Fire Retardants
Quote of the Week
"A lot of people from scientific backgrounds hesitate to take risks."
SHRI THANEDAR, CEO, AVOMEEN ANALYTICAL SERVICES – p. 22
August 29, 2011
In This Issue:
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Highlights
Cover Story
Retardant Debate
Sparks fly over the environmental effects of fire retardants used by the U.S. Forest Service.. (pp. 11-15)
Government & Policy
Gender Gap Holds Constant(Member Content)
For women in science and technology, salaries, number of degrees remain lower than for men. (pp. 28-30)
Science & Technology
Using Bacteria To Clean Water(Member Content)
Utilities are starting to take advantage of naturally occurring microbes to rid drinking water of nitrate, perchlorate. (pp. 34-35)
Table of Contents
Cover Story
Seeing Red pp. 11-15
Controversy smolders over federal use of aerially applied fire retardants.
How They Work: Retardants Drive Wood Decomposition To Dehydration, Hinder Ignition p. 14
Trees and brush don't just ignite from a stray spark. Wood itself, composed of cellulose, a natural polymer, doesn't burn.
News Of The Week
Prefab Synthesis Moves Ahead p. 5
Organic Chemistry: First stable α-boryl aldehydes ease preparation of complex small molecules.
A Clash Of Interests p. 6
Ethics: Health department's new conflict-of-interest policies raise concerns.
BASF To Invest Big In Brazil p. 6
Petrochemicals: Planned facility includes South America's first acrylic acid, superabsorbent polymers plants.
Asteroid Yields Its Secrets p. 7
Space Science: Rock particles show link with meteorites, solve weathering mysteries.
Contract Research p. 7
Aptuit will sell clinical-trial supply unit to Catalent
Fixing Regulations p. 8
Government: Moves will save $10 billion in five years, Obama Administration says.
Genomatica To Go Public p. 8
Biobased Chemicals: Initial public offering plan follows partnership and new product announcements.
New Method Is Spot On p. 9
Microfluidics: Droplet-based method could help automate dried blood spot analysis.
Climate Researcher Exonerated p. 9
Investigation: NSF probe clears researcher Michael Mann of misconduct allegations.
Business
Homegrown R&D Flowers In China pp. 18-21 (Member Content)
Seasoned executives foresee big opportunities for innovative drugs for the Chinese market.
A Fall And Rise pp. 22-24 (Member Content)
Entrepreneurial chemist looks back on companies he built and then lost.
Business Concentrates pp. 16-17 (Member Content)
- Loan Guarantees Advance Biofuels Projects
- After years-long delays in facilities construction because of technology challenges and lack of financing, some biofuels companies are getting a helping hand from the U.S. government...
- Air Products Slates Waste-To-Energy Unit
- Air Products & Chemicals has received permission from U.K. government authorities to build a waste-to-energy facility in Billingham, England...
- Cabot Will Sell Tantalum Business
- Cabot has reached an agreement to sell its Supermetals business for $400 million to Global Advanced Metals...
- Momentive To Boost Silanes Facilities
- Momentive Performance Materials will expand capacity for silanes at its plants in Sistersville, W.Va., and Termoli, Italy...
- LG Plans Ethylene In Kazakhstan
- LG Chem plans to construct a petrochemical complex in western Kazakhstan by 2016 in a joint venture with state-owned Kazakhstan Petrochemical Industries...
- Dow Seeks Approval For New Soybeans
- Dow Chemical and the gene trait provider M.S. Technologies have made a joint submission to USDA for the first-ever soybean that tolerates three herbicides...
- Amyris Joins With Nikko And Albemarle
- The biobased chemicals company Amyris has signed an agreement to sell several hundred tons of its renewable squalane to Nikko Chemicals...
- Dow And Lehigh Link For Rubber Reuse
- Dow Chemical and Lehigh Technologies are joining to develop materials that make tires more sustainable...
- Henkel Builds Plant For China Adhesives
- Henkel has started construction at Shanghai Chemical Industry Park on what it says will be the world’s largest adhesives plant...
- Takeda Bags Big Vaccine Subsidy
- The Japanese government has awarded Takeda Pharmaceutical $312 million to help it invest in pandemic H5N1 flu vaccine development and manufacturing...
- Asahi Gets Judgment In Actelion Lawsuit
- A superior court in California has entered a judgment requiring Switzerland’s Actelion to pay $517 million to Asahi Kasei for breaching a licensing agreement...
- Albany Molecular Lands NIH Contract
- Albany Molecular Research Inc. has won a five-year contract from NIH and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke...
- GSK Spins Off A Hearing-Drug Firm
- GlaxoSmithKline has taken a minority stake in Autifony Therapeutics, a spin-off of GSK’s early-stage hearing disorder asset...
- Business Roundup
- Ashland, Air Products & Chemicals, Lubrizol,Lonza, JFC Technologies, Novoset, Agilent Technologies, Chungnam National University, FMC, Chr. Hansen, KalVista, Par Pharmaceutical, Anchen Pharmaceuticals...
ACS News
IYC 2011: Vietnam p. 42
Natural products chemist Ngo Le-Van returned home to fulfill his chemical dream.
This Week Online
ACS National Meeting News
C&EN reporters have converged on Denver for the national meeting. Follow up-to-the-minute news coverage of the meeting, along with "C&EN Picks" videos that spotlight noteworthy sessions.
Corralling Llama Antibodies For Small Molecules
Antibody Production: New technique isolates unusually stable antibodies against a potential endocrine disrupter.
