Changes Why Europe’s

on tap at chemical
Chemical sector now
Safety Board loves its
P.18 regulation
P.20
JULY 16, 2018

A better
way to
dye New methods to color
clothes aim to reduce
pollution from textiles
P.28
 Contents VOLUME 96, NUMBER 29

July 16, 2018

Cover story

Greener textile dyeing

Large and small suppliers vow to help a resource-
intensive industry change with the times
Page 28

Quote of the week Features

It costs “only
1 to 2% of MINE!

the fiber’s
value to ship
it anywhere in 18 Changes on tap at
the world.” U.S. Chemical Safety
Board
—Dan Pichler, joint Chair departs, investigators
managing director, CarbConsult leave, staff fears changing
Page 22 mission
20 Industry learns to
love REACH
Supporting the chemical
management law is good for
competitiveness, Europe’s
industry now says
22 A carbon fiber
cluster grows in South
Carolina
Teijin breaks ground on a
$600 million plant as demand 27 The unwritten rules
grows for the strong, lightweight of the laboratory
material When hoarding chemicals and
other shared lab resources
24 C&EN talks with becomes a problem
Amy Prieto, battery
innovator
Colorado State chemist
discusses her next-generation
lithium-ion technology

Departments ACS News

2 Editorial 38 C&ENjobs 34 ACS Comment
3 Reactions 40 Newscripts 35 ACS News
Photograph by Shutterstock 5 Concentrates 37 Awards
CE NEA R 9 6 (29 ) 1–40 • ISSN 0009 -2347
 1155—16th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20036
Editorial
A question on ethics
(202) 872-4600 or (800) 227-5558

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Bibiana Campos Seijo

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Amanda Yarnell
OPERATIONS DIRECTOR: Kimberly Bryson

H
SENIOR ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER: Marvel A. Wills ere’s a question for C&EN In my view, if an employee is performing
BUSINESS readers: Would you fabricate a job and is good at it, that person should
NEW YORK CITY: (212) 608-6306
Michael McCoy, Executive Editor a job offer so you could nego- be compensated for it accordingly and in
Rick Mullin (Senior Editor), Marc S. Reisch (Senior Correspondent), Alexander tiate a promotion or pay in- line with individuals within the same orga-
H. Tullo (Senior Correspondent), Rachel Eskenazi (Administrative Assistant).
BOSTON: (202) 236-7633 Ryan Cross (Assistant Editor). crease at work? Have you done it yourself nization at an equivalent level profession-
CHICAGO: (917) 710-0924 Lisa M. Jarvis (Senior Correspondent).
HONG KONG: 852 9093 8445 Jean‑François Tremblay (Senior
or know of someone who has and got away ally (ideally pay should be benchmarked
Correspondent). LONDON: 44 1494 564 316 Alex Scott (Senior Editor). with it? To be clear, I’m not considering against similar-sized institutions in states
WEST COAST: (315) 825-8566 Melody M. Bomgardner (Senior Editor)
doing this myself. I’m simply asking for a or parts of the country with comparable
POLICY
WEST COAST: (925) 519-6681 Jyllian Kemsley, Executive Editor
friend … income ranges). Does a job offer and the
WASHINGTON: Cheryl Hogue (Senior Correspondent) Of course, I’m joking. But this is the suggestion that the employee is desirable
Britt E. Erickson (Senior Editor), Andrea L. Widener (Senior Editor)
question that came to my mind as I read to another organization change how well
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY/EDUCATION the news reported by CBS Denver that a— that person is performing? Promotions and
WASHINGTON: Lauren K. Wolf, Executive Editor, Deputy Editorial Director
Celia Henry Arnaud (Senior Correspondent), Matt Davenport (Senior Editor, now former—professor of biochemistry rewards should be directly related to per-
Multimedia), Carmen Drahl (Senior Correspondent),
Kerri Jansen (Assistant Editor, Multimedia),
at Colorado State University fabricated an formance and an individual’s contribution
Tien M. Nguyen (Assistant Editor), Cici Zhang (Editorial Fellow). outside job offer to improve his status at to the organization and to science.
BOSTON: (973) 922-0175 Bethany Halford (Senior Correspondent).
CHICAGO: (847) 679-1156 Mitch Jacoby (Senior Correspondent). his university. In other news, I read that the University
WEST COAST: (626) 765-6767 Michael Torrice (Science News It appears that Brian McNaughton— of Huddersfield in the U.K. is going to open
Editor), (202) 815-6827 Sam Lemonick (Assistant Editor)
JOURNAL NEWS & COMMUNITY who ran a biochemistry research group at a “super lab” geared toward pre-university
(510) 768-7657 Corinna Wu (Senior Editor)
(651) 447-6226 Jessica H. Marshall (Associate Editor)
CSU—was charged for falsifying a job offer science teaching. This development is part
from the University of Minnesota and now of a bigger remodeling project that will cul-
ACS NEWS & SPECIAL FEATURES
Linda Wang (Senior Correspondent) faces felony charges for fabricating the of- minate with the opening of its new science
PRODUCT MANAGER: Jessica Morrison
fer and attempting to influence a public of- building in the summer of 2019. The reason
ficial with the goal of improving his status this news caught my eye is that the equip-
AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT EDITOR: Dorea I. Reeser
Arminda Downey-Mavromatis (Contributing Editor) at CSU. McNaughton, 40, alleged financial ment within this “super lab” will be avail-
and marital problems as the reasons for the able to schools within a 60-mile (about
EDITING & PRODUCTION
Sabrina J. Ashwell (Copy Editor), Luis A. Carrillo (Web P­ roduction Manager), lie and admitted that he got the idea from 96-km) radius of Huddersfield, providing
Taylor C. Hood (Digital Content Producer/Taxonomy Specialist),
Manny I. Fox Morone, Lead Production Editor
colleagues, who suggested that former pre-university students in the area with
Craig Bettenhausen (Associate Editor), Melissa T. Gilden faculty had lied about outside offers “as a access to instrumentation that schools are
(Assistant Editor), Alexandra A. Taylor (Assistant Editor)
mechanism to improve their salary,” Mc- generally unable to provide so that stu-
C&EN MEDIA PRODUCTION LAB Naughton wrote in a letter to the dean of dents can carry out more advanced prac-
Robert Bryson, Creative Director, Head of Media Production Lab
Tchad K. Blair, Head of UI/UX Design CSU’s College of Natural Sciences, accord- tical work. Exposing sharp young minds
Ian Bakar (Associate Designer), Robin L. Braverman (Senior Art Director),
Ty A. Finocchiaro (Senior Web ­Associate), Yang H. Ku (Art Director),
ing to the Chronicle of Higher Education. to well-outfitted facilities early will help
William A. Ludwig (Art Director), Kay Youn (Art Director) How desperate was he? It’s difficult attract and retain students in the sciences.
C&EN BRANDLAB to put ourselves in his shoes and decide I imagine the university will benefit direct-
Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay, Executive Editor
Jeff Lee (Senior Editor), Kirsten Dobson (Marketing Manager)
that a pay increase is worth risking a po- ly from this as well as from investment
tentially flourishing career and years of from the authorities to make this kind of
SALES & MARKETING
Stephanie Holland, Assistant Director, Advertising Sales & Marketing education and dedication to a discipline. arrangement possible. At a minimum, there
Natalia Bokhari (Advertising Operations Manager), The pay increase he ended up receiving will be savings from not having to maintain
Sondra Hadden (Senior Marketing Manager), Joyleen SanFeliz Parnell
­(Advertising Operations Associate), Quyen Pham (Lead Generation was roughly $4,000 per year, according to poorly equipped or poorly resourced labs at
­Associate), Ed Rather (Recruitment Advertising Product Manager),
Kierra Tobiere (Recruitment Sales & Marketing Associate)
CBS Denver. Was it worth it? I don’t think schools nearby. It’s an interesting approach
so. McNaughton has since resigned his that we may soon see replicated elsewhere.
ADVISORY BOARD
Deborah Blum, Raychelle Burks, Jinwoo Cheon, Kendrew H. Colton, position and apologized for the mistake Students will definitely benefit.
François-Xavier Coudert, Cathleen Crudden, Gautam R. Desiraju, he made. He returned the total amount of
Luis Carlos Diaz, Paula T. Hammond, Matthew Hartings, Christopher Hill,
Yan Liang, Javier García Martínez, Peter Nagler, Daniel García Rivera, the raise, which was about $4,000 per year
Anubhav Saxena, Dan Shine, Michael Sofia, William Tolman, James C. Tung,
Jill Venton, Helma Wennemers, Geofrey K. Wyatt, Deqing Zhang
over four years, as the lie managed to go
unnoticed for almost that long.
Published by the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
Thomas M. Connelly Jr., Executive Director & CEO But going back to my original question:
Brian D. Crawford, President, Publications Division How often do people lie or exaggerate to
EDITORIAL BOARD: Nicole S. Sampson (Chair), appear more desirable in the job market
ACS Board of Directors Chair John E. Adams,
ACS President Peter K. Dorhout, Cynthia J. Burrows, than they really are? McNaughton took it
Jerzy Klosin, Julia Laskin, John Russell to the extreme, even creating false docu-
Copyright 2018, American Chemical Society mentation. But I wonder how often people
Canadian GST Reg. No. R127571347
Volume 96, Number 29
will suggest another—imaginary—offer to
indicate they are a flight risk and renegoti- Editor-in-chief
ate their employment conditions. @BibianaCampos

