Rossi
Warren, N.J.
Harold F. Rosson
Lawrence, Kan.
Lois K. Roth
Cincinnati
Michael
Rothenberg
San Jose, Calif.
Walter G.
Rothschild
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Richard D. Rowe
Commerce, Texas
Richard L. Rowton
Austin, Texas

Christoph
Ruchardt
Freiburg, Germany
Erwin R. Ruckel
Wilton, Conn.
David W. Russell
San Mateo, Calif.
Paul F. Russell
Grass Valley, Calif.
Vincent J. Russo
Woodbury, Conn.
Philip Rutkin
Great Neck, N.Y.
Robert J. Sacek
Huntersville, N.C.
Rudolf M. Salinger
Midland, Mich.
C. Lennart
Sandquist
Waynesboro, Va.
Edward Sarlo
Howard Beach, N.Y.
Wolfgang H. F.
Sasse
Armadale, Australia
Caroline A. Sasser
Silver Spring, Md.
Hans J. Sauer
Regensburg,
Germany
Thomas J.
Savereide
Hudson, Wis.
Mike G. Scaros
Bradenton, Fla.
Larry L. Schaleger
Oakland, Calif.
Walter Schick
Walnut Creek, Calif.
Peter Schmid
Greenbrae, Calif.
Lambert J.
Schommer
Woodstock, Ill.
Richard
Schoonmaker
Oberlin, Ohio
Gerald D.
Schucker
Big Flats, N.Y.
Jerome S. Schultz
Riverside, Calif.
David A. Schulz
Panama City Beach,
Fla.
Robert A. Schunn
Miromar Lakes, Fla.
Richard F. Schwab
Basking Ridge, N.J.
Jerome E.
Schwartz
Bloomfield, N.J.
Shirley E.
Schwartz
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Willis T. Schwartz
Grand Island, N.Y.
Daniel A. Scola
Glastonbury, Conn.
Lucy E. Scroggie
Knoxville
David W.
Seegmiller
Albuquerque, N.M.
Alvin Segal
West Palm Beach,
Fla.
Nick S. Semenuk
Lawrenceville, N.J.
Piero Sensi
Milan, Italy
Daniel W. Seregely
Ventura, Calif.
Thomas A. Seto
Astoria, N.Y.
John A.
Shaughnessy
Pensacola, Fla.
Herndon G.
Shepherd
Schuyler, Va.
Alan J. Sheppard
Vienna, Va.
Howard S. Sherry
Santa Fe, N.M.
Isao Shiihara
Osaka
Yukio Shimura
Tokyo
Robert L. Shirley
Muskegon, Mich.
Dewey H. Sifford
Jonesboro, Ark.
Marlowe A. Sigal
Newton Center,
Mass.
Charles J. Sih
Madison, Wis.
Bernard Silverman
Norcross, Ga.
James W. Sims
Kingsport, Tenn.
Robert M. Sims
Atlanta
William E.
Skillman
Crestview, Fla.
Martha Skulski
West Vancouver,
British Columbia
Gilbert F. Slotter
Lancaster, Pa.
James B. Smart
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Courtney J. Smith
Tuskegee Institute,
Ala.
Dwight M. Smith
Denver
James B. Smith
Suffern, N.Y.
Philip Smith
Boca Raton, Fla.
Robert C. Smith
Roswell, Ga.
William N. Smith
Philadelphia
Lorna T. Sniegoski
Gaithersburg, Md.
Roger H.
Soderberg
Hanover, N.H.
Mary Ann L.
Solstad
Marblehead, Mass.
Alfredo Giner
Sorolla
Vinaros, Spain
Charles W.
Spangler
Bozeman, Mont.
Abraham Spector
New York City
Kenneth Speigel
Nashua, N.H.
Gerald I.
Spielholtz
Mamaroneck, N.Y.
James R. R.
Spindler
Mequon, Wis.
Jack M. Spurlock
Leesburg, Fla.
Arthur M. Squires
Blacksburg, Va.
Allen J. St. Angelo
Metairie, La.
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 53 APRIL 14, 2008
Heinz A. Staab
Heidelberg,
Germany
Charles M. Starks
Ponca City, Okla.
Herbert W. Staub
Boynton Beach, Fla.
Robert L. Steffen
Jasper, Ind.
David N. Stehly
Bethlehem, Pa.
Reinhardt P. Stein
Pottstown, Pa.
Charles K.
Steinhardt
Bellaire, Texas
Stephen J.
Stepenuck
West Swanzey, N.H.
H. Franklin
Stewart
Saipan, Northern
Mariana Islands
Fred B. Stocker
San Diego
William Straub
Monroeville, Pa.
Richard A.
Strehlow
Knoxville
Victor R. Struber
New York City
Jacob Struck
Houston
Daniel Strugar
Santee, Calif.
Harvey L. Stull
Covington, Va.
William O. Suiter
Jr.
Burlington, Vt.
Siao Fang Sun
Jamaica, N.Y.
F. William
Sunderman Jr.
Whiting, Vt.
Nancy C. Swanson
Newton, N.J.
Naomitsu
Takashina
Yokohama, Japan
Tsuneichi
Takeshita
Honolulu
Yasuo Takeuchi
Okayama, Japan
John E. Tanner
Idaho Falls
Cary A. Tate
Memphis
William Tautz
Morris Plains, N.J.
Ray D. Taylor
Forestdale, Mass.
Noubar
Tcheurekdjian
Racine, Wis.
Anthony C. Testa
Franklin Square,
N.Y.
Floyd L. Tewksbury
Tucson, Ariz.
James D. Thaler
St. Petersburg, Fla.
Steve P. Theo
Odessa, Fla.
Robert Thomas
Port Jefferson, N.Y.
Grant Thompson
Brigham City, Utah
Norman S.
Thompson
Appleton, Wis.
James J. Tietjen
Belle Mead, N.J.

J. Tyson Tildon
Baltimore
Fred L. Tobiason
Tacoma, Wash.
Patrick Tolve
Airmont, N.Y.
Gordon E. Tomasi
Loveland, Colo.
Richard G. Tonkyn
Creve Coeur, Mo.
Thomas J. Trainor
Montvale, N.J.
Norman S.
Trommer
Atlantic Beach, N.C.
George Tsao
West Lafayette, Ind.
Toshio Tsuzuki
Bridgewater, N.J.
Howard H. Un
Wilmington, Del.
Andrew Urban
Newnan, Ga.
Milan R. Uskokovic
Montclair, N.J.
Umberto Valcavi
Milan, Italy
Alfred J. Valcourt
Somerset, Mass.
Martin Van Dyke
Denver
Dean B. Van
Ostrand
Mentor, Ohio
Dale E. Van Sickle
Kingsport, Tenn.
John R. Vercellotti
Covington, La.
H. Lester Vincent
Blades, Del.
Donald R. Vissers
Naperville, Ill.
Herbert H.
Waddell
Berkeley Heights,
N.J.