Fishing Out Dilute Disease Biomarkers
Medical Diagnostics: Gel microparticles detect sub-femtomolar concentrations of microRNAs.
Government & Policy
Gender Gap Holds Constant pp. 28-30 (Member Content)
For women in science and technology, salaries, number of degrees remain lower than for men.
Government & Policy Concentrates p. 26 (Member Content)
- EPA Takes Aim At Fracking Emissions
- EPA is proposing new regulations aimed at limiting air pollution from oil and natural gas drilling operations...
- Interior To Hold Oil, Gas Lease Sale
- The Interior Department says it will resume selling leases for offshore oil and natural gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico for the first time since last year’s BP rig explosion...
- Craft To Target Moon’s Gravity
- A pair of spacecraft, set for launch aboard the same rocket on Sept. 8, will head for the moon to study its gravity...
- Labs At EPA Need Better Management
- The activities at EPA’s 37 laboratories are fragmented and largely uncoordinated, according to an analysis by the Government Accountability Offic....
- Nitrogen Pollution Curbs Urged
- EPA should work with other federal agencies to manage nitrogen pollution from agriculture and fossil-fuel burning in a more comprehensive way...
» more government & policy news...
ACS Comments
Chemists Care About Jobs p. 41
Editor's Page
Travels With Beaker p. 3
Meetings
2011 C&EN Calendar Web Exclusive
C&EN's latest list of meetings and events of interest to those in the chemical community.
Social Networking And C&EN
You can now follow C&EN on Facebook. Become a fan and track the latest news and discussions at facebook.com/CENews.
Science & Technology
Using Bacteria To Clean Water pp. 34-35 (Member Content)
Utilities are starting to take advantage of naturally occurring microbes to rid drinking water of nitrate, perchlorate.
A Most Important Meeting pp. 36-37
Biochemistry: A sugar that coats the human ovum and is recognized by sperm may help explain the first steps of fertilization.
Diagnostic Device Heads To Field p. 39 (Member Content)
Microfluidics-based test for HIV and syphilis rivals lab-based tests.
C&EN Talks With Lawrence Principe p. 40
Chemist and historian studies alchemy to fully understand modern chemistry's evolution. With Video
Science & Technology Concentrates pp. 32-33
- Folds Direct Protein Disposal
- A protein’s fate in the cell’s garbage disposal system rests in part on the stability of the protein’s folded regions
- Phosphoserine On Demand
- Adjusting protein translation allows insertion of the unnatural amino acid anywhere in a protein
- Catalyst Atoms Pinpointed For Real
- Chemist characterize the active edges of an industrial MoS2 desulfurization catalyst
- Multiple Bradykinin States Revealed
- The peptide adopts at least 10 conformers in solution, explaining why its structure had only been partially characterized
- Scaling Up The Axinellamines
- A quicker, more efficient, and stereocontrolled route to a key intermediate streamlines natural product syntheses
- Cosmic Rays Promote Aerosol Formation
- Cosmic rays can incite up to a 10-fold increase in the nucleation rate of sulfuric-acid-based atmospheric aerosol particles
- More Hits Tallied For Cardiac Amyloidosis
- High-throughput screen finds new drug candidates for this heart disease that’s caused by protein aggregation
- Two Zeolite Structures Solved
- Two research groups use novel experimental and data analysis methods to reveal the structures of two distinctive zeolites
» more science & technology news...
The Departments
Letters p. 2
Newscripts p. 48
Chemistry Goes Gaga, Campus Hosts Gotham
C&EN Archives
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Environmental SCENE News
Fertilizer May Help Bacteria Slip Into Groundwater
Water Safety: High phosphate levels allow deadly microbes to pass through soil.
Bisphenol A Is Ubiquitous In Receipts
Endocrine Disrupters: Researchers detect BPA in every receipt that they collected from seven U.S. cities.
Sunlight Is An Effective Disinfectant
Public Health: Field work shows that a cheap water treatment method improves children's health.
House Takes Aim At Clean Air Act
Pollution: Industry backs cost-benefit analyses of EPA rules, but critics fear assault on public health.
Analytical SCENE News
New Method Isolates Membrane Proteins
Protein Purification: Technique separates proteins on a lipid bilayer.
Bisphenol A Is Ubiquitous In Receipts
Endocrine Disrupters: Researchers detect BPA in every receipt that they collected from seven U.S. cities.
Mapping Drugs In Human Tissue
Clinical Chemistry: Mass spectrometry imaging provides view of an inhaled drug in human lung tissue.
Skeletons Come To Light
Fluorescence Imaging: Monitoring cells as they dissolve bone may lead to disease treatments.
Analyzing Nuclear Processes
ACS Meeting News: Analytical chemists devise ways to watch radioactive streams.
JACS Research In C&EN
Indole Changeup Yields Elusive Alkaloid
ACS Meeting News: Cyclization and nitrene insertion star in synthesis.
Prefab Synthesis Moves Ahead
Organic Chemistry: First stable alpha-boryl aldehydes ease preparation of complex small molecules.
Multiple Bradykinin States Revealed
The peptide adopts at least 10 conformers in solution, explaining why its structure had only been partially characterized.
Scaling Up The Axinellamines
A quicker, more efficient, and stereocontrolled route to a key intermediate streamlines natural product syntheses.
A Revamped Vancomycin
Medicinal Chemistry: Modified compound shows promise against hard-to-treat bacteria.
CENtral Science
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