THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEEK

Chatting between sessions at the CIC conference were: (left to r ight) : T. L. Davies , Polymer Corp.; S- M. Cadwell, U . S. Rubber; and R. A. Kundinger, Dominion Rubber

C&EN REPORTS: Chemica l Inst i tute o f Canada

Canadians Must Expand Chemical Knowledge to Develop Resources

Canada can profit by U. ί expanding its chemical industry

experience in

WINDSOR, O N T . - U n l e s s Canadians con­tinue to maintain and expand their funda­mental chemical knowledge they will lose out in the development of the vast natural resources of their country. This was the warning given to the 36th annual confer­ence of the Chemical Institute of Canada, held here June 4 to 6, by R. S. Jane, Shawinigan Chemicals, retiring president of the institute.

The meetirg drew chemists and chem­ical engineers from all parts of Canada, and its location in the border city of Windsor attracted many visitors from the United States as well. Over 100 technical papers covered almost every branch of chemis­try. All signs indicated that the Canadian chemical industry is on the threshold of a period of tremendous expansion.

As J. W. T. Spinks, University of Sas­katchewan and newly elected president of the CIC put it, "We have not even reached the end of the beginning." H e told members of the institute that in order to have a first-rate chemical industry they must have first-rate chemists and chemical engineers. To obtain these, they must have a first-rate chemical institute. T h e

CIC now has over 4000 members and is the largest scientific society in Canada.

In many respects, the Canadian chemi­cal industry is likely to parallel the devel­opment of that of the United States, but in others, Canada may be expected to leap­frog some of the difficulties encountered by the U. S. W. T. Nichols, Monsanto, president of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, warned the Canadi­ans that the huge size of the chemical in­dustry in the United States is not a re­sult of population growth, but of an en-

The Week's Events Spinks and S+eacie Honored by

Chemical Institute of Canada 2486 Production Capacity tor Acryloni-

trile W i l l Reach 190 Million Pounds in Two Years 2490

Solvay Wi l l Build Methyl Chloride Plant at Moundsvïlle, W . Va. . 2495

Good Possibilities of Commercial Production of Atomic Energy Seen by Gordon Dean . . . . 2498

General Activities Building Dedi­cated a t Institute of Paper Chemistry 2502

vironment of free and untrammeled com­petition. He said that many problems lie ahead for the Canadians and that they should profit by the experience of their neighbors south of the border.

In regard to the rapidly expanding plastics industry in Canada, Mr. Nichols stated that there is unmistakable evidence of big things to come. When the predicted big chemical operations get under way one thing will lead to another and a whole chain of events will start. It will b e all one can do to hang on.

Once a plant site is opened u p , integrar tion begins. One product leads to another, raw material problems give rise to new operations, and research starts to throw pebbles into the technological mill pond. Well-conceived and well-administered re­search will b e needed to induce and main­tain a steep growth curve.

Engineering Education. Engineering, according to dictionary definition, is the art and science b y which the properties of matter and the sources of power in na­ture are made useful to man in structures, machines, and manufactured products. H o w should an engineer be educated? This was the question considered b y George G. Brown, University of Michigan dean of engineering, in his Westman Memorial Lecture. Part of an engineer's training must b e art and part science. Today the tendency is toward more science and away from the art, said Dr . Brown.

Educators are carefully scrutinizing the requirements for undergraduate engineer­ing curricula. Every day more and more is added to the body of scientific knowl­edge. If w e continue to try to give the student all of the- science which is added, the curriculum will have to be lengthened, possibly up to seven years. With the d e ­mand for technically trained men being what it is, Dr. Brown thinks that this is both impractical and unnecessary. What should be done is to give the students a good grounding in fundamental science. With such a background, the engineer will be able to overcome the obstacles he meets by thinking out the basic principle involved in each case.

Language is becoming increasingly im­portant to the engineer. Dr. Brown tells his engineering students that they must know three languages. First they must know English, their native tongue. Then they must know mathematics. Most gen­eral laws are expressed in mathematics, and a knowledge of the science i s essen­tial if the engineer is to follow the ad­vances made in his field. T h e third lan­guage needed b y the engineer is that of graphical presentation, or drawing. I t is by this means that a great many engineer­ing ideas are described.