Donald H.
Wadsworth
Portal, Ariz.
Eugene R. Wagner
Milford, Ohio
Frank A. Wagner
Pennington, N.J.
Herbert Wagner
Nutley, N.J.
George H. Wahl Jr.
Raleigh, N.C.
C. J. Waitkus
Basking Ridge, N.J.
Theodore T. Wall
Stoneham, Mass.
William J. Wallace
New Concord, Ohio
Thomas D. Walsh
Charlotte, N.C.
Bobby R. Walters
Paris, Texas
Alan Warren
Downingtown, Pa.
George W. Warren
Abbott, Texas
Paul F. Waters
Washington, D.C.
Richard S. Wayne
Lawrenceville, N.J.
J. Richard Weaver
Bluffton, Ohio
Max A. Weaver
Kingsport, Tenn.
Christian J. Weber
Elkhart, Ind.
Edwin C. Weber
Louisville
Evelyn J. Weber
Urbana, Ill.
Donald
Wedegaertner
Stockton, Calif.
Stuart W.
Weidman
Memphis
Paul Weitz
Burlington, N.C.
Dean E. Welch
Lexington, Ky.
Paul F. Weller
Sarasota, Fla.
Henry J. Wells
Columbia, Md.
F. Eugene Welsh
Granville, Ohio
Jaime Whelpley
Miami Beach, Fla.
Ruth B. Whitaker
Southern Pines, N.C.
Jean Whitley
Orange, Texas
Edward B.
Whittaker
Miami
David G. Whitten
Albuquerque, N.M.
Grace M. Wieder
Forest Hills, N.Y.
Lester A. Wienert
Louisburg, Mo.
Charles F. Wilcox
Ithaca, N.Y.
Marvin E.
Wildfeuer
Lafayette, Ind.
George T. Wildman
Scotch Plains, N.J.
ACS NEWS
Wallace Wilhelm
Odessa, Texas
Robert T. Williams
Palm Desert, Calif.
Thomas E.
Williams
Wagener, S.C.
Stanley M.
Williamson
Santa Cruz, Calif.
Alan T. Wills
Lansing, Mich.
Grant M. Wilson
Orem, Utah
Jack A. Winstead
Centennial, Colo.
Charles G. Winter
Little Rock
Norvell E. Wisdom
Longview, Texas
John J. Wise
Princeton, N.J.
Hugo E. Wistreich
Fort Myers, Fla.
Frank Wochinger
Porter Corners, N.Y.
Arthur L. Wolfe
Mentor, Ohio
Wade Wolfe
Lafayette, La.
Wayne C. Wolsey
St. Paul, Minn.
Daniel L. Woodside
Marlton, N.J.
John F. Wootton
Ithaca, N.Y.
Ernest Yeakey
Austin, Texas
Leon S. Yengoyan
San Jose, Calif.
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 54 APRIL 14, 2008
George Yip
Springfield, Va.
Richard L. Young
Newton, Mass.
Sanford T. Young
St. Michaels, Md.
David A. Yphantis
Storrs Mansfield,
Conn.
James C. Zahnley
Manhattan, Kan.
Carlos A. Zapata
Dewitt, Mich.
Daniel J. Zeloyle
Sarver, Pa.
Sarah E.
Zimmerman
Indianapolis
George Zografi
Madison, Wis.
John A. Zoltewicz
Gainesville, Fla.
Paul L. Zubkoff
Williamsburg, Va.
Gordon Zucker
Carefree, Ariz.
David Zudkevitch
Cedar Knolls, N.J.
Aniela S.
Zygmuntowicz
Uxbridge, Mass.
CHEMISTRY GRADUATE
STUDENT SYMPOSIUM
IN CHINA
A CHEMISTRY Graduate Program (CGP,
or Doering Program) Symposium has
been arranged at the 26th Chinese Chemical
Society (CCS) Congress, which will
be held in Tianjin, China, on July 13–16.
This CGP Symposium will celebrate the
upcoming 30th anniversary of the initial
planning of this program, which has sent
more than 250 Chinese chemistry students
to the U.S. and Canada for Ph.D.
studies. The CGP Symposium is scheduled
for July 13–14, with the possibility of
extension through July 15.
Harvard University’s William von Eggers
Doering and Chinese professors
who started CGP plan to attend the symposium
and give historical accounts of
the program. In addition, ACS President
Bruce E. Bursten plans to attend the CCS
Congress and speak at the CGP Symposium.
Representatives from CCS plan to
speak at the symposium as well.
More information is available from
Shi-He Yang, Department of Chemistry,
Hong Kong University of Science & Technology,
Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong
Kong, China, chsyang@ust.hk or Tao Guo,
Chemistry Director, Pharmacopeia, P.O.
Box 5350, Princeton, NJ 08543, phone:
(609) 452-3746, fax: (609) 452-3699,
tguo@pcop.com. ■

employment outlook
OPPORTUNITIES FOR 2008 AND BEYOND
STEWART WOODWARD
LAUNCHING CORPORATE CAREERS
Recent B.S. AND M.S. GRADUATES ignite their passion for chemistry within diverse businesses
SUSAN J. AINSWORTH, C&EN DALLAS
FOR CASEY MCLEOD, the reality of
working in an industrial lab has exceeded
her expectations. The synthetic organic
chemist who joined Dow AgroSciences in
Indianapolis six months ago says she is surprisingly
encouraged to make significant
and satisfying contributions to the company’s
R&D efforts despite not having an
advanced degree.
“In the past, and still in some companies
today, I think there’s a mentality that Ph.D.
chemists are the only employees who are
qualified to form hypotheses and come
up with research ideas, leaving B.S.- and
M.S.-degreed chemists to simply test and
exemplify them,” says McLeod, who earned
a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from
Purdue University in 2006. “But at this
company, at least, that’s the farthest thing
from the truth.”
And McLeod—one of a dozen of fledgling
non-Ph.D. chemists contacted by
C&EN—is not alone in her perceptions.
The experiences of these chemists give a
glimpse of the kinds of engaging jobs that
some B.S. and M.S. chemists are finding in
industry now.
The key to tapping into these opportu-
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 55 APRIL 14, 2008
ENCOURAGED
Birkett conducts
antibacterial
products drug
discovery research
at AstraZeneca’s
Boston facility.
nities is thinking outside the box, gaining
experience through internships and temporary
work, and polishing interviewing
skills, according to the chemists C&EN interviewed.
As a result, it is possible for new
chemists to launch into exciting careers in
a variety of businesses.
“I am surprised to find that I am free
to generate hypotheses and do the work
needed to test them,” McLeod says of
her job designing and synthesizing novel
molecules to control pests. “It’s just a very
level playing field. And that is really motivating
to me. The supportive culture here

encourages me to do the best science that I
possibly can.”
Janine Van Gemert, who joined Huntsman
Polyurethanes as a development
chemist in January, says she is surprised
and gratified that she has been able to play
a significant role in the company’s efforts.