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

2 C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | JULY 16, 2018

 Reactions
▸▸Letters to the editor
C&EN’s coverage of politics
It is sad to see C&EN going down the
path of partisan politics. I have been
reading C&EN for over 60 years and have
found it to be an interesting and reliable
source of information about the chem-
ical world. Unfortunately, judging from
the article “Scientists Hit the Campaign
Trail” by Rick Mullin in the May 28 issue
(page 16), C&EN is leaping with both
feet into the muck of divisive politics.
The article is ostensibly about Trump’s
antiscience policies but looks more like
a standard Democratic National Com-
mittee Trump-bashing press release,
covering a wide range of issues, many not
science related at all.
One part of the article features the
“storm” of grievances of the Union of
Concerned Scientists against Trump’s
antiscience bias. At the very top, the first
one is against Trump’s effort to restrict
Muslim immigration, and the second is to
remove information about Obama’s White
House staff. How these demonstrate an
antiscience bias is beyond me. To my sim-
ple mind, these are just blatantly gratu-
itous slaps at Trump just to pad the list of
grievances against him.
The article also describes the multitude
of protests and marches against Trump’s
policies against women, African Amer-
icans, and gun control, among others.
Again, I don’t see how these show anti-
C R E D I T: RYA N I N Z A N A
science bias.
The rest of the article is mostly devoted
to grievances against Republicans by can-
didates seeking office on the Democratic
tickets (surprise).
It is unfortunate for a magazine that
is supposed to be for all members of the
chemical industry, who encompass a vari-
ety of political viewpoints, that C&EN is
going down the path of divisive politics,
for that means a loss of objectivity and
credibility. And in this fight there are no
winners. In the end all that remains are
just the fights.
Max Wisotsky
Highland Park, N.J.
▸▸From the web
Re: Scientists hit the
campaign trail
Readers online discussed the intersection of
science and politics.
cenm.ag/campaigntrail
It would be wonderful if C&EN would
stick to issues related to the science and
engineering aspects of chemistry rather
than playing politics. The polit-
icization of science is precisely
the problem when experimental
data is interpreted for political
purposes rather than letting the
science and data determine the
reported outcome(s). Scientists
become the sycophant prophets
of Baal when they comply with
political winds. If one wants to
be a politicized social justice
warrior one should honestly do
that and not hide behind sci-
ence degrees; many of us would
like to be serious scientists and engineers
without the politics.
Jerome Workman
Scientists and engineers do not exist in a
“scientific bubble” disengaged from im-
portant issues that impact the world. When
politicians make uninformed decisions that
are harmful to the health of the earth, peo-
ple, or animals, it is our obligation to point
out the consequences of these decisions
using facts based on sound science. This
is not a “politicization of science” as Mr.
Workman writes but rather an opportunity
to inform and educate. Having some techni-
cal people in Congress or local government
is a good thing, just as having former mili-
tary in these roles can only make for better
elected leadership.
Phil Brown
I was surprised by the very polarized com-
ments relating to this article.
Governmental decision-making needs
to be informed by facts and data and
extrapolations from those data; do the
[trolls] dispute even that? Increasing the
number of scientifically competent and
professional members of Congress should,
in the natural order of things, enhance
that decision-making.
Science needs funds to operate, and
in these economically challenged times,
scientists have recently become much
more effective and successful at pitching
to the funders to obtain the necessary
resources.
Congress might just find that new sci-
entifically savvy members are also formi-
dable advocates and valuable allies, given
their highly developed analytical and logi-
cal argument skills, in lobbying for funding
of projects outside of their fields of exper-
tise and in which they happen to have a
special interest­—which is more likely to be
at least partly altruistic (not 100%, we are
all human) than, for example, the CFOs.
I have great respect for Randy Wadkins
and scientists like him who care enough to
stand up and get out there—to make the
case for science and technology, facts and
logic; to try to make a difference; and to
challenge the budget managers, who tend
to know the cost of everything and the val-
ue of nothing, not to mention whether or
not the data support their decisions.
Cliff Burford
Join the conversation.
facebook.com/CENews
@cenmag
@cenmag
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JULY 16, 2018 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN 3
 Concentrates
▸ Highlights
Computer model suggests ways to strengthen MOFs 6
Solving problems with H2 generation in microgravity 7
Trio of methods controls mouse brains 7
BASF investing $10 billion in China 11
Pfizer capitulates on prices 12

Chemistry news from the week U.S. plans tariffs on more Chinese chemicals
Supreme Court pick likely to limit agency authority
Scandal-plagued chief leaves U.S. EPA
13
16
16

MATERIALS

Perovskite ferroelectrics
go metal-free
Study turns up large family of organic-
inorganic materials for possible
lightweight electronics applications
Ferroelectric materials do something
unique under an applied electric field:
They exhibit spontaneous polarization,
meaning positive and negative charges
quickly separate within the crystal. That
property makes the materials ideal for
numerous applications in energy storage,
medical imaging, and computer memory
that retains information even when a de-
vice is off.
By supplementing a design strategy
with trial-and-error experimentation,
researchers have now discovered a new
family of metal-free ferroelectric mate-
rials. The finding may pave the way to
lightweight, flexible, and low-cost memory
devices, capacitors, and other types of
electronics (Science 2018, DOI: 10.1126/
science.aas9330).
Common ferroelectrics currently used
in devices include barium titanate (BaTiO3
or BTO), lead titanate, and other ceramics
with the perovskite structure and com-
position, which follows the stoichiometry
ABX3. Although widely used industrially,
these materials are costly to produce and
often contain lead and other toxic heavy
metals. For those reasons, scientists have
C R E D I T: YU -ME N G YO U/S O U TH EAST U
Conventional perovskites consist of
large and small metal cations, represented
by A and B, respectively, in the general
chemical formula. The size difference
between the ions is one of the important
attributes in these materials’ electronic
behavior. Other factors, such as van der
Waals forces and intermolecular interac-
tions between ions in the crystal, also play
key roles.
Armed with that information, the team
developed a design strategy for making
metal-free perovskite ferroelectrics with
the general formula A(NH4)X3, in which A
is a divalent organic cation and X is a hal-
ogen. They took the synthesis plan to the
lab, where they reacted a large number of
organic reagents with inorganic ammoni-
um compounds and halogen acids.
Among the 23 metal-free perovskites
produced in the study, one named MDAB-
CO–NH4I3, which contains a diazabicyclo
group, looks especially promising. That per-
ovskite exhibits a large spontaneous polar-
ization value, 22 microcoulombs per square
centimeter, which is close to BTO’s value of
26. The new compound also looks to be es-
pecially stable in that it remains ferroelec-

searched for metal-free perovskites and
have succeeded in making some. But those
compounds tend to exhibit weak ferroelec-
tric properties, precluding applications.
Now, a research team led by Yu-Meng
You and Ren-Gen Xiong of China’s South-
east University have produced a family of
23 metal-free perovskites, some of which
are on par with BTO in terms of ferroelec-
tric properties.
tric up to a phase transition temperature of
448 K, exceeding BTO’s limit of 390 K.
“These results are stunning,”—a mile-
stone reached 70 years after development
of conventional ferroelectric perovskite
oxides, says Wei Li, a specialist in inorgan-
ic functional materials at Nankai Universi-
ty. Li adds that the organic content, which
can be modified to tune crystal properties,
makes these materials easy to synthesize,
A metal-free triiodide perovskite with a
diazabicyclo group and a related bromide
compound (top and bottom, respectively)
resemble barium titanate (middle) in
terms of structure and ferroelectric
properties.
lightweight, and inexpensive—all of which
may soon lead to applications.—MITCH
JACOBY

JULY 16, 2018 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN 5

 Science Concentrates
METAL-ORGANIC FRAMEWORKS
Finding pillars of strength for MOFs
Adding functional groups to metal-organic
frameworks can reinforce a flimsy structure
The highly porous, large-surface-area
structures known as metal-organic frame-
works (MOFs) are popular for chemical
sensing, gas separation, and catalysis.
But they have a weakness: They can be
flimsy. Some of the metal and ligand
constructions form less robust lattices,
and their pore walls can be stretched or
broken, rendering them useless. Using a
computational model, researchers have
now shown that adding chemical groups
to the organic ligands in MOFs can shore
up the structures and make them more
robust (ACS Cent. Sci. 2018, DOI: 10.1021/
acscentsci.8b00157).
Berend Smit, a chemical engineer at
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology,
Lausanne, and his colleagues focused on
zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs),
MOFs usually composed of zinc and the
ligand imidazolate that can take on many
different arrangements. The researchers
made computational models of 200 po-
tential ZIFs and calculated the mechani-
cal robustness of each, using experimen-
tal and modeled data on the constituent
materials. They found that by adding
functional groups to the ligands, they
could reinforce or destabilize the existing
structure of the ZIFs.
The team learned that two aspects of
the structure affected the MOFs’ me-
chanical stability. A primary network
MATERIALS
3-D COF crystals keep growing
Exceptionally high porosity and surface
area coupled with chemical tunability make
covalent organic frameworks (COFs) at-
tractive materials for various applications,
such as storing and separating gases. But
the inability to prepare these metal-free
covalently-bonded materials as large single
crystals has hampered their development.
That’s quickly changing.
Last month, researchers reported a route
to making large 2-D COF single crystals
(C&EN, June 25, page 10). Now, another
team of scientists reports a strategy for
6 C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | JULY 16, 2018
consisted of the basic MOF structure
held together by bonds between the
metal atoms and the ligands. The
functional groups created a secondary
network held together by weaker van
der Waals forces. Depending on the
arrangement, that secondary network
could either strengthen or weaken the
stability of the primary network.
Smit and his colleagues plan to
make their computer model avail-
able for free. He hopes that chemists
looking to design a MOF will use it
to test out different combinations of
ligands and functional groups and then
synthesize them. His group plans to
collaborate with another group that can
synthesize the MOFs from their model.
To test the materials’ strength, they’ll use
microindentation, physically pressing a
tiny diamond tip against the structures to
determine their hardness.
Smit doesn’t expect that chemists will
be able to avoid structural weakness in
all MOF designs, even with the help of
this model. Some structural tweaks might
boost a MOF’s strength but block the
active sites, interfering with its intended
application. “Sometimes the answer may
be we can’t do anything about it without
affecting the chemistry,” Smit says.
Omar M. Yaghi, a chemist at the
University of California, Berkeley, not
growing large 3-D imine-based COF crys-
tals—large enough to deduce previously
unknown structural details via single-crys-
tal X-ray diffraction (Science 2018 DOI:
10.1126/science.aat7679).
The new study was carried out by a large
group led by Wei Wang of Lanzhou Univer-
sity, Junliang Sun of Peking University, and
Omar M. Yaghi of the University of Califor-
nia, Berkeley. The improved crystallization
hinges on using a large excess of aniline
during imine COF synthesis. Doing so leads
to formation of terminal benzene-imine
In one MOF arrangement (left), the
secondary network of van der Waals
forces (cyan) supports the primary
bonding network (red) everywhere. In
another (right), the secondary network
offers support only in certain places.
involved with the study but who has de-
veloped synthesis strategies to stabilize
MOFs, praises this work. For the first
time, researchers have correlated func-
tional groups and mechanical stability in
MOFs, he says.
MOF researcher Joseph T. Hupp of
Northwestern University says, “This
is a very clever paper that identifies
and makes use of a nonobvious, but
potentially very widely applicable, ap-
proach to making MOFs mechanically
stable.”—NEIL SAVAGE, special to C&EN
moieties on the surface of the growing COF
crystal. That feature provides an error-cor-
rection mechanism that prevents imme-
diate precipitation of tiny crystals, often
measuring less than 0.5 µm, allowing them
instead to grow up to 100 µm in length.
Thanks to the quality and size of these
C R E D I T: ACS C EN T. S CI .
crystals, the team was able to measure for
the first time structural distortions, the
arrangement of water guest molecules,
the extent of lattice interpenetration,
and other COF properties with atomic
precision.—MITCH JACOBY
 ENERGY
NEUROSCIENCE
Solving problems with Trio of methods
hydrogen production steers mouse brain
in microgravity Approach inhibits deep-brain
Nanostructured catalyst helps free region without surgery
gas bubbles that cling to surfaces
Deep-brain regions are implicated in movement dis-
Long-term space missions will require methods to produce fuels, orders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other con-
such as hydrogen gas, on demand. Photoelectrochemical cells ditions. ­Despite many advances in neuroscience, tools
(PECs) can produce hydrogen using energy from sunlight, but remain limited for reaching deeper regions of the brain
the reduced gravity in space presents unique challenges to this without surgery. Now, a team led by Mikhail Shapiro at
chemistry. California Institute of Technology reports an approach
An international team of researchers led by California Institute in which ­ultrasound, genetic engineering, and a synthetic
of Technology’s Hans-Joachim Lewerenz studied one of these drug work together to control deep parts of the brain in
low-gravity problems and demonstrated how a nanostructured a ­selective and noninvasive way. The researchers tested
catalyst surface could solve it (Nat. Commun. 2018, DOI: 10.1038/ their t­ echnology in mice, but their ultimate goal is to use
s41467-018-04844-y). it as an alternative to
The team’s PEC consists of an electrode made of a light-absorb- surgery for humans With the help of ultrasound,
ing semiconductor, p-type indium phosphide, coated with a catalyt- (Nat. Biomed. Eng. harmless viruses carrying
ic layer of rhodium. 2018, DOI: 10.1038/ the code for a receptor
When exposed to s41551-018-0258-2). protein cross the blood-
light, the electrode brain barrier. Once in place
reduces hydrogen Ultrasound waves on the target neurons, the
cations from an receptors can turn the
acidic water solution, neurons off in response to
producing hydrogen the drug CNO.
gas.
To simulate the CNO
microgravity condi-
Viral
tions of space, the vector
researchers catapult-
ed the device 120 me- Currently, physicians treat certain brain diseases by
ters into the air and stimulating deep-brain regions with implanted electrodes,
allowed it to fall in Shapiro says. He and his coworkers used a nonsurgical ap-
a specialized tower proach to turn off neurons in a deep-brain region known
in Germany. During as the hippocampus, which is key for memory formation.
the tests, hydrogen In the mouse study, the researchers first opened the
bubbles accumulated blood-brain barrier, which keeps out harmful substances
In microgravity, hydrogen bubbles on the flat surface of but also poses challenges for drug delivery. They injected
produced on a photoelectrode tend to the electrodes, pre- microbubbles into the mice’s bloodstreams and triggered
cling to a flat surface (top), but detach venting efficient gas microbubble vibration with ultrasound waves, generating
C R E D I T: NAT. COM M UN . ( B UB BL ES ) ; NAT. B I O ME D. ENG . ( BRA I N S )

