Global Top 50
Quote of the Week
"A prepared mind is the most important safety attitude that you can have."
ROBERT M. WAYMOUTH, CHEMISTRY PROFESSOR, STANFORD UNIVERSITY – p. 29
August 3, 2009
In This Issue:
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Highlights
Cover Story
Global Top 50
BASF and Dow Chemical maintain top spots, but fertilizer makers and Middle Eastern firms move up in ranking during a tough year. (pp. 11-15)
Government & Policy
Synthetic Biology (Member Content)
Rapidly emerging field opens many opportunities but also poses difficult challenges. (pp. 23-25)
Science & Technology
Learning From UCLA
Details of the experiment that led to a researcher' death prompt evaluations of academic safety practices. (pp. 29-34)
Table of Contents
News Of The Week
U.S. Wins Gold In Chemistry Olympiad p. 6
Taiwan is big winner; U.S. has best showing since 2002.
Agilent To Acquire Varian For $1.5 Billion p. 7
Deal brings Agilent a line of atomic and molecular spectroscopy instruments, and bolsters its push into the bioanalytical instrumentation market.
Sabotage At Energy Department Facility p. 7
Former employee destroys 4,000 protein crystals under study at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
Unleashing The Energy Future p. 8
National Research Council calls for rapid technological deployment.
Second-Quarter Results p. 8
Dow Chemical and BASF earnings reflect bad, but improving, economy.
Bony Variations p. 9
Cell type affects characteristics of engineered bone.
Final Slate For ACS Fall Ballot p. 9
Candidates for president-elect, director-at-large, and District I and V directors.
Cation Courier p. 10
The last family of ligand-gated ion channels reveals its form.
Reaching For The Sun p. 10
Chemists convene in Germany to stake out the challenges for solar energy research.
Business
Precursor Powerhouse pp. 18-19 (Member Content)
Air liquide finds success in a specialized electronic materials niche.
JSR Bets On Old Business pp. 20-21 (Member Content)
Diversified advanced materials firm renews commitment to synthetic rubber.
Business Concentrates pp. 16-17 (Member Content)
- Sanofi-Aventis Nabs Deals
- Sanofi-Aventis and Merck reached an agreement under which Merck will sell its 50% interest in the companies' current animal health joint venture, Merial, to Sanofi-Aventis...
- SEC Sues For Insider Trading Of Nova Stock
- The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission has filed a suit against Khaled Mohammed Sharif Al Sayed Al Hashemi for unlawful insider trading of Nova Chemicals shares...
- DSM Selling Energy, Fertilizer Assets
- DSM is divesting its energy and urea licensing businesses as part of its effort to focus on life and material sciences...
- Bayer Advances Printable Polycarbonate
- Using laser engraving with polycarbonate inks, Bayer MaterialScience and its partner, the Federal German Printing Office, have developed color photo identification cards and passports made of polycarbonate film...
- Arkema Adds More Facilities In China
- Arkema's subsidiary Coatex will spend $21 million to build new acrylic polymer production facilities in Changshu, China...
- Pfizer Creates More Chinese Partnerships
- Pfizer is solidifying its commitment to enhancing biotech collaboration in China...
- China's Yingli Slates Solar Silicon Plants
- China's Yingli Green Energy Holding signed an agreement with Hainan Provincial Development Holding to form a joint venture...
- La Seda Shutting Down Plastics Output
- Spanish polyethylene terephthalate maker La Seda de Barcelona plans to cut about 300 jobs and capacity for 500,000 metric tons per year of both polyethylene terephthalate resin and purified terephthalic acid...
- Brondeau Leaving Dow Chemical
- Pierre R. Brondeau, 51, is retiring from Dow Chemical. Brondeau had been the president and chief operating officer of Rohm and Haas until Dow's purchase of that firm in April...
- Malaria Vaccine R&D Gets Funding
- Dutch biopharmaceutical firm Crucell will collaborate with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)...
- Amgen And GSK Form Drug Partnership
- Amgen has partnered with GlaxoSmithKline to sell denosumab, a monoclonal antibody in development to treat osteoporosis, in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico...
- Lilly Moves ImClone R&D To NYC Park
- Eli Lilly & Co. has signed on as the first tenant of the Alexandria Center for Science & Technology at East River Science Park, in New York City...
- Business Roundup
- Air Liquide, Sasol, LyondellBasell Industries, LG Chem, Afton Chemical, DuPont Teijin Films, Georgia Gulf, Raptor Pharmaceuticals and TorreyPines Therapeutics...
ACS Comment
S3G: Enlisting Chemistry For A Sustainable World p. 40 (Member Content)
Government & Policy
Synthetic Biology pp. 23-25 (Member Content)
Rapidly emerging field opens many opportunities but also poses difficult challenges.
Government & Policy Concentrates p. 22 (Member Content)
- Styrene Industry Sues To Stop Prop 65 Listing
- The chemical industry has filed a lawsuit that asks the Superior Court of California, in Sacramento, to stop state environmental officials from listing styrene monomer as a "chemical known to cause cancer"...
- Enrichment Loan Guarantee Denied
- The Department of Energy last week denied $2 billion in loan guarantees sought by the global energy company USEC...
- Dead Zone Smaller, But More Severe
- The Gulf of Mexico's "dead zone," an area where oxygen levels are too low to support most forms of life, is smaller than expected but more severe this year...
- Video Analyzes Dust Explosions
- A half-hour video prepared by the Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) uses computer animations of real accidents to explain the cause and prevention of industrial plant accidents...
- Heart Ills Linked To Agent Orange
- The Institute of Medicine reports "suggestive but limited evidence" that exposure to the herbicide agent orange during the Vietnam War is associated with an increased chance of ischemic heart disease...
» more government & policy news...
ACS News
Council Preview pp. 41-44 (Member Content)
Adoption of one petition to amend election rules may prevent council's consideration of another.
Committee Reports Web Exclusive
Official reports from the June ACS Board meeting.
Science & Technology
Learning From UCLA pp. 29-34
Details of the experiment that led to a researcher's death prompt evaluations of academic safety practices.
The Curious Case Of Caloric Restriction pp. 36-40
Reversing aging was once only fiction, but a special diet might add years to the human life span.
Science & Technology Concentrates pp. 27-28 (Member Content)
- Patience, My Dear Polymerase
- How a transcribing polymerase gets past the protein spools that stand in its way.
- Aptamer-Studded Nanopore Detects Ricin
- RNA lends sensitivity and specificity to sensor for potent bioterrorism agent.
- Nanoparticles Induce Polymer Patterns
- Wave-like oscillations may serve as thin-film stress gauge.
- Gold-Coated Quantum Dots
- Glittering nanoparticles promise both fluorescence and plasmonic imaging with a single tag.
- Safer, More Versatile Acetaminophen
- Synthesis of more soluble and less toxic version of a common painkiller scales up.
- Collagen Nests For Cancer Cell Tests
- Cells cultured on microfibrous collagen membranes mimic cancerous tissue better than those grown in a dish.
- Mimicking Phosphorylation
- Chemical reaction sequence makes phosphoproteins sans enzymes.
- Answers To Mantle Oxidation Mystery
- Spectroscopic study may solve a long-standing debate over what controls the oxidation states of Earth's mantle.
» more science & technology news...
Editor's Page
Safety In Academic Labs p. 3
The Departments
Letters pp. 4-5 (Member Content)
Newscripts p. 48
Fish Oil For Chickens, Biomedical Use For Digital Waste
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