While working at Huntsman, she is finishing
up her B.S. degree in chemistry at
Ypsilanti-based Eastern Michigan University.
Although having a Ph.D. opens
many doors for an ambitious scientist,
she says that “you can really do awesome
things with a bachelor’s degree,
and I think that sometimes that gets
missed along the way.”
Elise Birkett, who earned an M.A.
from Boston University in May, is enthusiastic
about her new job as an associate
scientist and organic synthetic
chemist at AstraZeneca in Boston.
Working in the area of antibacterial
drug discovery (see page 15), her job
“certainly does not involve doing the
same reactions over and over again. I
am very much encouraged to do new
chemistry,” she says. “I always feel that
my ideas are very valued, and so I feel
the freedom to try different things and
come up with my own ideas, which is really
what makes chemistry exciting.”
AS A CONSEQUENCE of the competitive
industrial environment, many companies
need to have all their employees—
regardless of their level of education—
contributing ideas and creating solutions.
Empowering employees at all educational
levels is critical at Esstech, an Essington,
Pa.-based developer and manufacturer of
specialized raw materials for products including
dental composites, contact lenses,
and cosmetics. “We are a small, tight-knit
group where everyone knows each other,
and if there’s a big job to do, everyone
jumps in and helps out,” says Jim Duff, an
Esstech research chemist who earned a B.S.
in chemistry from California State University,
Fullerton, last May.
For his part, Duff is actively involved
in work to tailor molecules to fill specific
gaps in the marketplace or to fit the precise
needs of customers. He likes that his job
EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK
combines synthetic organic and analytical
chemistry and requires him to draw on experience
he gained in a previous job in the
cosmetic field, which he held for almost
nine years before going back to finish his
degree. Another plus, he says, is that his
position also allows him room to do “true
‘blue-sky’ research”
in between customer
projects.
Similarly, freedom
to work independently
and to learn a
new area of chemistry
is something that
Brian Caldwell loves
about his new job as a
radiochemist for IBA
Molecular, an international
diagnostics
company. He came to IBA’s Sterling, Va.,
facility after a brief stint with a Marylandbased
bioscience company where he was
limited to doing very basic, directed chemistry,
he says.
Caldwell feels fortunate to have landed
this kind of role in R&D with only a bach-
“You can really do awesome things with
a bachelor’s degree, and I think that
sometimes that gets missed along the way.”
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 56 APRIL 14, 2008
elor’s degree, he says, noting that he might
have “come in at the right time” as his
department had just been formed. Still,
at IBA, his advanced-degreed colleagues,
“treat me as an equal,” says Caldwell, who
earned a B.S. in chemistry from the University
of North Carolina, Wilmington, in
May 2006. “They will ask for my input
on certain things and make me feel like
part of the team.”
Jeremy Deguzman, a research associate
within Roche’s Biochemical
Pharmacology group in Palo Alto,
Calif., says he enjoys a similar level of
support. “The group here is great. They
are very supportive and willing to listen
to my ideas,” says Deguzman, who has
a B.S. in biology from the University
of California, San Diego. Although his
primary responsibility is overseeing the
technicalities of screening assays for
inflammation testing, he is also able to
“combine elements of programming,
biotechnology, and biochemical and
pharmacological theory” in his job,
which he started in late 2006.
COURTESY OF MONICA HUYNH
ENGINEER After
interning for a
petrochemical
company, where
her work included
sampling unprocessed
oil, Huynh switched
her career focus to
the semiconductor
industry and will
start an engineering
job with Texas
Instruments in June.
WHILE SOME B.S.- and M.S.-degreed
scientists are pleasantly surprised by
their level of involvement in company
R&D efforts, others are delighted to
discover the breadth of opportunities
that are available to them.
“I always thought that my only option
would be to work in a lab or as a
technician, but I was amazed by all the
different jobs that were offered to me,”
says Monica Huynh, who will start as
a semiconductor fabrication engineer
at Texas Instruments in Houston in
mid-June. In this position, which she
will take just after graduating with a
B.S. in chemistry from the University
of Texas, Austin, she will monitor the
stages of manufacturing “to optimize
efficiency and make sure the process
runs smoothly on a daily basis,” she says.
Although landing an engineering job as
a chemist felt like a long shot, Huynh was
eager to pursue those opportunities after
her brother led her on a tour of a facility
owned by Applied Materials, a supplier
of products and services to the semiconductor
industry. Venturing into the
engineering job fair at UT Austin, she was
surprised to find that the visiting companies
were actively recruiting chemists.
Chemists, they reasoned, are trained to be
detail-oriented and have strong problemsolving
skills, which are beneficial within

corporate team structures. In addition,
she found that “there are phases in the
process of making a semiconductor chip
that a chemist might understand better
than a mechanical engineer.”
Thinking outside the lab may create
multiple opportunities for some chemists
like Huynh. For others, exploring nontraditional
job possibilities may serve as a strategy
for finding a first job in a market where
demand for chemists has been fluctuating
(C&EN, March 3, page 37).
“I sometimes felt that my only career
path led to a seat behind a laboratory
bench,” says Rachel Wooley, now an associate
editor with Holt McDougal, a division
of textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt. “But as my own job search began,
I realized that many fields require the expertise
of a scientist,” she says. “I just kept
asking myself, ‘Okay, who needs a chemist
today?’ ”
Wooley began her job in August 2006,
about three months after graduating
magna cum laude with a B.A. in chemistry
and a minor in professional writing from
Texas A&M University. Currently, she is involved
in editing the chemistry chapters of
a middle school physical science book.
Job seekers need to be open-minded and
creative in their search, Wooley says. Although
she was most interested in scientific
writing, she applied for employment in a
variety of fields, including forensic science,
public relations, and teaching, she says.
IT DOES NOT PAY to be too selective during
the job search, says Nicholas Lewellen,
a senior associate scientist for quality assurance
at Pfizer in Groton, Conn. “Don’t
forgo applying for a job or turn down an
interview simply because you don’t believe
you want that particular job,” advises
Lewellen, who earned a B.A. in chemistry
from the College of Wooster, in Ohio.
“Even if the interview does not result in a
job, it can expose you to different industries
and help you gain a perspective on
the culture of a given company,” he adds.
“Knowing what you do not want to do can
be as valuable as knowing what you want
to do.”
Being open-minded is critical for jobhunting
chemists outside the U.S. as
well, according to Ng Ru Hui, a scientific
associate in the chemistry laboratory at
Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases
in Singapore. She advises undergraduates
to remain receptive to positions “that
might not be your first choice.” Some-
times that starter job might be just the
ticket for new chemists who need to gain
“domain knowledge” before they land a
dream job in their desired industry, says
Ru Hui, who received a B.S. in chemistry
with honors from the National University
of Singapore. “Companies tend to prefer
candidates with experience working in the
laboratory,” she adds.