more easily from a nanostructured production.
surface (below). To encourage the
bubbles to detach
from the electrodes, the researchers wanted to decrease the con-
tact area between the bubbles and catalyst surface, so they shaped
the rhodium layer into tiny peaks and holes. When the team tested
these textured photoelectrodes in the drop tower, they found the
cell’s efficiency matched that of a flat electrode in regular gravity.
Cornell University’s Mason A. Peck, an aerospace engineer and
former chief technologist at NASA, said that demonstrating per-
formance in microgravity is an important step for any potential
space-faring technology. But ultimately, he notes, the practicality
of such a system will depend on how efficient it is at convert-
ing solar energy to stored chemical energy. The ideal setup also
would produce oxygen. Katharina Brinkert, the paper’s first au-
thor, says the team is working to develop a cell that will combine
hydrogen and oxygen production.—KERRI JANSEN
a temporary opening in a specific brain region. Then, the
team delivered harmless virus particles that carry genetic
instructions for adding special receptors to the neurons
they wished to target.
Once the receptor proteins were situated in the neurons
of interest, the researchers administered a synthetic drug
called clozapine-N-oxide (CNO) to selectively inhibit the
activity of the modified neurons. Mice with the inhibit-
ed neurons no longer showed fear in an environment in
which they previously received a mild electric shock. The
results suggest that fear memories were prevented from
forming.
Elisa Konofagou, a biomedical engineer at Columbia
University who studies ultrasound for the treatment of
brain diseases, says more animal research is needed to see
the long-term effects of the approach.—CICI ZHANG

JULY 16, 2018 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN 7

 Science Concentrates
A comic collaboration between C&EN and ChemScrapes cartoonist Brendan Burkett
Synthetic step tracker
POLYMERS
Analyzing what single-use bags release
The biotech industry is beginning to re-
place metal vats in the manufacturing
process with single-use plastic bags. But
concerns remain about whether com-
pounds could leach out of the films inside
the bags. Such compounds could negative-
ly affect cells during biomanufacturing or
persist through purification processes and
end up in protein drug formulations, caus-
ing a potential risk to patients.
A team led by Jonathan Bones of the
National Institute for Bioprocessing
Research & Training, in Ireland, has
measured the compounds released by
34 single-use bags from five suppliers
(Anal. Chem. 2018, DOI: 10.1021/acs.
analchem.8b01208).
8 C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | JULY 16, 2018
The team looked for two kinds of
molecules: extractables, which represent
all possible compounds that could be
released, and leachables, which would be
present only under normal conditions. To
identify the extractables, the researchers
extracted bag films with four solvents cho-
sen to represent potential worst-case sce-
narios in biomanufacturing. They obtained
the leachables by using cell culture me-
dium as an extraction solvent. The team
used mass spectrometry to analyze semi-
volatile and nonvolatile compounds, trace
elements, and organic solvent residues.
One statistical analysis method clus-
tered the bags’ data into groups based on
the date of manufacture, most likely due
More
online
To see more of
Burkett’s work, go to
chemscrapes.net.
To see more Sketch
Chemistry, visit
cenm.ag/sketch.
to different types of polyethylene used to
make the bags. The oldest bags were man-
ufactured in 2006; the newest, in 2016. An-
other data-clustering method divided the
bags into five distinct groups, classified by
the type of polymer in the inner layer fol-
lowed by the extraction solvent.
In the case of nonvolatile compounds,
the researchers identified 113 extractables
and 14 leachables, six of which were not
among the extractables. The research-
ers say that the presence of leachable
compounds that weren’t also extractable
provides evidence that just analyzing
what can be extracted from bags may
not be sufficient to model actual culture
conditions.—CELIA ARNAUD
 GENOMICS
▸▸ Fungal molecule
whacks weeds
The enzyme dihydroxyacid dehydratase
is a promising weed-control target, but
synthetic molecules designed to block the
enzyme have not worked when tested on
plants. Now, researchers have successfully
targeted the protein with a molecule from
fungi, aspterric acid (shown), and they say
the molecule could become an effective
weed killer with a new mode of action (Na-
ture 2018, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0319-4).
The work comes
O from a team led by
OH Steven E. Jacobsen
OH and Yi Tang of the
O University of Califor-
H nia, Los Angeles, and
Aspterric acid Jiahai Zhou of Shang-
hai Institute of Or-
ganic Chemistry. They reasoned that fungi,
which frequently kill plants, might make
molecules that target critical enzymes
like dihydroxyacid dehydratase. If so, the
fungus would also have to contain a gene
that protects itself from the molecule’s ef-
fects. So the team scanned fungal genomes
looking for protective genes located near
molecule-making machinery. They found
just such a gene combination and learned
that it produces aspterric acid, which
was discovered 40 years ago but had an
unknown mechanism until now. In small-
scale lab tests, the team found aspterric
acid is an effective herbicide and adding
the fungus’s protective gene to a plant
keeps it safe from the molecule’s effects.
UCLA has filed a patent application on the
technology.—CARMEN DRAHL
SYNTHESIS
▸▸ Chemists fracture
rings to install fluorine
To construct new bonds, as chemists are
wont to do, they must first break bonds.
But some bonds give way easier than
others. Researchers can readily split car-
bon-carbon double bonds for further func- shown) unfurls the ring to a linear alkyl
tionalization, yet they struggle to crack
relatively inert, C–C single bonds. A new
Cl
C R E D I T: e L I F E
STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY
How bacteria take up
body odor precursor
Believe it or not, sweat O H NH2
is odorless. It is bacteria N S OH
HO
on our underarm skin
O
that feed on unsmelly
compounds in sweat and Body odor precursor
release digestion by-prod-
ucts that are responsible
for body odor. Previous
research has identified
a sulfurous thioalcohol
as one of the major body
odor molecules. But little
is known about how its
precursor is taken up by
the bacterium Staphy-
lococcus hominis. Now,
a team led by Gavin H.
Thomas of the University
of York and Simon New-
stead of the University of
Oxford has identified the
structure of the protein
that transports the body
odor precursor peptide
into the bacterial cell
(eLife 2018, DOI: 10.7554/ After a bacterial cell takes up the precursor
eLife.34995). When ana- peptide through this transporter protein, the
lyzing the transporter’s peptide is converted into a body odor molecule
crystal structure in detail, (red) and released outside the cell.
the researchers found
that blocking a long pocket (about 10 Å) that binds the thioalcohol group
inhibited the uptake of the body odor precursor. Newstead says this pocket
might be used to design specific inhibitors to block body odor production—
for example, researchers could design a molecule that plugs this gap and
stops the transporter from binding the peptide. European consumer prod-
ucts maker Unilever, which partly funded the study, is assessing the results,
Newstead adds.—CICI ZHANG
method developed by Richmond Sarpong troduces a formyl group on the nitrogen at
and coworkers at the University of Cali- the other end. The team proposes that the
fornia, Berkeley, now cleaves C–C bonds reaction proceeds through oxidation fol-
in nitrogen-containing rings (Science 2018, lowed by radical ring opening. They suc-
DOI: 10.1126/science.aat6365). Using an cessfully opened four-membered rings and
excess of a silver salt and a common flu- larger ones, but five-membered rings were
orinating reagent, the reaction (example mostly just oxygenated. The researchers
also demonstrated the ring-opening flu-
chain with a fluorine atom at one end, orination of two peptides, a strategy that
a functional group coveted by chemists could be immediately applicable in drug
for its ability discovery or biological uses, Sarpong says.
R to modulate In addition, the team showed the geminal
a molecule’s difluorination of rings using 0.25 equiv-