Engineering teachers must give their students a background of science that will

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enable them to meet the problems they have to face 2 0 years or so after they graduate. To accomplish this end, the undergraduate should be given an insigbt into the directions along which scientists are thinking and working.

There is one important educational con­cept which must b e reversed for engineer­ing students. Heretofore, the emphasis of all scholarship has been on individual achievement. However, after graduation the student runs immediately into coopera­tive projects in which teamwork is of the greatest importance. Therefore, team­work must be encouraged in college. Mo one who receives a degree from a recog­nized engineering college ever fails b e ­cause of a lack of technical ability. There is always some reason involving the abil­ity to get along with people.

At the chemical engineering department of the University of Michigan, Dr. Brown now assigns his seniors to group projects. He told of cases where the groups had solved problems which had stumped a long series of individual workers. The value of a group is especially demon­strated when there is no "expert" avail­able to tell the students that certain things are impossible.

One thing Dr. Brown emphasized par­ticularly was the fact that an under­graduate engineering curriculum should not be designed as the first four years of graduate work. This tendency is becom­ing pronounced in the large universities. The aim of the engineering curriculum should be to turn out practicing engineers. Instead of deciding how much t ime is needed to cover a certain course. It should be determined just how much time can b e allotted to the course. Then everything should be put into the course which i s absolutely necessary for the graduate engineer to know.

The stimulating system of discussion i n small groups followed in English universi­ties has much in its favor. The close con­tact between student and teacher -which develops from some of these apparently leisurely meetings is o f immense value a s a means of imparting knowledge. U. S . and Canadian institutions would do wel l to follow the example of their English cousins.

Freed Radicals. T h e major problem o f chemical kinetics today is the empirical building up of t h e organic chemistry o f short lived substances. E. W . R. Steacie, president of the National Research Coun­cil of Canada, in his CIC medalist ad­dress, said that t h e transitory existence o f free radicals has long been established i n spectroscopy. There is no question that the lack of existence of free radicals under ordinary circumstances is not due t o any intrinsic lack of stability, but rather t o their high reactivity which results in their rapid disappearance by reaction with themselves or with other substances which may be present.

Rubber Chsmisf ry. The problem of the rubber chemists 4 0 years ago was one o f recognition; his problem of the future i s to understand the complex chemistry o f rubber and other polymers. S. M. Cad-

V O L U M E 3 1 , N O . 2 4 » » »

well, U . S. Rubber Co., said that 3 0 or 40 years ago the chemists were not very welcome in rubber manufacturing plants. The foremen carried their formulas in little black books hidden away in their back pockets. The first chemists in—the industry had to spend a long time over­coming the suspicion of the factory men.

Now this is all changed. Dr. Cadwell stated that today the chemical industry has to a large extent become a rubber, or rather polymer, industry. In the United States, about 3 0 % of chemical business last year was in this field. The Polymer Corp. installation at Sarnia, Ont., is the largest chemical plant in Canada.

The rubber industry owes a great deal to other branches of the chemical indus­try. If the petroleum chemists had not developed economical methods of produc­ing such raw materials as butadiene, our synthetic rubber industry would be non­existent. On the other hand, the rubber industry has made contributions to other fields. For example, the antioxidants used in so many applications today were first developed by the rubber industry.

The picture Dr. Cadwell sees is that in the future the opportunity for service presented to the rubber chemist will be second to none. The scope of rubber chemistry encompasses colloid, organic, high polymer, and many other branches of chemistry. It is concerned with every­thing from natural latex to the develop­ment of new synthetic polymers.

George G. Brown, dean of the college of engineering at the University of Michigan, delivered the Westman Memorial Lecture

The use of cotton in tire casings has al­most completely been superseded by the employment of man-made fibers. At pres­ent the most important fiber is high-tenacity viscose rayon, said J. W. Illing-worth, Dunlop Tire and Rubber, Birming­ham, England. Nylon is finding some ap­plication in tire casings, especially in air-

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J U N E 1 5 , 1 9 5 3 2485 »

THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEEK

plane tires. Increasing American and European production capacity will prob­ably bring about more extensive use of the material. Terylene, or as it is known in the U. S., Dacron, ha s properties that make its adoption for tire cord an interest­ing probability.