That experience can come through
internships and temporary work. Some
would-be industrial chemists gain experience
before graduation. For example, Eric
Hendrickson, a product technologist at
GE Water & Process Technologies in The
Woodlands, Texas, took on an internship
at the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s
office in Fort Worth, working with
their analytical teams in trace,
drug, and toxicology labs.
In addition, while at Texas
A&M, where he earned a B.S. in
chemistry in 2005, Hendrickson
worked with a carbon-dating research
group and a nanotechnology
research group, which allowed
him to become familiar with using
a scanning electron microscope.
Having hands-on experience with
instrumentation, he says, gave
him an edge over other applicants
for his current position, which involves
performing analytical tests
for customers in the water and
hydrocarbon process industries
using techniques such as gas chromatography,
nuclear magnetic
resonance spectroscopy, and scanning
electron microscopy.
Instrumentation experience
is one attribute that really helps
candidates stand out in a crowd of
applicants, says Huntsman’s Van
Gemert, who worked last year at
the employment agency Manpower
helping to place chemists and
other scientists into jobs.
AMY STRONG
She also worked to hone her lab skills
both inside and outside of school. As part
of her university research, she has used gas
chromatography and mass spectrometry
in the characterization of tree resins and
in the analysis of a plant residue on prehistoric
tools. She also built her instrumentation
skills while working for a small, familyowned
analytical lab.
For some, internships or other temporary
jobs can lead to lucrative full-time
positions within the same organizations.
McLeod, for example, landed an internship
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 57 APRIL 14, 2008
with Dow AgroSciences over the summer
of 2004, and then secured a temporary job
there as a contract chemist. She held that
job throughout most of her senior year and
for nine months afterward, before being
hired into her current position.
Although it wasn’t easy to work while
earning her degree and “to pass up a summer
of reuniting with high school friends,”
the sacrifices paid off, McLeod says. The
temporary work allowed McLeod to sharpen
her technical skills and test the waters at
Dow, while the company evaluated her in
an “extended interview process,” she says.
“In the end, I was a very low-risk hire.”
In a similar move, Ru Hui got her foot in
the door at Novartis Institute for Tropical
Diseases by participating in
a training attachment pro-
TAILOR Duff helps
design molecules
to fill gaps in the
marketplace or
satisfy customer
needs at Esstech,
a specialized raw
materials firm.
gram, which was a collaboration
between the Economic
Development Board of Singapore
and biomedical companies
including the Novartis
Institute.
During the one-year “at-
tachment period,” Ru Hui says, she capitalized
on the opportunity to equip herself
with the skills and knowledge required to
be a full-time scientific associate with the
institute. As a result, she earned a permanent
position there in 2005.
Her work focuses on the synthesis of
organic compounds designed by the institute’s
principal investigators. “Depending
on the state of the research project we are
involved in, my projects can involve trying
out new reaction conditions for a novel
compound, doing parallel synthesis of
compound libraries, or optimizing reaction

conditions in preparation for a scale-up
process. My day-to-day work consists of
setting up chemical reactions as well as
doing purification and analytical characterization
of the target compounds.”
Another B.S.-level chemist, LeAnthony
Holliness, used temporary work as a stepping
stone to a full-time position within
the same company. While earning a B.S.
degree in chemistry from Texas A&M,
Holliness began searching for internships
in beauty and health care product
development—a field he had dreamed of
entering after studying synthetic organic
chemistry.
He became interested in Procter &
Gamble after participating in a company
symposium recommended by one of his
professors. He was accepted into an internship
there the following summer. And
last June he started in his job as a product
development researcher, testing products
and ideas with consumers to “understand
what they really want and how we can bring
that to life through our technology.” Holliness
believes that the internship gave him
exposure critical to landing the full-time
position because it “really showed them
how I would fit,” he says.
THOSE WHO CAN’T intern for a prospective
employer can often demonstrate their
ability to assimilate into the corporate
culture through the interview process.
Showing a fit with the personalities within
a group or team can be an important part of
the interviewing process that many candidates
overlook as they focus on the important
task of promoting their knowledge and
skills and presenting their research.
Second interviews, in particular, “aren’t
about what you can do,” Huynh says. “They
are about finding out if you are a perfect
fit for the company and if the company is a
perfect fit for you.” Her job offer at Texas
Instruments came after she was able to
demonstrate that she had the desired skills
and work ethic, as well as a personality that
would fit comfortably within the company
environment over the course of a career,
she says.
The story is not much different for M.S.degreed
chemists pursuing positions in a
EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK
“I always thought that my only option would be to
work in a lab or as a technician, but I was amazed by
all the different jobs that were offered to me.”
lab environment, according to Donna Friel,
an assistant scientist within the lead discovery
team at Schering-Plough Research
Institute in Cambridge, Mass.
“Although your CV and letters of recommendation
from your adviser are the
keys that get you in
the door, it’s your
performance in the
interview that gets
you the job,” says
DOW AGROSCIENCES
Friel, who is finishing
a master’s in
chemistry at Boston
College.
During an interview,
which typically
lasts an entire day,
“it’s important to
be confident and
show that you are
well-educated and
trained, but, most
important, you have
to let your character
show through,” she
says.
At that point,
“it’s not so much
about the chemistry,
it’s about you as
a person and how
you would fit with
people that you
work with,” she says.
“I am a very social
person, I communicate clearly, and I am
very determined and energetic about my
work, which I think gave me a leg up on
interview day.”
In particular, managers and lab personnel
involved in the interview “want to de-
EMPOWERED At Dow
AgroSciences, McLeod
designs and synthesizes
molecules aimed at
controlling pests to
improve crop yields.
termine what you can contribute to a team,
and they judge this by how well you interact
with potential colleagues,” Friel says.
From his own experience, Pfizer’s
Lewellen knows it can be difficult for
freshly minted chemists to make the
“paradigm shift” to working on teams in
industry. “In college, I did some assignments
as part of a team, but overall, I did
the majority of my work on my own,” he
says. “In addition, I think my college ex-
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 58 APRIL 14, 2008
perience could be characterized as rather
competitive,” which could be true of many
chemists moving from school into industry.
However difficult it might be, making
the adjustment is critical, he says. “If you
are not willing to consistently and effec-
tively work as part of a team, you
will be in for a rude awakening.”
In addition to seeking strong
team players, recruiters also favor
those candidates who want to support
committee work and social
programs outside the lab, Astra-
Zeneca’s Birkett says. During the
interview, she felt she gained an edge
by “making it very clear that I was not
just here to make compounds, but I also
wanted to contribute to the corporate
culture and the community.” In the near
term, she is eager to help set up a system
to facilitate communication among those
in her department as it expands into a second
building.
Gaining an edge in the interview “has a
lot to do with attitude and passion,” Holliness
says. While meeting with Procter
& Gamble recruiters, “I asked a lot of
questions, and it was probably clear that I
wanted nothing more than to get in there
and play with them.”