+
N 2BF4 – AgBF 4 (4 equiv.)
N + N H properties. In alents of a silver salt and hope to lower
N+ Acetone:H2O (1:9) F
R some cases, the the amount of metal needed in future
F 4 equiv. O
R = Benzoate method also in- reactions.—TIEN NGUYEN

JULY 16, 2018 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN 9

 Business Concentrates
PETROCHEMICALS
BASF eyes China project
The German giant may build a new
Verbund site in Guangdong
BASF CEO Martin Brudermüller has
signed a nonbinding agreement with Chi-
nese authorities to build a wholly owned
chemical complex in Guangdong, China.
The German chemical giant says spending
on the new site could reach $10 billion by
2030, making it the largest investment in
the company’s history and the biggest in
China by a foreign company.
BASF’s project is part of a wave of for-
eign investments in China totaling $23 bil-
lion pledged by various companies in the
past week. The catalyst for the proposed
investments is China’s removal of a policy
requiring foreign manufacturers to form
a partnership or joint venture with local
Chinese firms.
Petrochemical consulting firm PCI Wood
CR E DI T: BAS F
Mackenzie says the policy change could
shift investment dollars from other leading
petrochemical-producing regions, includ-
Unique
Events for
the Specialty
Chemical
Industry
Omni Fort Worth Hotel, Fort Worth, Texas
February 11-14, 2019
ing North America and the Middle East.
Some 15 rules relating to foreign com-
panies investing in China have been lifted.
The European Chamber of Commerce
in China, which represents European
business, says that the policy shift widens
access for foreign investors in several in-
dustries but that Chinese law continues to
discriminate against foreign firms when
it comes to market entry and approval
requirements. The chamber estimates that
48 measures limiting foreign investment
in China remain in place.
The Chinese policy shift coincides with
the country’s escalating trade war with
the U.S. (see page 13). Some media out-
lets claim to have information that trade
tensions between Beijing and Washington
aided the BASF deal.
Guangdong would be BASF’s seventh
site incorporating its Verbund principle of
Belmond Charleston Place
Charleston, South Carolina
September 5-7
2018
www.chemicalsamerica.com
BASF’s joint venture with Sinopec in
Nanjing, China, was completed in 2005.
meticulous integration. The installation
would have a 1 million-metric-ton-per-year
ethylene cracker. The preliminary scope
of the project includes basic chemicals
such as ethylene oxide, acrylic acid, oxo
chemicals, propylene oxide, and butadi-
ene. Downstream from these would be
ethylene glycol, surfactants, amines, su-
perabsorbent polymers, acrylates, polyols,
and performance polymers.
BASF expects to open the first plants in
2026. The firm says Guangdong is home
to many of its most important customers
in the auto and electronics industries. The
company already operates a Verbund com-
plex in Nanjing, China, in partnership with
the Chinese firm Sinopec.—ALEX SCOTT
AND ALEX TULLO
Market-Focused on Specialty,
Agro, Fine, & Industrial Chemicals
North America-Based Exhibitors
Improved Return on Investment
Renewing the Value of a Handshake
JULY 16, 2018 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN 11
 Business Concentrates
PHARMACEUTICALS
Pfizer capitulates on prices
A spar with Trump prompts a temporary
reversal on drug price hikes
Pfizer last week succumbed to pressure
from President Donald J. Trump and tem-
porarily reversed price increases on a host
of drugs. While the action was an unusual
direct response to Trump’s ongoing criti-
cism of the pharmaceutical industry, many
industry watchers see it as having little ef-
fect on what consumers pay for drugs.
After Pfizer increased the list prices on
40 drugs on July 1 while lowering Trump’s
the price on five others, the pres- drug pricing its structure. The reorganization
ident took to Twitter to say the tweets
company was “taking advantage caused a
of the poor & others unable to de- hubbub.
fend themselves.”
The next day, Pfizer said that after a
conversation between CEO Ian Read and
the president, the increases would be
postponed. The reversal, the firm said, was
meant “to give the president an opportu-
nity to work on his blueprint to strengthen
the healthcare system and provide more
access for patients,” referring to a drug
pricing white paper released in May.
Trump declared Pfizer’s decision a victo- sells over-the-counter brands. Pfizer has
ry, but industry watchers say the delay will
do little to affect prices paid by consumers.
And while a handful of companies then
LAST STRAW
Starbucks says it will nix plastic
straws at its 28,000 stores worldwide
by 2020, a move that will eliminate more
than 1 billion plastic straws per year. The
ubiquitous coffee chain says it will instead
top cups with a biodegradable strawless
lid and make alternative-material straws
available. The move is in response to concerns
that lightweight, single-use plastic items can
end up polluting oceans and harming wildlife.
12 C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | JULY 16, 2018
ditched their own price hikes, a number of
others, including Celgene and Roche, were
undeterred.
Some view Pfizer’s choice as a careful
calculation that the blueprint will shift
the focus away from drug companies. In
a report, John J. Leppard, a health care
analyst at Washington Analysis, points out
that “the phrasing of Pfizer’s press release
… suggests that the
company may view
the administration’s
plans—which largely
target the supply
chain rather than
manufacturers—as
more beneficial
longer-term than a
July 1 price hike.”
In a separate
move, Pfizer is yet again overhauling
comes as the drug giant prepares for
generic competition for the nerve
pain medication Lyrica. Pfizer’s best-
selling pill, Lyrica last year command-
ed $3.5 billion in sales in the U.S., where the
patent is set to expire in December.
Starting in 2019, Pfizer will have three
segments: Innovative Medicines, a re-
search-based unit; Established Medicines,
its off-patent medicines unit; and Consum-
er Healthcare.
The reshuffling could be a prelude to a
spin-off of Consumer Healthcare, which
been considering options for the unit since
October 2017 and will decide its fate this
year.—LISA JARVIS
START-UPS
Desert
search yields
drought-
hardy genes
Farmers struggling with slight or
unpredictable rainfall may someday
get an assist from evolution. That’s
the plan of PlantArcBio, an Israeli
crop-trait start-up that has been
prospecting for genes in the desert.
The company has raised $3 mil-
lion from investors and grants. It
will work with plant scientists and
agriculture experts at the Univer-
sity of Wisconsin, Madison, to test
its drought-tolerance genes at the
school’s crop innovation center.
Most crop genetics firms look for
stretches of potentially useful DNA
in databases, but PlantArcBio takes
its gene samples from the environ-
ment. When the company’s scien-
tists find genes in plants—or even
animals, insects, or fungi—that are
unique to species or varieties that
can withstand desert conditions,
they add them to a gene pool for
further testing in model plants.
The company raises model
plants modified with the hoped-for
drought genes in controlled, dry
conditions. From plants that sur-
vive and thrive, it selects a group of
genes worth further study in target
crops such as soybeans and corn. If
the soybean trials at UW Madison
show positive results, PlantArc-
Bio plans to sell the genes to seed
companies.
According to a study by the uni-
versity, changes in weather patterns
due to climate change have cost U.S.
soybean farmers about $11 billion in
yield losses over the past 20 years
(Nature Plants 2015, DOI: 10.1038/
nplants.2014.26).
“Working together to improve
soybean drought tolerance could
lead to major breakthroughs in the
agricultural realm that would also
C R E D I T: STA R BU CKS
benefit farmers in the U.S.,” says
Michael Petersen, associate direc-
tor of the school’s crop innovation
center.—MELODY BOMGARDNER
TRADE
Growing target
U.S. plans tariffs on more The list of Chinese-made chemicals
targeted by U.S. tariffs keeps lengthening.

Chinese chemicals Some of the chemicals targeted with

25% tariffa
▸▸Polyurethane
Numerous basic inputs may be ▸▸Polyvinyl chloride
hit with a 10% import tax ▸▸Lubricating oils

The U.S. has ratcheted up the trade war
with China with the release of a long list
of Chinese-made commodities, worth
$200 billion in total, targeted for a 10%
tariff. Numerous organic and inorganic
chemicals are on the list.
The U.S. move is a reaction to China’s
decision on July 6 to push ahead with a
25% tariff on $34 billion worth of U.S.
imports, including many plastics. The
Chinese action, in turn, was a response to
an earlier U.S. decision to add a 25% tariff
on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods.
Those products were announced in two
groups—worth $34 billion and $16 billion,
respectively—in April and June.
The U.S. says its actions aim to force
China to change predatory practices in
technology transfer, intellectual property,
and innovation.
Because China is both a major market
and a key supplier, the trade row will have
a profound impact on the U.S. chemical
industry. China imports billions of dollars
worth of U.S.-made plastics every year,
and they are now less competitive because
of the 25% tax added to their price. The
country is also a major supplier of com-
petitively priced basic chemicals that are
widely used in the pharmaceutical and
agrochemical industries.
“The Administration’s announcement
of a potential 10% tariff on $200 billion of
additional imports from China, including
a significant amount of chemicals, is a
stunning and unfortunate development
for U.S. manufacturers and consumers,”
the American Chemistry Council, a trade
group, said in a statement.
Some U.S. companies that buy materials
Some chemicals now considered for
10% tariff
▸▸Iodine
▸▸Rare-earth metals
▸▸Hydrogen and sodium cyanide
▸▸Silica gel
a Not yet finalized.
Source: Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
from China appear unconcerned, so far.
The paint manufacturer PPG Industries,
which sources some of its urethanes
from the Chinese firm Wanhua Chemical,
tells C&EN that “since a majority of the
paint and coatings products produced
by PPG are often made, sold, and used in
that same territory, this minimizes any
impact that tariffs would have.”—JEAN-
FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY

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JULY 16, 2018 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN 13