There are a number of difficulties to be overcome before nylon and Terylene can corne into general use for tire cords. Both exhibit a tendency to shrink on heating. Also both, and especially Terylene, adhere poorly to rubber.

There is also a great effort being ex­pended on improving the qualities of rayon. In Europe the Lilienfeldt process is in t h e pilot plant stage and is said to produce a rayon t i re yarn having. tensile strength 100% greater than standard. It is possible that this material will be pro­duced on a full scale within 12 months.

Protect ive Coat ings . As the formula­tion of paints becomes more of a science and less of an art, the need for chemists in the protective coatings industry be­comes greater. I n Canada, as in the United States, the entrance of well-quali­fied chemists and chemical engineers into this field has been somewhat less than might be desired. In order to point out the opportunities in t h e paint and allied industries, t h e protective coatings section of the CIC plans to distribute literature to science students. I t is hoped that this will attract a greater number of technically trained men to t he industry.

Uranium Ores . It may b e possible to concentrate low-grade Saskatchewan uranium ores by flotation methods. De­scribing work being carried on at the Uni­versity of Saskatchewan, A. B. Van Cleave stated that t he Saskatchewan ores contain less than 0.1 % U309 disseminated as small crystals of uranite in a coarse granite peg­matite. So far, the ores have not re­sponded well to flotation treatment, but it is thought that results are encouraging enough to promise an eventual economical process, perhaps through t h e addition of a leaching step.

Blood Preserva t ion . The problem of blood preservation is becoming increas­ingly important. In preserving whole blood, the ordinary method of storing in citrate and glucose allows t he red cells lo die at the ra te of 1% each day. In order to store sufficient blood to cope with any large scale emergency, preservation meth­ods will have to b e made more efficient.

When t he metabolism of the red blood cell is better known, i t may be possible to determine 'which enzyme systems break down and cause the death of t he cells, said O. F . Denstedt, McGill University. Prof. Denstedt described t he several direc­tions in which he and his students are seeking the answer t o the problem. Once it is known which enzyme systems tend to break down easily, i t may be possible to supply nutrient materials in the preserv­ing medium to keep the cells alive longer.

In studying t h e tricarboxylic acid cycle ( Continued on page 2490 )

The Cover.

Spinks Elected CIC President; Steacie Receives CIC Medal J. W. T. Spinks Π Π Η Ε ELECTION of John W . T. Spinks

to the presidency of the Chemical In­stitute of Canada brings to the head of Canada's largest scientific society not only an outstanding teacher and re­search worker, but also a man with a broad interest in t h e humanities. Dr. Spinks is head of t h e department of chemistry and dean of t h e college of graduate studies at the University of Saskatchewan at Saskatoon. A physical chemist, Dr . Spinks has done his best known work in recent years in the realm of radioactive tracer chemistry.

Dr. Spinks does not believe that a young person should make elaborate plans for his future. He attributes the particular turn his o w n career has taken largely t o chance. He was horn in Methwold, England, in 1908 and re­ceived the bachelor's degree from Kings College, University of London, in 1928. The doctorate was granted by the same institution in 1930 for work done under A. J. Allmand.

While Spinks was still a graduate student it happened that an old school­mate of Prof. Allmand, Thorbergur Thorvaldson, paid h im a visit. At that time Dr. Thorvaldson was head of the depar tment of chemistry at Saskatche­wan and he was looking for a young man for his staff. Spinks was recom­mended. Faraway Saskatchewan ap­pealed to the adventurous nature of the young Englishman and he readily ac­cepted t h e appointment.