Not surprisingly, Holliness aspires to

TRICIA MAY
carve out a long career in beauty and health
care product development. “Although it is
sometimes stressful, I like the fast-paced
nature of business compared with academia.
It always keeps things interesting,”
he says. “One day I hope to be the lead for
many great projects that make superior
products to positively impact the lives of
people around the world.”
More than
chemistry.
When it comes to
biochemistry and chemical
biology, ACS leads the way.
Contribute, publish, and
review with the journals of the
American Chemical Society.
ENERGETIC While
finishing her master’s
degree at Boston
College, Friel works
as an assistant
scientist within the
lead discovery team
at Schering-Plough
Research Institute.
Esstech’s Duff,
too, hopes to take his
work to the next level.
“Ultimately I’d like to
help grow and run a
research lab, preferably
the one I’m in
now,” he says. “I love
the research I am doing at this point, but
we don’t yet have the staff and resources
needed to try all the things I want to try.”
Others see their current job as an important
stepping stone to other career avenues.
Hendrickson, for example, is “working
toward branching into management,
while maintaining a grasp on the technical
field,” he says.
Biochemistry –
published since 1962
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 59 APRIL 14, 2008
Huynh, too, has set her sights on management.
She would like to earn an M.B.A.,
eventually becoming a chief executive of
a chemical company. “An undergraduate
chemistry degree can take you a long way in
life if you combine it with hard work,” she
concludes.
Deguzman echoes that point. Within
Roche, many B.S.-level scientists have been
promoted from associate level to positions
typically held by a Ph.D. “via hard work,
dedication, individual contribution, and
perseverance. At this company, it’s possible
to participate in or even lead the charge
on groundbreaking discoveries” with only
an undergraduate degree, he says.
Still, Deguzman hopes to find a way to
return to the classroom to “build a much
stronger scientific foundation and improve
my ability to contribute to the science.”
Dow AgroSciences’s McLeod is another
B.S. chemist who may return to school to
pursue a Ph.D., but not in the near future.
“I can do everything I want to do right
now—from mental and paper chemistry
to physically executing the reactions,” she
says. “I am very happy.” ■
ACS Chemical Biology –
published since 2006

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WWW.CENONLINE.ORG 60 APRIL 14, 2008
POSITIONS OPEN
CHEMISTS (2)
Southern Research Institute is seeking outstanding
applicants for several senior level positions in its
Organic Chemistry Department, which is part of the
Drug Discovery Division. The Division uses an interdisciplinary
approach to translate basic researchinto
FDA-approved drugs. We are particularly interested
in attracting scientists with a deep interest in
medicinal chemistry, a focus on collaboration, familiarity
with high-throughput screening hit follow-up,
and the potential to develop an externally funded research
program directed toward the identification of
novel therapeutic agents. Candidates with an established
research program are particularly encouraged
to apply. To be considered, applicants must possess a
Ph.D. in organic or medicinal chemistryor related discipline
and postdoctoral experience. The successful
applicant will be provided a start-up package of transitional
funding and laboratory technical support personnel
where appropriate, while working to develop an
independently funded program.Applications should
include a curriculum vitae, a 1-2 page description of
prior research experience, and a description of future
research plans. Southern Research Institute, a notfor-profit
research organization affiliated with the University
of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), has annual
revenues in excess of $70 million and employs approximately
600 professional, technical, and support personnel.
Six anti-cancer drugs have been discovered
by Institute personnel and are now used commercially
in the clinic. Several additional agents in this and other
therapeutic areas are currently in development or
undergoing clinical trials. The Institute currently has
drug discovery programs in the anticancer, anti-infectives
(bacterial, viral, and fungal diseases), andCNS
(neurodegenerative disease, analgesic, addiction) areas.
As part of the large biomedical research community
in Birmingham, we are committed to providing a
stimulating and rewarding work environment. Close
proximity to the UAB campus facilitates interactions
with academic and clinical personnel that are affiliated
with UAB basic science departments, Comprehensive
Cancer Center, Cell Matrix and AdhesionCenter,
Center for AIDS Research, and Center for Biophysical
Sciences and Engineering. Birmingham, Alabama has
a high standard of living afforded by a moderate climate,
beautifully wooded terrain, outstanding residential
communities and schools, world-class healthcare,
below average cost of living, and a vibrant arts and entertainment
scene. Southern Research Institute offers
an excellent compensation and benefits package. For
further information on our capabilities and/or to apply
for this position, please visit our web site and career
portal at www.southernresearch.org. Southern
Research Institute is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity
Employer
MATERIALS SCIENTIST
Bridgestone Americas Center for Research and Technology
(Akron, OH), a subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation,
has two openings for a Materials Scientist;
one for an entry level position and one as a Section
Manager. Qualified candidates are preferred to have a
Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, Physics, Materials Science,
Polymer Science, or a related field. The successful
candidate will apply his/her skills to develop new
materials concepts for future products. Strong academic
training and problem-solving abilities are essential
for these positions. Candidates for the Section
Manager position must also have prior management
experience, preferably in an industrial setting. Solid
verbal/written communication and interpersonal
skills are also needed to effectively interact with other
research groups, departments, and laboratories within
the Corporation. Applicants must be authorized to
work in the United States. Additional information may
be obtained at www.ba-thecenter.com. Interested
candidates should please submit cover letter and resume
to: Human Resources, Bridgestone Americas
Holding, Inc., E-mail resumes to: HRBFIS@bfusa.com;
Fax: 330-379-7290. AA/EOE
GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR SCIENTISTS: Experimental
physical chemist (PhD/MS/BS) with experience
in laser spectroscopy. The optimal higher-level
candidates will have experience in ultrafast, non-linear,
optical spectroscopy. Surface SHG or SFG is a
plus. Higher-level candidates are expected to develop
semi-independent research programs. See detailed
description at http://www.boisetechnology.
org. Send resume/CV and cover letter to HR_BTI@
boisetechnology.org

Chemistry
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is looking for innovative scientists to fill up to 10 new staff scientist positions. These new positions will
support our exciting science program that spans the earth sciences. The positions support the design and development of new space observational techniques
and instruments, including data analysis algorithms, assimilation of data into numerical models, the conduct of basic earth sciences research, and
application of our findings in support of national needs. The selected candidates will be expected to fit within the following broad areas of specialty:
Atmospheric Aerosols
We seek scientists with experience in remote
sensing measurement of clouds and aerosols
from satellites, in monitoring Earth’s radiation
budget, and in using data from lidar systems
and other instruments.
Atmospheric Composition
We seek scientists with expertise in the development
of space instruments that measure atmospheric
composition and chemistry, and in the
development of modeling tools that will support
data analysis from these instruments.
Atmospheric Water Cycle
We seek scientists with expertise in radar and
passive microwave sensing of precipitation, and
in lidar instruments measuring a wide range
of atmospheric constituents from trace gases,
clouds, aerosols, and tropospheric winds.