 Business Concentrates
PHARMACEUTICAL CHEMICALS
▸▸ South Korea’s SK
will acquire Ampac
The South Korean conglomerate SK Hold-
ings will acquire Ampac Fine Chemicals
as part of its plan to become a top-tier
pharmaceutical contract development and
manufacturing firm. Owned by the private
equity firm H.I.G. Capital, Ampac operates
plants in California, Texas, and Virginia
and is one of the largest U.S. producers
of pharmaceutical chemicals. Its Virginia
facility was once owned by the drugmaker
Boehringer Ingelheim. SK has drug chemi-
cal operations in South Korea and last year
acquired a Bristol-Myers Squibb plant in
Ireland.—MICHAEL MCCOY
INORGANIC CHEMICALS
FTC takes Tronox and
Cristal to federal court
The Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in
Washington, D.C., seeking a restraining order and an injunction preventing
the titanium dioxide producers Tronox and Cristal from merging. Tronox
agreed to purchase its white pigment rival, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s
National Industrialization Co., in February 2017 for $1.7 billion in cash, plus
stock. In December, seeking to block the merger, FTC brought the case be-
fore an administrative judge, a process that hasn’t been completed. The Eu-
ropean Commission approved the deal earlier this month, requiring only the
divestiture of a business in paper-laminate-grade TiO2. Should the merger
proceed, FTC says, Tronox and rival Chemours would have a commanding
U.S. market share for high-value chloride-process TiO2. “The proposed ac-
quisition would substantially increase concentration in an already concen-
trated market,” FTC says in its complaint. Tronox says the court date will
provide “the company a forum to demonstrate how the proposed acquisition
enhances the company’s competitiveness on a global scale.”—ALEX TULLO

ENERGY STORAGE
▸▸ Matthey advances
new battery material
Johnson Matthey will build a 1,000-met-
ric-ton-per-year facility at its site in Clith-
eroe, England, to produce sample quanti-
ties of its enhanced lithium nickel oxide
(eLNO) electric-vehicle battery material.
The firm says it is also designing a full-
scale eLNO facility to be built in mainland
Europe. Unlike competing battery mate-
rials, eLNO contains minimal amounts of
cobalt, notes a recent report from Argus
planned ramp-up in capacity. “With our
groundbreaking clean technology, fertiliz-
er manufacturers, recyclers, and govern-
ments can turn problematic and costly
alkaline battery waste to a premium-level
micronutrient,” Tracegrow CEO Tatu Lep-
pänen says.—ALEX SCOTT
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
▸▸ Linde, Praxair ready
second gas sale
funding from investors, including 415
Investments and NXT Ventures. Manus,
based on technology developed at MIT,
aims to produce ingredients by fermenta-
tion that are normally derived from plants.
The company is targeting what it calls rare
and expensive ingredients used in flavors,
fragrances, cosmetics, agriculture, nutri-
tion, and pharmaceuticals. It has disclosed
programs to manufacture the stevia sweet-
ener rebaudioside M, the antimalarial ar-
temisinin, and the tick and mite pesticide
acaricide.—MELODY BOMGARDNER

C R E D I T: S H U TT E RSTOC K ( BAT TE R I ES ) ; FLI BE EN E RGY (T H O R I U M )

Media.—MICHAEL MCCOY
AGRICULTURE
▸▸ Battery materials
turned into nutrients
Tracegrow has opened a plant in Kärsämä-
ki, Finland, that converts used alkaline
batteries into zinc and manganese trace
elements for agricultural use. The start-up
says it is making 10-m3 batches at its plant
each week. Tracegrow has now brought
in engineering firm Pöyry to assist with a
Linde and Praxair say they are in “advanced NUCLEAR POWER
negotiations” to sell most of Linde’s in-
dustrial gas business in North America ▸▸ Flibe wins U.S. funds
and some Linde and Praxair assets in
South America to a partnership of Ger-
for nuclear research
man gas firm Messer and private equity
firm CVC Capital Partners. The sales are The U.S. Department of Energy is funding
considered necessary to win regulatory new research into liquid fluoride thorium
approval for the merger of Linde and reactor (LFTR) technology. LFTRs generate
Praxair. The companies recently agreed nuclear power with thorium carried in a
to sell Praxair’s European industrial gas solution of molten fluo-
business to Taiyo Nippon Sanso for close to ride salts, a technology
$6 billion.—MICHAEL MCCOY advocates say is safer
and more efficient than
conventional uranium
NATURAL PRODUCTS reactors. Flibe Energy
▸▸ Manus Bio raises A small ball of
funds for ingredients thorium contains
all the energy
a person will
Boston-area start-up Manus Bio has raised use in their life,
$19.4 million in its first round of venture Flibe says.

14 C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | JULY 16, 2018

 will receive $2.1 million from DOE and
$525,500 from other sources to study the
use of nitrogen trifluoride to remove ura-
nium from the nuclear fuel solution. The
funding is part of a $20 million DOE pack-
age for nine industry-led advanced nuclear
R&D projects.­—CRAIG BETTENHAUSEN
GENOMICS
▸▸ DNA Script gets
grant to go long
DNA Script, a start-up based in Paris, has
won $2.7 million in grants from Bpifrance,
a state-backed program for French entre-
preneurs. The company uses enzymes,
rather than chemical processes, to assem-
ble synthetic DNA for use in cell therapies
and gene editing. It claims that its process
makes longer DNA constructs more quick-
ly and cleanly than competing approaches
do. DNA Script raised $13 million in Sep-
tember 2017 from investors, including
the venture arms of Illumina and Merck
KGaA.—MELODY BOMGARDNER
START-UPS
▸▸ Compass launches
with $132 million
Compass Therapeutics has raised a total
of $132 million in its first formal round of
financing. The Cambridge, Mass.-based
biotech firm was formed in 2014 to capi-
talize on a bispecific antibody screening
platform that allows it to probe the activi-
ty of combinations of immune cells. It also
boasts a discovery platform that swiftly
yields therapeutics—either monoclonal or
bispecific antibodies. Compass has more
than 70 employees and expects to begin
clinical studies of its most advanced drug
candidate, an antibody against an undis-
closed immuno-oncology target, in the
first half of 2019.—LISA JARVIS
NUCLEIC ACIDS
▸▸ Regulus cuts jobs
after safety setback
Regulus Therapeutics, a biotech firm de-
veloping oligonucleotide drugs that target
microRNAs, will cut 60% of its workforce,
or about 35 jobs. The decision follows the
observation of acute mouse toxicity in a
Phase I study of RGLS4326, a treatment
for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney
disease. The firm also halted recruitment
for a study of a microRNA drug it is devel-
oping with Sanofi.—MICHAEL MCCOY
PROCESS CHEMISTRY
▸▸ U.K. builds center for
medicine production
The U.K. will create a $75 million center of
excellence for small-molecule pharmaceuti-
cal and fine chemicals manufacturing near
Glasgow, Scotland. The center aims to help
industry, academia, health care providers,
People involved and regulators
pose at the launch address challenges
of the Medicines in the medicine
Manufacturing
Innovation Center.
supply chain. Us-
ers will be able to
evaluate processes
using continuous, autonomous, and digital
technologies. Creation of the center, which
will generate up to 80 jobs, will begin this
summer and continue for three years. It’s
backed by a consortium featuring the Uni-
versity of Strathclyde, AstraZeneca, and
GlaxoSmithKline.—ALEX SCOTT
ANTIBIOTICS
▸▸ Novartis to end
anti-infectives R&D
Novartis has decided to exit antibacterial
and antiviral research. About 140 related
jobs are being eliminated in Emeryville,
Calif.; about 150 jobs will remain in the
San Francisco Bay Area at the Novartis
Institute for Tropical Diseases and at de-
partments that support efforts focused on
difficult targets. The firm says it is talking
to other companies about out-licensing its
antibiotic programs. They include LYS228,
a compound that is being tested in clinical
trials for its ability to kill Gram-negative
bacteria.—MICHAEL MCCOY

Business Roundup will improve the safety,

performance, and price of
lithium-ion electric-vehicle
three-dimensional printing
of plastics.

▸▸ Solvay will spend $56 mil-
lion to modernize the cogen-
eration plant at its soda ash
and sodium bicarbonate fa-
cility in Bernburg, Germany.
The firm says the project will
boost the site’s long-term
competitiveness.
C R E D I T: UN I V E RS IT Y OF ST RAT H C LYD E
▸▸ AkzoNobel plans a second
expansion of chlorometh-
anes capacity in Frankfurt
that will raise capacity by up
to 50%. The firm recently
completed a project there
that boosted output of meth-
ylene chloride, chloroform,
batteries.
▸▸ BASF plans to increase
capacity for Irganox 1010, an
antioxidant, by 40% at sites
in Singapore and Switzer-
land. The sterically hindered
phenolic antioxidant is add-
▸▸ Otsuka Pharmaceutical
will acquire Visterra for
about $430 million. Otsuka
says Visterra’s Hierotope
technology enables the
design of precision anti-
body-based therapies.

and carbon tetrachloride. ed to a variety of plastics. ▸▸ AstraZeneca, the Uni-

▸▸ Arlanxeo will spend close
to $100 million to modernize
a polybutadiene facility in
Brazil and a nitrile butadiene
rubber facility in France. Ar-
lanxeo is a synthetic rubber
joint venture between Saudi
Aramco and Lanxess.
▸▸ Ionic Materials, a maker of
solid-state polymer battery
electrolytes, has received an
undisclosed investment from
the venture arm of Hyun-
dai Motor. The automaker
says the start-up’s material
▸▸ BASF has acquired Ad-
vanc3D Materials and Setup
Performance, two European
firms that make products
for laser sintering. BASF
says the purchases contin-
ue its expansion into the
versity of Cambridge, and
the Dutch firm Lumicks will
form a center of excellence
for dynamic single-molecule
analysis. The center will be
based around Lumicks’s
C-Trap optical tweezers-fluo­
rescence microscope.