Dr . Spinks found t h e atmosphere at the university stimulating and still finds it so . H e says that h e immediately found a lot of work to do and he has kept busy ever since. His first research the re was in photochemistry. With the exception of a year spent at Darmstadt, Germany, in 1933 and 1934 and his wart ime work, Dr. Spinks has remained at the University of Saskatchewan. He succeeded Prof. Thorvaldson as head of the depar tment of chemistry when the lat ter retired in 1948. The following year Dr . Spinks w a s made dean of the college of graduate studies.

F rom March 1943 until September 1944, D r . Spinks was attached to the Royal Canadian Air Force as an opera­tions research officer. Dur ing this t ime, he developed a scientific procedure for locating planes lost at sea. T h e method consisted of setting up probability areas a n d then carrying on a systematic search in these areas. Many flyers owe their

lives to this accomplishment oi Dr. Spinks. He was awarded t h e Medal of the British E m p i r e for this work,

F rom September 1944 until August 1945, Dr. Spinks was assigned by the National Research Council of Canada to the Atomic Research Project in Montreal. O n returning t o Saskatche­wan after t he World War I I , he at once set about applying his knowledge of radioactive elements to a number of tracer experiments. Many of these in­vestigations have been cooperative en­deavors combining the efforts of his own and other departments . Included were studies on poultry metabolism, vitamin Κ and dicumarol, chromosome break­age, movement of soil inhabiting and flying insects, development of a soil moisture meter , and diffusion studies, in cement.

One application of radioactive tracer techniques which fits in very well with an old hobby of Dr. Spinks's is the em­ployment of the carbon-14 dat ing method to determine the age of arche-ological remains. His interest in archeology goes back to his 15th year. The Indian remains in Saskatchewan · offer a fruitful source of material.

E. W. R. Steacie "P VV. R. STEACIE is not a newcomer *~*m to our cover, having appeared twice before, on June 20, 1949, and July 23 , 1951. He is president of the National Research Council of Canada and has re­ceived the Cronstedt Medal, highest award of the CIC, for his prominent contributions to chemistry in Canada.

Before joining the National Research Council in 1939, Dr. Steacie taught for 13 years at McGill University in •Mon­treal. Chemical kinetics, gas phase re­actions, and photochemistry are the special fields in which Dr. Steacie's work is bes t known.

The N R C is engaged in a vast num­ber of projects in applied science, but Dr. Steacie's strong interest in funda­mental research is largely responsible for the academic air which prevails in the NRC laboratories. Half of the staff positions a re filled by means of post­doctoral fellowships which do not last more than two years. This constant in­flux of fresh ideas, coupled with the continuity provided by the permanent staff, has resulted in an organization which is indeed a credit to Canada.

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THE CHEJVIICAA WORLD THIS WEEK

in the red cells of chickens, it was found that l>oth the in tac t cells and those that had been hemolyzed were able to syn­thesize titrate, provided succinate and pyruvate «re available. Metaholism of citrate in the hemolyzed cells were in­creased when adenosine tr iphosphate, cysteine, a n d coenzyme A were added. A similar utilization of citrate was noted by t h e hemolysate from red blood cells of rabbits. However, in this case an in­creased metabolic rate resulted only when diphosplioj>yridine nucleotide and triphos-phopyridine nucleotide were added . Iso-citric dehydrogenase occurs in both avian and rabbit cells.

Dr. Deiistedt said he had been able to demonstrate the presence of a DPN-ase on the outer surface of human red blood cells. This was the first time that the enzyme had been shown to exist in h u m a n cells, although i t had been known to occur in rabbits. T b e DPN-ase is a powerful en­zyme whicb is able to split off the nicotina­mide from the coenzyme, DPN.

Working with red blood cells from rab­bits a n d humans, Dr . Denstedt found tha t ribose-5-phosphate is oxidized anaerobi-cally by ferricyanide o r aerobically by ethylene b lue in the presence of hemoly-sates of rabbit o r human cells. The intact cells will n o t promote this reaction since cell membrane does not permit t h e pas­sage o f either rib>ose-5-phosphate or ferricy­anide. Oxidation of the ribose ester with ferricyanide is independent of pyridine nucleotides. In t h e case of methylene blue, however, either DPN or TPN is definitely required. -Cyanide inhibits t h e reaction, but azide Has n o effect.