AT ROCHE, INNOVATION IN EVERYTHING
is our challenge
At Roche Colorado Corporation, our passion is in providing emerging technologies for the
pharmaceutical chemical manufacturing industry in an environment that encourages teamwork,
fosters creativity, and supports employee growth and flexible working conditions. Join our team
in one of the following positions available in Boulder, CO.
Senior Peptide Process Research Chemist – Job #0823
The selected candidate will possess a Ph.D. in Organic or Bio-Organic Chemistry specializing
in peptide synthesis; or equivalent combination of education and experience. Demonstrated
expertise in solid-phase and solution-phase peptide synthesis; a strong background in synthetic
organic chemistry; and the ability to independently plan multi-step synthesis from laboratory
through commercial scale are required.
Senior Manufacturing Chemist – Job #0812
The selected candidate will possess a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry with 10 years experience
specializing in large-scale manufacturing support of APIs. The skills and responsibilities for this
position include: independently plan multi-step synthesis from laboratory to commercial-scale
manufacturing; perform technology transfers; lead new product manufacturing start-up;
coordinate and lead technical aspects of process change-overs; provide validation for existing
and new processes; provide process troubleshooting, optimization, continuous improvement,
and robustness; and strong knowledge and support of quality, environmental, health, and
safety systems. Demonstrated expertise in solid-phase and solution-phase peptide synthesis is
desired, as this position will also support large-scale (up to 100+ kg scale) peptide synthesis.
Both positions require strong written/verbal communications, leadership, and interpersonal skills
with emphasis on documentation accuracy and timeliness. Successful candidates must be able
to furnish proof of authorization to work in the USA. We are committed to providing excellent
compensation, benefits, and career-development opportunities. Please forward your resume with
salary history, indicating Job # of interest, to:
Roche Colorado Corporation
2075 North 55th Street
Boulder, Colorado 80301
Fax: (303) 938-6413
E-mail: Boulder.HR@roche.com
www.rochecolorado.com
Roche Colorado is an equal opportunity,
affirmative action employer.
Carbon Cycle
We seek scientists with expertise in carbon cycle
research with emphasis on remote sensing
and sensor calibration, in the modeling of land
and ocean carbon variability and biogeochemistry,
and in data fusion from multiple satellite
systems.
Climate Modeling and Analysis
We seek a climate radiation modeler with expertise
in modeling the radiative forcing from
carbon dioxide, ozone trace gases, clouds, and
aerosols.
Oceanography
We seek scientists with expertise in sea surface
salinity and temperature, and ocean circulation
modeling and assimilation in support of the
Aquarius mission and in understanding the role
of ocean circulation in climate variability.
Polar Climate Change
We seek scientists with expertise in the analysis
of satellite and aircraft data in data analysis and
modeling ice sheet and sea ice processes under
the effects of climate change.
Terrestrial Water Cycle
We seek scientists with expertise in the measurement
of all components of terrestrial water
storage from space, including snow, surface water,
soil, and ground water.
Weather and Short-Term Climate
We seek modeling and assimilation scientists
to bring satellite data to developments of
the GEOS model used for global weather and
climate prediction and to help prepare assimilation
systems for upcoming missions that
sense the atmosphere, the land surface, and the
ocean.
Detailed job descriptions, information about our earth science program, and application instructions can be found at http://earthsciences.gsfc.nasa.gov.
The people we are seeking will typically have a Ph.D. in the relevant Earth system, or will have equivalent training and professional experience. The
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has, and encourages a diverse workforce.
For further information, please contact Dr. Franco Einaudi at Franco.Einaudi@nasa.gov or (301) 614-5634.
WWW.CENONLINE.ORG 61 APRIL 14, 2008
Career Opportunities in Chemistry
®
Are you a student that:
• Will be graduating with a MS or BS in Chemistry?
• ORGANIC Is looking for CHEMISTRY a great way to springboard OPPORTUNITIES your career in
the field of Chemistry?
• Doesn’t want to get lost in the shuffle in a large company?
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• Wants to work side by side with experienced Chemists?
• Has an interest in state of the art scientific laboratories
and equipment?
If you answered YES to any of these questions then you should
check out Albany Molecular Research (AMRI). We are currently
looking to hire graduating students for many of our Research
Scientist positions.
To learn more about our company and
current job opportunities go to:
amriglobal.com
EVOLVING for your FUTURE
AMRI is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. M/F/D/V
RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING

RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING
POSITIONS OPEN
Girindus ®
Solvay Group
GIRINDUS AMERICA INC.
API SUPPLIER TO THE
PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY MACROMOLECULE
PROCESS DEVELOPMENT CHEMIST – PH.D.
Responsibilities: Solve complex,non-routine chemistry
problems related to the synthesis of oligonucleotides.
Apply knowledge from scientific literature to
improve oligonucleotide syntheses. Write process development
reports and interface with clients. Maintain
and manage complete, accurate records. Participate
in GMP training, and apply GMP concepts as applicable.
Qualifications: Ph.D. in chemistry with 3+ years
experience in synthesis/process development. Experience
in nucleic acid or peptide chemistry preferred.
Very strong written and oral communication skills are
essential. Knowledge of cGMP concepts as applied
to API’s is a plus. Girindus offers competitive salaries
and comprehensive benefits in a stimulating, professional,
growth-oriented environment. All inquires will
be held in strictest confidence. Qualified candidates
may send their resume and salary requirements to:
Human Resources, Girindus America Inc., Cincinnati,
Ohio 45215; Fax: 513-679-3053 Or E-mail to
Kackley@ girindus.com. Girindus offers a highly competitive
Compensation and benefits package. Girindus
is an Equal Opportunity Employer
SCIENCE AND POLICY ANALYST with international
pharmaceutical practice group at Washington, DC
office of major US law firm. Solid science background
(e.g., chemistry, biology) is essential. Involves significant
responsibility for project management, scientific
and regulatory research, analysis and drafting of policy
and technical papers and regulatory filings; close
working relationships in small project-oriented, multidisciplinary
teams of lawyers, policy analysts and
science advisors; extensive contact with clients and
government officials in theUnited States and Europe;
opportunities for domestic and international travel.
Those with undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees
are welcome to apply. Competitive salary. Send
cover letter and resume to dbrjobsdc@dbr.com
COMPUTATIONAL CHEMIST
Primary Job Function:As part of a BlackLight Power,
Inc. subsidiary working on new and challenging innovations
in an entrepreneurial environment, the successful
candidate’s primary focus will be applying
a novel molecular modeling technology to develop
new computational methods to support the development
of our modeling software platform. Key Success
Factors: PhD in physical chemistry or computational
chemistry with demonstrated experience in the development
of computationalmethods for molecular modeling.
Specific knowledge of any of the following areas
is less critical than exceptional intellectual ability and a
demonstrated track record of achievement: Algorithm
development and implementation for structural molecular
modeling, molecular mechanics and molecular
dynamics simulation, molecule design, and/or bioinformatics.