JULY 16, 2018 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN 15

 Policy Concentrates
REGULATION
High court nominee likely
to limit agency authority
Brett Kavanaugh viewed as reliably
conservative, deferent to presidential power
If confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court,
U.S. District Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh
will be reliably conservative and show def-
erence to presidential power, legal schol-
ars say. He is also likely to limit authority
of regulatory agencies such as EPA and
OSHA.
Kavanaugh has served for 12 years on
the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. He has
voiced skepticism about the validity of
several key environmental laws. Among
them is the Clean Power Plan, which
seeks to reduce carbon dioxide emission
from coal-fired power plants, notes Ann
Carlson, a UCLA law school professor and
environmental law expert. Kavanaugh also
POLICY
Scandal-plagued chief
leaves U.S. EPA
Scott Pruitt’s efforts to weaken pollution
controls expected to endure
Dogged by scandal, the first EPA chief of
the Trump administration, Scott Pruitt,
has resigned. But his work to loosen the
agency’s regulatory grip on industry will
likely advance.
Pruitt resigned effective July 6 amid
more than a dozen federal investigations
into alleged ethical lapses, his lavish
spending of taxpayer money, and contro-
versial policies he put in place during his
roughly 16 months at EPA. Among them
is a probe by congressional investigators
into Pruitt’s change in the makeup of
EPA’s outside science advisory groups.
Pruitt dropped many academic research-
ers and replaced them with representa-
tives from industry and state regulatory
agencies.
In his resignation letter, Pruitt writes
that “the unrelenting attacks on me per-
sonally, my family, are unprecedented and
16 C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | JULY 16, 2018
voted to strike down the Clean Air Inter-
state Rule, which regulates cross-border
pollution from power plants—a decision
that was later overturned by the Supreme
Court, Carlson adds.
Kavanaugh “may believe that global
warming is a real problem, but he’s not
going to recognize EPA’s power to do much
at all to regulate greenhouse gases,” Carl-
son says.
Similarly, in a 2013 district court opin-
ion, Kavanaugh sought to limit OSHA’s
authority to regulate workplace safety,
according to Jordan Barab, a former OSHA
deputy administrator. In a blog post, Barab
notes that Kavanaugh argued that OSHA
have taken a sizable toll on all of us.”
Leading the agency since February
2017, Pruitt acted steadily to implement
President Donald J. Trump’s directive to
slash “unnecessary and burdensome” reg-
ulations. Activists on the left, meanwhile,
contend that this is undermining health
and environmental protections.
Pruitt’s departure, however, likely won’t
mean a change from the deregulatory path
that he set i­ f Congress doesn’t intervene.
“The ideological fervor with which
Pruitt pursued the destruction of environ-
mental regulations and the agency itself
live on in the Trump administration,” says
Environmental Working Group President
Ken Cook.
EPA’s second-in-command, Andrew
Wheeler, took the reins as interim agency
head on July 9. Wheeler is widely seen as
a politically savvy Washington insider who
U.S. President actions against
Donald J. Trump Sea World for a
(background) trainer’s death
nominated Brett were “arbitrary and
M. Kavanaugh for capricious,” as the
the Supreme Court trainer had accept-
on July 9. ed the risk of death
as part of her job
and OSHA had no legal authority to regu-
late dangerous entertainment.
The other justices disagreed, pointing
out that Sea World was indeed covered
by OSHA and the law creating OSHA puts
the duty on employers to create a safe
workplace, not on employees to choose
whether to accept death as part of the
job.—JEFF JOHNSON, special to C&EN
Pruitt Wheeler
C R E D I T: AS S OC I ATE D P R ES S ( KAVA N AUG H ) ; U.S . E PA ( P RUI T T A N D WH EE LE R )
effectively pushes the interests of the fos-
sil-fuel industry.
Wheeler is a former lobbyist for coal
company Murray Energy and was chief of
staff for Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), a
leading denier of human-caused climate
change. Wheeler also worked in EPA’s
pesticides and chemicals program for four
years under the administrations of George
H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
“We have full confidence in Acting
Administrator Andrew Wheeler to carry
President Trump’s important EPA reform
agenda forward,” says Myron Ebell of the
Competitive Enterprise Institute, a liber-
tarian group that is skeptical that humans
are causing climate change.
Trump has yet to nominate a new EPA
chief, a position Wheeler has said he does
not want.—CHERYL HOGUE
 TOXICOLOGY
▸▸ Big-data mining
predicts toxicity
better than animals
Algorithms derived from large databases
of chemical structure and toxicity rela-
tionships may be better at predicting the
toxicity of chemicals than individual an-
imal tests, according to a study by scien-
tists at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School
of Public Health (Toxicol. Sci. 2018, DOI:
10.1093/toxsci/kfy152). The study relies
on the world’s largest machine-readable
chemical database, created by the team
two years ago. The researchers used ma-
chine-learning algorithms to read across
structure and toxicity information for
about 10,000 chemicals from 800,000
toxicology tests. They then created
software to predict whether any given
chemical is likely to cause skin irritation,
DNA damage, or other toxic effects. The
software was on average about 87% ac-
curate in predicting consensus results
for nine common toxicity tests that
use animals. The actual animal tests
averaged only about 81% accuracy, the
authors report. This is “big news for tox-
icology,” principal investigator Thomas
Hartung, a professor in the Department
of Environmental Health & Engineer-
ing at the Bloomberg School, says in a
C R E D I T: LAWR E N CE LI V ER M O R E N AT I O N A L LA B O RATO RY ( LAS E R LA B); W I L L LU DW I G/C& E N (I L LU ST RAT I O N )
press release. “These results are a real
eye-opener—they suggest that we can
replace many animal tests with comput-
er-based prediction and get more reliable
results.”—BRITT ERICKSON
RESEARCH FUNDING
▸▸ U.K. loss of
scientists predicted
In addition to a predicted economic
hit, the U.K. is facing a brain drain as
it exits the European Union, officials
warned July 11 at a scientific meeting. Tal-
ent-strapped universities and companies
across the EU “will shop in the U.K.,” said
Robert-Jan Smits, the European Commis-
sion’s former research and innovation
chief. “If anyone is thinking about leaving
[the U.K.], think about Ireland,” the Irish
government’s Chief Science Adviser Mark
W. J. Ferguson said to an audience of
mainly European researchers attending
the EuroScience Open Forum in Toulouse,
France. Rebecca Endean, strategy director
for the U.K. Research & Innovation agency,
MATERIALS
The U.S. National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory has set a new record, pumping 2.15 MJ of energy into its
target chamber (shown, with target positioner). Its previous record was 1.9 MJ,
set in 2012. NIF’s two major purposes are to explore fusion energy and enable ex-
periments to ensure the safety and viability of the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal.
“NIF’s users are always asking to use more energy in their experiments, because
higher energies enhance the science NIF can deliver” to support nuclear weapons
stewardship, NIF Director Mark Herrmann says.
told the meeting that the British govern- PUBLISHING
ment is committed to scientific coopera-
tion with the EU as well as with individual ▸▸ Peer review shake-up
countries through bilateral agreements.
Heads of EU countries in October will con- The life sciences journal eLife is trying out
sider terms for Brexit, including whether to a radical approach to peer review. Rather
allow the U.K. to remain in the EU’s Hori- than deciding whether to publish a paper
zon 2020 research program. Regardless of after peer review, an editor’s decision
the details of the U.K.-EU split, “there is to send a paper for peer review will be a
no deal we can negotiate that is as good commitment to eventually publish it. The
as what we have now” as an EU member trial is optional and aims to recruit 300
state, said Anne Glover, a molecular biolo- papers. In the trial, the editor and refer-
gist who is president of the Royal Society ees will agree on what they want authors
of Edinburgh. Glover said she has applied to address. The authors can then make
for an Irish passport.—CHERYL HOGUE revisions, including more experiments; re-
spond to criticisms; or withdraw the paper
completely. The referee reports, editor’s
decision letter, and authors’ response will
be published alongside the final article.
Reviewers can choose whether to remain
anonymous. The aim is to give more
power to authors, say eLife editors Mark
Patterson and Randy Schekman in an ed-
itorial. They also hope it will strengthen
the review process, with referees gaining
Brexit leaves a reputation for the advice they give. Ob-
a cloud of servers welcome the trial with caution.
uncertainty Raghuveer Parthasarathy, a physicist from
over U.K. the University of Oregon, worries that
academic
journal editors sifting through initial sub-
science.
missions are given more power. “It may
bias the system further towards flashy
papers from well-connected authors,” he
says.—KATHARINE SANDERSON, special
to C&EN
JULY 16, 2018 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN 17
 Features
Four workers died from
exposure to leaking methyl
mercaptan at this DuPont
plant in La Porte, Texas, in
November 2014. CSB made
interim recommendations in
2015 but still has not issued
a final report.

INDUSTRIAL SAFETY

Changes on tap at U.S.

Chemical Safety Board
Chair departs, investigators leave, clearing out these reports and declined to
begin new investigations. CSB began new
staff fears changing mission investigations again in 2016.
Now, as Sutherland departs, nine acci-
JEFF JOHNSON, special to C&EN dent reports are in process—one of which

A
occurred in 2014, before she took over
fter a briefing in late June, Vanessa Allen Sutherland the board. That accident at a DuPont site
involved a chemical process mix-up in
formally ended her three-year stint as chair of the U.S. which methyl mercaptan was accidentally
Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board (CSB). She released, killing four workers. The incident
described her term on the board as a “fix-it” role for the led the Occupational Safety & Health Ad-
ministration (OSHA) in 2015 to label Du-
small independent government agency, which investigates chemically Pont a severe violator of workplace safety
related industrial accidents. regulations, a consequence that increased
She refused to say exactly why she cut and let the agency refocus on what it does enforcement scrutiny and fines. However,
short her five-year board term other than best—investigations that go beyond iden- CSB has yet to finalize its report.
a need for more time for her family. How- tifying degraded pipes or broken valves to Sutherland claimed that the nine out-
ever, rail transportation company Norfolk reveal the deeper causes of incidents, such standing reports are nearly complete—
Southern announced on June 25 that as a plant culture of ignoring safety alerts. further along, she said, than were the six
Sutherland was joining the company as a As she departs, however, trouble may when she arrived. She added that an agen-
C R E D I T: ST R I NG E R /R E UT E RS / N EWS CO M

vice president.
Sutherland took over board leadership
in 2015 after a period when CSB was un-
der attack by members of Congress and
federal oversight agencies. U.S. President
Barack Obama had called for the resig-
nation of the board’s then leader, whom
Sutherland replaced.
CSB stakeholders hoped that Suther-
land’s arrival would calm the turbulence
again be brewing.
Before Sutherland became chair, com-
plaints reported to Congress by unnamed
CSB staff alleged mismanagement and
internal disruption. Criticism also cen-
tered on delayed accident investigation
reports. When Sutherland arrived in 2015,
six reports were incomplete, one of which
stretched back six years.
In her first year, Sutherland emphasized
cy such as CSB will always have accident
investigations in process.
Sutherland also embarked on a program
more broadly to streamline investigations
and issue more timely reports. Those
changes are in flux, according to Kristen
Kulinowski, the board member who took
over as interim executive after Suther-
land’s departure.
“I am comfortable in being able to step