D-Ribose, υ-arabinose, glucose, and fruc­tose were found to be slowly oxidized by ferricyanide in t h e presence of hemolyzed red cells. No pyridine nucleotides were necessary for this reaction. Although glyoxa.1 a n d inethylglyoxal are rapidly oxidized b y ferricyanide wi thout a catalyst, the ra te is greatly speeded up when hemo­lyzed red cells are present. The reac­tion will n o t take place aerobically with methylene blue and it is not affected by DPN o r TPN. Glycolaldehyde is only slowly oxidized by ferricyanide using the hemolyzed cells as a catalytic agent, while glycolic acid and oxalic acid were not at all afFectecL

Physical Chemistry. The first products formed in experiments o n the thermal de ­composition of methyl disulfide were methyl mercaptan and a' nonvolatile sub­stance thought to be a thioformaldehyde polymer, according to W . A. Bryce, Uni­versity of British Columbia. Hydrogen sulfide, carbon disulfide, ethylene, free sul­fur, a n d polysulfides are formed in subse­quent reactions. These latter reactions continue long after the disulfide has disap­peared . It is believed that they result from the degradation of the postulated thio­formaldehyde polymer. The decomposi­tion reactions were carried out in all-glass apparatus and t h e course of the reaction was followed by measuring pressure

changes and analyzing the reaction mix-Lure at intervals during the process.

Growth of crystals of ethylenediamine tartrate is slowed down considerably by the addition of boric acid. T h e additive also changes the habit of the crystals, ac­cording to A. H. Booth, Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd. These crystals are used as a substitute for quartz in certain elec­tronic equipment. I t is thought possible that by slowing down crystal growth this way, flawed crystals may be prevented from forming in production operations.

Analyt ical Chemistry. A l u m i n u m con­centrat ions of less than 1.0<7r can be de­

termined with an accuracy of approxi­mately 1 5 % by a new method developed by J. B. Zimmerman, Depar tment of Mines and Technical Surveys, Ottawa. The sample is dissolved and the impurities are precipitated with sodium hydroxide. The pi I of the sodium aluminate solution is adjusted to 4.6 and 8-hydroxyquinoline is added. The complex which forms is ex­tracted with chloroform and subjeeted to fluorimetrie measurement at 410 ιημ. The procedure is esepcially valuable in cases in which the aluminum value is l o w and iron or phosphates are present. It has been used on samples of iron, steel, a n d ores.

Among the speakers a t the CMRA symposium were (left to r ight) : Paul W . Cornell, Gulf Oil; Edward H. Riddle, Rohm & Haas ; and A. J. Weithj Jr . , American Cyanamid Co.

C&EN REPORTS: Chemical Marke t Research Association

Acrylonitrile Capacity Expected to Hit 190 Million Pounds in 1955

Promising uses predicted for acrylonitrile, butadiene, ethylene, acrylates

NEW YORK.-By 1955, the nation's acrylonitrile capacity will reach approxi­mately 190 million pounds, predicted Archie J. Weith, Jr., of American Cyana­mid Co., one of the principal speakers at the all-day meet ing of the Chemical Market Research Association held here on June 4. This sizable capacity stands in sharp contrast to acrylonitrile production of about 17 million pounds in 1950, 30 million in 1951, and 50 million in 1952.

The future will also br ing about a sig­nificant change in t he end-use pattern of this material, said Dr . Wei th . By 1955, approximately 6 0 % of U. S. acrylonitrile will be employed in the production of

fibers, 2 5 % for rubber and plastics, and 1 5 % for new uses. In 1950, about 7 5 % of the nation's acrylonitrile "went into rubber and plastics and 2 5 % into fibers, while in 1945 virtually all of acrylonitrile produced was used in the manufacture of nitrile-type rubber.

Although the present sell ing price of acrylonitrile is about 43 cents p e r pound, American Cyanamid has established a price of 31 cents per pound which will take effect when its new acrylonitrile plants goes into commercial operation early in 1954. This is approximately a 3 0 % price cut. "It is very seldom .that new processes can allow such a marked read-

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