Knowledge of scripting languages is a plus.
Must work effectively both independently and within
a research team; must possess strong problem-solving,
organization, communication (written and verbal)
skills.Millsian, Inc. offers competitive salaries and a
comprehensive benefits package. For more information
regarding Millsian, Inc., please visit our website at
http://www.millsian.com. To apply, please forward
your resume citing Computational Chemist via email,
fax, or mail to Millsian, Inc., Attn: Human Resources,
493 Old Trenton Road, Cranbury, NJ 08512, Fax: 609-
490-1066, hr@millsian.com.
When responding to a position
please mention you saw
the ad in
CHEMICAL &
ENGINEERING NEWS
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
ALBERT-LUDWIGS-
UNIVERSITÄT FREIBURG
The University of Freiburg is accepting applications
for the faculty position of a
Full Professor (W3) for Biofunctional
Macromolecular Chemistry
This chair is established by the German Cluster
of Excellence bioss (Centre for Biological Signalling
Studies; www.bioss.uni-freiburg.de) at the
Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry. We seek
a visionary scientist with strong research credentials
in biofunctional 3-D polymer architectures
including signalling microenvironments
and in interactive macromolecular materials.
Close collaboration with the bioss projects in biology,
medicine, and microsystems engineering
are expected. Experience in teaching polymer
sciences and in acquisition of research grants
are required. It is planned that the candidate
will take over the position of the director of the
Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry (www.
chemie.uni-freiburg.de/makro/) in 2010, taking
an active part in reshaping the profile of macromolecular
chemistry in Freiburg.
The University of Freiburg is an Equal Opportunity
Affirmative Action employer and specifically
encourages applications by qualified women
and disabled persons.
The deadline for receipt of applications is May 25,
2008. Screening procedures begin immediately
and continue until the position is filled. Applications
including necessary supporting documents
should be sent to: Dekan der Fakultät für Chemie,
Pharmazie und Geowissenschaften, Hebelstr.
27, 70104 Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY &
CHEMICAL BIOLOGY
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS
The Mary Fieser Postdoctoral Fellowships Program
seeks to enhance diversity and excellence in the Department
of Chemistry & Chemical Biology (CCB) of
Harvard University by providing postdoctoral fellowship
support to women and groups that are historically
underrepresented in science and to others whose
background, experiences, and research interests will
contribute to academic diversity in CCB. Promising
scholars male and female who have been historically
underrepresented in chemistry (including but not limited
to African American, American Indian, and Hispanic/Latino)
are encouraged to apply. Up to 12 fellowships
may be awarded in 2008. Fellowships will be
for an initial period of one year, with potential for renewal
of up to one year (a two-year maximum level of
support). Stipends will be targeted to the NRSA year
‘0’ amount and will include employee benefits as well
as the opportunity to enroll in an employee health plan.
Applicants are required to have completed all Ph.D. requirements
prior to arrival. All applicants must be eligible
to work in the United States before arrival. Additional
information regarding the application process
and department faculty will be found at www.chem.
harvard.edu. All materials for the second award cycle
are due on July 15, 2008, for award announcement on
August 15, 2008.
CHEMICAL AND BIOMOLECULAR ENGINEER-
ING, YONSEI UNIVERSITY, KOREA, OPEN-RANK
FACULTY POSITION
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
at Yonsei University (http://chemeng.yonsei.
ac.kr) invites applications for tenure-track faculty position
at all ranks with research interests at bio, energy,
materials, and process. Preference will be given to
individuals with non-Korean nationality. Positions are
available for Fall 2008. Salary and rank are commensurate
with experience.To apply, please submit a CV,
three letters of recommendations, and research and
teaching plans to department chair, Prof. Ik-Sung Ahn
via email:iahn@yonsei.ac.kr. In order to ensure full
consideration, applications must be received by April
25th, 2008.
WWW.CENONLINE.ORG 62 APRIL 14, 2008
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
BROWN UNIVERSITY
SENIOR FACULTY OPENING
PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY
The Department of Chemistry at Brown University invites
applications for a senior faculty position in Experimental
Physical Chemistry. The preferred start date
for the position isJuly 01, 2009. The position is available
at either Associate Professor or Full Professor level.
To guarantee full consideration, all application materials
should be received by May 10, 2008. Candidates
must have a Ph.D. in physical chemistry, or in a closely
related field. Applicants should have an outstanding
record of independent research accomplishment, with
concomitant strong evidence of emerging or realized
leadership in their field. All candidates should submit a
complete curriculum vitae, publication list, statement
of research plans, and namesof at least five references
from which letters can be solicited, to the committee
chair Prof. R.M. Stratt, Department of Chemistry,
Brown University, Providence, RI 02912-9108. Women
and candidates who are members of minority groups are
encouraged to apply. BrownUniversity is an Equal Opportunity
Affirmative Action employer.
SYNTHETIC ORGANIC CHEMIST
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
has an opening for a postdoctoral research fellow in
the Department of Experimental Diagnostic Imaging.
Candidate should have Ph.D. in organic chemistry and
specialized in organic synthesis. The fellow will conduct
innovative research in development of organic
bio-molecules, and perform radiosynthesis for positron
emission tomography (PET). Experience in Radiochemistry
is not necessary but will be a plus. Please
send or e-mail a CV and names of 3 referees to: Mian M.
Alauddin, Ph.D., 1515 Holcombe Bl., Box 59, Houston,
TX 77030. Phone: 713-563-4872, E-mail: alauddin@
di.mdacc.tmc.edu. M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is an
equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on
the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation,
age, religion, disability or veteran status, except
where such distinction is required by law. All positions at
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
are security-sensitive and subject to Texas Education
Code 51.215, which authorizes the employer to obtain
criminal history record information. Smoke-free and
drug-free environment.
POSTDOCTORAL POSITION AT DRUG DISCOVERY
CENTER AT EMORY UNIVERSITY
The drug discovery center at Emory University seeks a
postdoctoral fellow or someone with up to three years
of research experience beyond the Ph.D. in synthetic
chemistry or, preferably, medicinal chemistry. Major
responsibilities of the position include design and synthesis
of individual compounds and combinatorial libraries
of biological interest. The successful candidate
is able to interact effectively with other scientists including
synthetic chemists, computational scientists
and biologists in the context of pursuing a wide variety
of cell-based protein target endpoints. To apply for this
position, send your resume, including the names of 2-3
individuals who can supply a recommendation, and a
cover letter to Dr. Aiming Sun at asun2@emory.edu
THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY OF THE UNIVER-
SITY OF LOUISIANA AT LAFAYETTE invites applications
for anontenure track teaching position at the
Instructor level. The successful candidate will teach
general and/or organic chemistry courses and laboratories
and participate in activities of the department,
college and university. A minimum of an M.S. in chemistry
is required. Applications consisting of a vita, transcripts
and three letters of recommendation should be
directed to Dr. R.D. Braun, Head, Dept. of Chemistry,
P.O. Box 44370, Univ. of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette,
LA 70504-4370. To ensure consideration, receipt
of a completed application is required by May 2,
2008. The University is an AA/EO Employer.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
YONSEI UNIVERSITY, KOREA
The Yonsei University invites applications for a tenure-track
professorship inSynthesis, Property Studies
of Chemistry (molecular synthesis, material chemistry,
nano-bio, bioorganic, property study, etc). The
successful candidate will have a Ph.D. in chemistry
or a related field. The application of the position must
proceed with the online registration. To view more
details visit; http://www.yonsei.ac.kr/eng/news/
employment/ and http://chem.yonsei.ac.kr. Closing
date is 25, April 2008.