18 C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | JULY 16, 2018

down at this time,” Sutherland said at the
June briefing. CSB is in a place where new
leadership can easily take the next step to
make the board more efficient, innovative,
and successful, she said.
Both Kulinowski and Sutherland em-
phasized the difficulty of running a small
federal agency with merely 32 staff and an
$11 million budget. The hiring and retain-
ing of staff, long-term budgeting, and stra-
tegic planning have been extremely dif-
ficult for the board, which has never had
sufficient funds to meet its investigative
requirements under law. Federal reports
have found the universe of accidents that
qualify for CSB investigation can reach 150
or more a year, far beyond the half dozen
CSB has resources to investigate.
Those preexisting challenges have been
exacerbated under President Donald J.
Trump, who has twice proposed eliminat-
ing CSB. In both cases, Congress stepped in
to fund the agency and keep it alive, but the
uncertainty has contributed to the agency’s
instability, Sutherland and Kulinowski said.
Additionally, the White House must nomi-
nate a new chair and other board members,
and Trump is unlikely to do so. Of the three
remaining board members, Manuel (Man-
ny) Ehrlich’s and Rick Engler’s terms end
in December 2019, and Kulinowski’s term
ends in August 2020, just months before
the next presidential election. By statute,
CSB should have five board members.
The board also appears to be facing a
revolt among some staff over declining staff
numbers and fears that CSB is changing
its mission. In interviews with C&EN and
in an anonymous memo prepared by “six
senior CSB investigators” and obtained
by C&EN, CSB critics lodged a litany of
complaints against board management. The
critics allege reduced quality of accident in-
vestigations and reports, degrading working
conditions, mismanagement, and waste.
In the anonymous memo, the senior
investigators note that since Sutherland
arrived three years ago, the number of ac-
cident investigators has declined through
attrition and resignations from 20 to 12.
Meanwhile, they continue, CSB hired
five management specialists and human
resources experts. The investigators also
see a general trend toward briefer inves-
tigations and reports. They cite a growing
focus by management on the immediate
and direct cause of an accident, such as a
broken pipe or gauge, rather than a detailed
root-cause review that uncovers the overall
conditions that led to an accident.
Such deeper investigations and reports
have been CSB’s bread and butter. Many
CSB investigations and reviews have
revealed industry-wide poor practices,
long-ignored company conditions, and timeliness must be improved, she said.
regulatory shortcomings that led to an ac- She added that she was unaware of staff
cident. Frequently, CSB investigators found complaints regarding top management. “I
that avoidable conditions that triggered always have an open door,” she said, “and
deadly accidents had been discovered but will listen to any staff complaint and take
not addressed by companies years before it from there.”
the accidents occurred. Investigators have CSB is the only body worldwide
also identified significant gaps in industry dedicated solely to investigating large
regulations. Companies or regulators are chemically related industrial accidents
unlikely to point fingers at themselves, and publishing their causes. It makes rec-
but uncovering such information lays the ommendations without issuing fines or
groundwork for safety improvements, ac- regulations. Other organizations examine
cording to several former and current CSB industrial accidents, but they are regula-
investigators. tors that issue fines or companies them-
In the memo and interviews, investi- selves. Neither are likely to reveal their
gators say they believe expert peer and own flaws.
stakeholder review of draft reports will be CSB’s independence is a strength for the
Investigations incomplete
Since CSB was first funded in 1998, the agency has completed and issued reports on
nearly 100 investigations. These nine were in progress as of C&EN’s deadline.
DATE COMPANY LOCATION DESCRIPTION
Nov. 15, 2014 DuPont La Porte, Texas Methyl mercaptan, used to manufacture pesticides, was
released. The incident killed four workers and injured a fifth.
CSB issued an interim report in 2015.
June 27, 2016 Enterprise Products Moss Point, Explosions and fire occurred at a natural gas distribution
Partners Miss. facility. No injuries were reported.
Aug. 12, 2016 Sunoco Logistics Nederland, Texas Flash fire occurred during welding of a crude oil pipeline at
Partners an oil terminal. Seven workers were injured, three critically.
April 2, 2017 Loy Lange Box St. Louis Steam explosion launched a pressure vessel, killing one
worker and three members of the public.
May 24, 2017 Midland Resource Philippi, W.Va. Waste tank exploded during draining, killing two workers
Recovery and severely injuring another. Another worker was killed at
the same site one month later.
May 31, 2017 Didion Milling Cambria, Wis. Combustible dust exploded at a corn processing plant,
killing five workers and injuring 14 more.
Jan. 21, 2018 Red Mountain Operating Quinton, Okla. Gas well drilling operation exploded, killing five workers.
April 26, 2018 Husky Energy Superior, Wis. Explosion in a fluid catalytic cracking unit during
maintenance injured several workers. Thousands of nearby
residents were asked to evacuate.
May 19, 2018 Kuraray America Pasadena, Texas Explosion at a facility that manufactures ethylene vinyl
alcohol copolymers injured 21 workers.
Source: csb.gov, accessed July 5, 2018.
curbed or eliminated. They are also con- agency but also a problem that stretches
cerned that a proposed shift to outsourc- back to its birth as part of 1990 amend-
ing report writing will reduce accuracy. ments to the Clean Air Act. CSB was not
The staff also say tension between staff funded until 1998, after a series of New
and management has been heightened by Jersey industrial accidents. The accidents
top managers recently brought in from were investigated by the U.S. Environmen-
other federal agencies. Those managers tal Protection Agency and OSHA, but their
have devalued their work and have little reviews were slow and inadequate, leading
experience in industrial accident investi- then-president Bill Clinton to provide
gations, staff say. $3 million for CSB’s first year.
Kulinowski countered those allegations Since then, CSB has endured criti-
at the briefing and at a CSB business cism and threats of elimination—with
meeting in July, saying that hiring and support frequently coming only after an
replacing lost staff is her top priority. Her accident with severe consequences for a
goal is to hire six new investigators over plant, its workers, and the surrounding
the next year, eventually bringing the total community.
up to 22. Kulinowski also stressed that the
focus on root-cause investigations will Jeff Johnson is a freelance writer based in
continue. But for reports to be relevant, Washington, D.C.
JULY 16, 2018 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN 19
 Cefic President Hariolf Kottmann (left)
and ECHA Executive Director Bjorn
Hansen recently signed an agreement to
work more closely together on REACH.

CHEMICAL REGULATION

Industry learns to love REACH

Supporting the chemical management law is good is ECHA’s agreement to bring its experts
and those from industry together to discuss
for competitiveness, Europe’s industry now says critical issues about a substance ahead of
any regulatory decision or ECHA opinion.
ALEX SCOTT, C&EN LONDON The alliance was formed just weeks
after the May 31 deadline for chemical

T
he European Chemical Indus-
try Council (Cefic), Europe’s
leading chemical industry as-
sociation, has made a U-turn in
its view of REACH, Europe’s Registration,
Evaluation, Authorisation & Restriction of
Chemicals legislation. After years of kick-
ing and screaming to resist REACH—the
biggest and most expensive body of chem-
icals regulation ever introduced—Cefic
has emerged as its biggest advocate.
Cefic Director General Marco Mensink
and his colleagues now argue that if chem-
ical firms around the world buy into a
REACH-style system, which requires safe-
ty data on individual substances, then Eu-
ropean chemical firms will be able to show
that their products are among the safest
and should face fewer barriers to trade.
This attitude marks an about-face in
Cefic’s approach to REACH, industry crit-
ics say. REACH was conceived in the 1990s
on June 1, 2007, and is administered by the
European Chemicals Agency, or ECHA.
“When the concept of REACH was
introduced, there was an element of scare-
mongering on the industry side,” recalls
Axel Singhofen, adviser on health and en-
vironment policy for both the Green Party
and the European Free Alliance party in
the European Parliament.
That may be, but Cefic is keen to leave
such history behind. “Going in peace might
not be the worst way for the industry and
the European Chemicals Agency to go to-
gether,” Mensink told delegates recently at
the Helsinki Chemicals Forum, a meeting
on European chemicals regulation.
The heads of Cefic and ECHA formal-
ized their positions at the Helsinki meet-
ing by agreeing to an alliance on REACH.
They signed a joint agreement to cooper-
ate further on improving the implementa-
tion of REACH by sharing chemical safety
companies in Europe to register hazard
data on thousands of chemicals they pro-
duce in volumes of 1 to 100 metric tons
per year. The deadline, the third of three,
marks the completion of the regulation’s
multi-billion-dollar, 10-year program of
data gathering for more than 21,000 exist-
ing chemicals.
Cefic hopes the alliance will lead to a
streamlining of the process of registering
chemicals under REACH, making it more
straightforward for companies outside
Europe to adopt. Meanwhile, ECHA is
encouraging regulators outside the EU to
adopt their own REACH-style chemical
management systems.
The U.S. is one country that is not
about to join the REACH hug-in. Mensink
pointed out that at last month’s annual
meeting of the American Chemistry Coun-
cil, the main trade association for the U.S.
chemical industry, CEO Cal Dooley hailed
C R E D I T: EC HA

as a way to regulate chemicals in the Euro- data and striving to improve the scientific the U.S. regulatory environment as a key
pean Union and encourage substitution of assessment of some substances. competitive advantage over Europe.
dangerous substances. It entered into force A key benefit of the alliance for industry The Toxic Substances Control Act, the

20 C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | JULY 16, 2018

central piece of U.S. chemical regulation,
is less prescriptive than REACH. It also fits
with President Donald J. Trump’s desire for
a light touch in the regulation of business.
Indifference to REACH by the U.S.
wasn’t the only gripe Mensink aired. Pro-
moting the regulation in other parts of the
world also faces challenges, he said. One
problem is that REACH has plenty of de-
tractors in its own backyard. Some Europe-
an member states fail to acknowledge that
REACH ensures product safety, he said.
“Not everyone is yet on board,” Men-
sink said. “Not everyone likes the way
industry operates. Member states should
support the outcome of REACH.”
The Cefic leader also took aim at envi-
ronmental groups that publish alternative
lists of chemicals to those recognized as
substances of very high concern under
REACH. These are a distraction and un-
dermine REACH, Mensink said. “Don’t
make alternative lists,” he warned.
For REACH is to be highly regarded
around the world, public criticism of
the chemical data dossiers that compa-
nies submit to ECHA also needs to stop,
Mensink said. Rather, ECHA should give
industry “a few years” to ensure all the
data dossiers meet the required standard
before ECHA reviews them, he said.
Mensink’s wish list extends to the edu- the data generated under REACH more
cation of other countries by the European usable for industry. One example is im-
Commission on the benefits of REACH. proving the usability of safety data sheets,
“We need a smart foreign REACH policy,” which stipulate how certain substances
he said. “The EU should put some money should be managed and handled, Hansen
on the ground to explain what REACH is.” said.
If chemical companies from outside Eu- Whether REACH or REACH-like stan-
rope are to take REACH seriously, better dards make their way beyond Europe’s
enforcement is needed borders ultimately may
to ensure that chemi-
cals imported into the “Not everyone is be out of the hands
of Cefic and ECHA
EU comply with the
regulation. “You have yet on board.” and instead in those
of the banking sector.
to make sure you en- —Marco Mensink, director Banks increasingly
force it, following up general, Cefic will require chemical
with checks at borders. firms building new
There is no benefit for the REACH brand if plants to have first-class compliance with
we comply in Europe but do not do checks regulatory systems and environmental
on imports,” Mensink said. standards—such as REACH—in place, said
ECHA acknowledged some of Mensink’s David Williamson, associate director and
points, albeit with a less combative tone. head of environment and sustainability for
Bjorn Hansen, ECHA’s recently appointed the European Bank for Reconstruction &
executive director, highlighted the need to Development, speaking at the event.
work with the European chemical industry Cefic, though, isn’t relying on the banks.
to promote a competitive environment and It is urging the EU to encourage chemical
encourage innovation through REACH. regulators around the world—especially
One way ECHA could facilitate such com- China, with its huge chemical industry—to
petition is by working with industry to adopt REACH-style regulations. The intro-
identify at a far earlier stage whether a new duction of a communications center for
or existing substance is toxic, he said. REACH in China, as proposed by industry
ECHA is also looking at ways to make in Helsinki, may not be far away. ◾
JULY 16, 2018 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN 21