SITUATIONS WANTED
OTHER
RESEARCH OR LAB TECHNICIAN. Bachelor level – assist,
prepare, organize or guide introductory courses,
particularly organic,physical or bio-chemical-flexible,
relocate: kidantse@meseret.org or fax(phone):1-613-
544 2841
REGISTERED PATENT AGENT, PhD, MBA experienced
in organic, polymer, nanotechnology, biotech chemistry
patent filings. Reasonable rates, 973 650 3724,
daauerbach@msn.com
GERMAN/ENGLISH AND ENGLISH/GERMAN
Translations by German PH.D. chemist – fast, accurate,
affordable – E-mail: germanmk@sbcglobal.net
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INDEX TO ADVERTISERS
IN THIS ISSUE
Almac Sciences IBC
www.almacgroup.com
Beacon Sciences 28
www.beaconsciences.com
Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH 22-23
www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/finechem
Cambridge Major Laboratories, Inc. 42
www.c-mlabs.com
ChemBridge Corporation 17
www.chembridge.com
Chemyx Inc. 41
www.chemyx.com
Dell Inc. OBC
www.dell.com
Evonik Industries AG 7
www.evonik.com
Franklin Institute 29
fi.edu/franklinawards
Harness, Dickey & Pierce, P.L.C. 24
www.hdp.com
Interchem Corporation 41
www.interchem.com
J-KEM Scientific Inc. 31
www.jkem.com
Jost Chemical 24
www.jostchemical.com
KNF Neuberger 20
www.knflab.com
Lonza 2
www.lonza.com/standout
Merck KGaA 4-5
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Norell, Inc. 64
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Organix, Inc. 20
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Quanta BioDesign 28
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SK Life Science Inc. 6
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Spectrum Chemicals & Laboratory Products 19
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TCI America 18
www.tciamerica.com
Teledyne Isco 14
www.iscoin.com
Thermo Fisher Scientific IFC
www.thermofisher.com
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WWW.CENONLINE.ORG 63 APRIL 14, 2008
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Ihave a 36-oz plastic bottle of
Heinz ketchup with a wide cap
that is fl at on top, so the bottle
can be stood on end. (Heinz calls
it their Top-Down bottle.) Inside
this fl ip-open cap is a nozzle
through which one can squeeze
out a stream of ketchup.
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!
The other day, I took the bottle out of the
refrigerator, where it had been standing cap
up, and noticed that it was running low, so
I shook it sharply, cap down, to force the
ketchup into the neck. (Newton’s First Law:
“Ketchup in motion will continue in motion
until stopped by the cap of a bottle.”) I then
opened the fl ip-top, squeezed some out
onto my plate, closed the fl ip-top, and stood
the bottle on the counter “Top-Down,” so
the ketchup would stay in the neck in case I
needed more.
About 10 minutes later when I did need
more, I fl ipped open the cap, and before I
could even squeeze the bottle … whoosh! A
gusher of ketchup erupted from the bottle
as if from a fi reman’s hose and kept on
gushing no matter how I turned it (including,
unfortunately, toward my face). It didn’t
stop until the bottle was empty.
What happened? I’ll let you ponder the
forces acting in this system before I explain
them at the end of this column.
In my former incarnation as a food
writer, I found that few nonscientists
seem to understand GAS PRESSURE
(hint, hint). People know how to cope with
solids and liquids, but not gases, because
aside from putting air in a tire, they have
never had occasion to manipulate them.
For example, most people know that a
pressure cooker cooks foods faster, but
few know the reason: The high water vapor
pressure inside the vessel—about 15 psi
above atmospheric—raises the liquid’s boiling
temperature to about 250 °F. It’s not
the high pressure that cooks the food fast,
as some believe; it’s the high temperature.
In recent years, a method of cooking
at reduced pressure, and hence reduced
temperature, has been showing up in
avant-garde restaurant kitchens. It is called
sous vide, French for “under vacuum.” The
food is placed in a plastic (usually Cryovac)
pouch from which most of the air is
subsequently pumped out and the pouch
submerged for several hours in a fi xedtemperature
circulating water bath that
may be set as low as 125 °F. Prepared in
WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG 64 APRIL 14, 2008
newscripts
SCIENCE FRICTION with BOB WOLKE
this way, foie gras, for example,
retains its exquisitely unctuous
texture, losing only about 5% of
its fat, compared with 30–50%
in conventional cooking.
But of course, no matter how
hard a “vacuum pump” may labor,
it can never achieve a true vacuum.
So if I may be so bold as to
emend the French term, it is not sous vide,
but sous pression réduit. And therein lies the
confusion, because what most people call
a vacuum, we chemists refer to as reduced
pressure. And how can a vacuum contain
gas pressure? Aren’t they opposites?
Food writers have stumbled all over
themselves trying to understand what’s
going on in sous vide cooking. An example
from the Aug. 14, 2005, New York Times:
“The [food] was vacuum-packed with 20 lb
of pressure per square centimeter.” (Aside
from the confounded terminology and
units, I’d hardly call 129 psi a vacuum package.
In fact, I’d expect it to explode.)
And from another Times article, “The
atmospheric pressure created during the
vacuum-packing process also promotes
osmosis among the contents of the bag.”
(Huh?)
Sous vide cooking must be done very
carefully because at reduced temperatures
and oxygen levels, Clostridium botulinum
bacteria can fl ourish, generating their
deadly botulin toxin. For meats and fi sh, the
temperature window falls between about
125 and 145 °F. Above 145 °F, the proteins
begin to denature and toughen, which
defeats the whole purpose of the method’s
gentleness. And below 125 °F, bacterial
growth can be dangerous.
So when preparing your daily foie gras
by the sous vide method, please make sure
that the temperature of your water bath is
accurately controlled.
HEATHER MULL
About my KETCHUP ERUPTION: As
the bottle stood on the counter “Top-
Down,” the air in the space above the
ketchup began to warm, building up pressure.
When I opened the cap, the ketchup
was propelled out by that pressure, which
kept the “ammunition” in fi ring position in
the neck of the bottle until it had all been
expelled and the pressure had been relieved.
Boy, was my face red!
Bob Wolke can be reached at
sciencefriction.wolke@gmail.com.

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