INVESTMENT
A carbon fiber cluster
grows in South Carolina
Teijin breaks ground on a $600 million plant as
demand grows for the strong, lightweight material
MARC S. REISCH, C&EN NEW YORK CITY
A
t the June 1 groundbreaking for Teijin’s
$600 million carbon fiber plant in Green-
wood, S.C., the local high school orchestra
serenaded guests. Flags from the U.S. and
Japan, Teijin’s home country, flanked the podium.
Gov. Henry McMaster told the 75 people sitting
under a fan-cooled tent how proud he was “to have a
new partner join us.” And the Japanese consul gener-
al in Atlanta, Takashi Shinozuka, greeted the crowd
with a “Good morning, y’all,” relating that in Japan,
“South Carolina is well known as a great place to do
business.”
Certainly, South Carolina seems like a great place for
carbon fiber producers to do business. Just two years
before Teijin broke ground, fellow Japanese firm Toray
Industries started work on a $1.4 billion plant in Spar-
tanburg. And Solvay, which has been producing carbon
fiber in nearby Greenville since 1981, expanded in 2016.
Consultants attribute the unusual carbon fiber
buildup to the state’s business-friendly policies, low
taxes, and moderate energy costs.
The three companies are also taking advantage of
global trends that favor use of composites of plastic
and carbon fiber in airplanes, wind turbines, and elec-
tric vehicles. The fiber’s high strength relative to its
weight makes it an alternative to steel and aluminum.
However, some users indicate that high prices are the
fiber’s Achilles’ heel and could slow its adoption, es-
pecially in automotive uses.
22 C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | JULY 16, 2018
Carbon fiber spools
staged for packaging.
Solvay makes the fiber
in Greenville, S.C.
Teijin’s choice of Greenwood as the
site for its fiber plant has a historical res-
onance for the county and the state. Once
upon a time, a great deal of South Caroli-
na business centered on the textile fiber
industry. In Greenwood, the local textile
“South Carolina mill loomed large over the town’s business
landscape. But not anymore.
is the least The world has changed, and though
Greenwood Mills still exists, many of the
costly of the jobs associated with the apparel industry
have migrated to Asia.
48 contiguous Other echoes of the textile past live
U.S. states for on in South Carolina. The Ascend Perfor-
mance Materials nylon plant in Green-
manufacturing.” wood, dating to 1960, continues to employ
nearly 500 workers who provide industrial
—John Boyd, principal, and carpet fibers to regional customers.
Boyd Co. But since 1990, Greenwood has begun
to support some high-technology opera-
tions. They include Fujifilm’s North Amer-
ican research and printing-plate operations
and a gelatin-capsule-making facility run
by the pharmaceutical services firm Lonza.
South Carolina in general has embraced
high-technology manufacturing. The state
hosts one of BMW’s largest auto assembly
plants. Aircraft maker Boeing assem-
bles its Dreamliner wide-body plane in
Charleston. Both companies happen to use
carbon fiber. According to the South Car-
C R E D I T: S O LVAY
olina Department of Commerce, 66,000
people work in automotive jobs and
108,000 in aerospace jobs in the state.
At the June groundbreaking, Green-
 wood’s textile past aligned with a high-tech The company started to scout for new However, a recent move by BMW sug-
future. Like Greenwood, 100-year-old Tei- sites as it was running out of room at its gests that at least some in the auto indus-
jin has textiles in its blood, getting its start fiber operations in Decatur, Ala., according try are having second thoughts about wide
making rayon fiber. The firm began produc- to Yasuo Suga, senior vice president of use of carbon fiber. In November 2017,
ing carbon fiber in Japan in 1975 and has Toray’s advanced composite division. BMW sold its 49% stake in an automotive
made it in Rockwood, Tenn., since 2004. Another reason was the proximity of carbon fiber joint venture to its partner,
Teijin executives at the groundbreaking Boeing’s composite-making operations in the German carbon fiber maker SGL.
told C&EN that the plant should start up Charleston, Suga added. The Spartanburg BMW said it would continue to buy
in 2020. The company expects to employ plant will begin to supply Boeing in 2019 carbon products from SGL for its high-end
220 people by 2030. after going through the aircraft maker’s i3, i8, and 7 Series automobiles and that it
Production from the plant will at first accreditation process, he said. would maintain its 18% interest in SGL.
supply aerospace composite customers, John Boyd, principal at Boyd Co., a loca- But it also indicated in 2016 that carbon
said Toshiya Koyama, head of the com- tion consulting firm, is not surprised that fiber is too expensive a raw material for
pany’s material business group. Within South Carolina ranks high on carbon fiber lower-priced cars.
10 years, the firm expects to make auto- makers’ site list. “South Carolina is the Still, consultants are gung ho on car-
motive-grade fiber. For the time being, the least costly of the 48 contiguous U.S. states bon fiber growth. While producers have
raw material to make the fiber, polyacry- for manufacturing,” he said. Other bene- an excess of capacity today, by 2025 de-
lonitrile (PAN), will come from Teijin’s fits are the low rates of unionization and mand for the fiber will outstrip capacity,
plant in Mishima, Japan. The firm could the Port of Charleston, which he calls one according to Cecilia Gee, an analyst with
decide in the future to make
PAN at the Greenwood site.
While much of Teijin’s car-
bon fiber now goes to custom-
ers who make composite parts,
Koyama said the firm’s strategy
is to move downstream into
composites itself. To make that
plan a reality, Teijin bought
Continental Structural Plastics
(CSP) in 2016 for $825 million.
Michigan-based CSP is al-
ready a supplier of composite
components to automakers.
Most of CSP’s composites are
reinforced with glass fiber. But
CSP is making a limited num-
ber of carbon-fiber-reinforced
cargo beds for the 2019 GMC
Sierra Denali pickup trucks.
The notion of the cargo bed The base plate and interior of the GMC Sierra’s cargo box is made of a carbon fiber composite and
actually emerged from a carbon is 28 kg lighter than the steel version.
composite research alliance
Teijin formed with General Motors in 2011. of the best managed and least congested the market research firm Lux Research.
The CSP acquisition provided the means ports on the East Coast. Gee expects greater use of carbon fiber
to make a carbon composite cargo bed to Also figuring into the Japanese makers’ among automakers through 2020 as they
replace GMC’s steel version. Koyama said choice to locate in the state is the relatively take advantage of the fiber’s light weight
the cargo bed project bodes well for Tei- low cost of shipping carbon fiber, said Dan and strength. Likely uses are high-impact
jin’s future auto composite plans. Pichler, a carbon fiber expert at CarbCon- or structural components like driveshafts
Given all the carbon fiber soon to come sult. The fibers range in cost from about or the chassis.
from South Carolina, the question of over- $17 per kilogram for industrial-grade fiber Gee is enthusiastic about the growth of
supply arises. The Solvay plant and the to $80 for most aerospace-grade material. carbon fiber in the wind energy market,
Teijin and Toray plants under construction It costs “only 1 to 2% of the fiber’s value to which she predicts will surpass the aero-
are all within 100 km of each other. ship it anywhere in the world,” he said. space and automotive markets in both
Shukei Inui, manager of Teijin’s carbon And carbon fiber is set for a significant tonnage and value. Strong government
fiber business unit, pointed out that carbon increase in demand, Pichler said. He ex- support and zooming offshore installations
fiber is a worldwide commodity. At least in pects global fiber consumption to more are behind the growth, she said.
Teijin’s case, the plan is to export some of than double from 60,000 metric tons in Yes, high fiber costs are holding back
C R E D I T: GE N ERA L MOTO RS

the fiber to other countries. The decision to 2015 to about 150,000 metric tons in 2025. growth. But while “cost reduction from
locate in Greenwood had mostly to do with Industrial applications, including for process and other improvements is not
utility and labor costs plus state incentives automotive, wind turbine, and other high- coming on-line as quickly as we thought,”
and support from community leaders. tech uses, will account for the lion’s share she said, carbon fiber is still “on a positive
Teijin competitor Toray also cites of growth, Pichler predicted. Aerospace trajectory now.”
strong government support as a reason for use will continue to grow, but other indus- If she’s right, all the bets on South Car-
setting up its fiber plant in Spartanburg. trial uses will outshine it, he said. olina should pay off. ◾

JULY 16, 2018 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN 23

ENERGY STORAGE
C&EN talks
with Amy
Prieto, battery
innovator
Colorado State chemist
discusses her next-generation
lithium-ion technology
PRACHI PATEL, special to C&EN
A
my Prieto decided to pursue battery re-
search when she started as an assistant
professor of chemistry at Colorado State
University in 2005. The field was a perfect
bridge between her Ph.D. studies in solid-state materi-
als for electronic devices and her postdoctoral work in
measuring transport properties of nanostructured ma-
terials. It turned out to be a fruitful decision. She has
patented novel battery materials and a unique man-
ufacturing process that together revamp decades-old
lithium-ion technology. Her lithium-ion battery, built
on a foundation of electroplated copper foam, is more
flexible, safer, less expensive, and more environmen-
tally friendly than batteries currently on the market.
In 2009, just four years after embarking on her
research, she founded a company, Prieto Battery, to
develop the technology for commercial use. The start-
up caught the eyes of the power-tool manufacturer
Stanley Black & Decker and the computer technology
giant Intel, both of which invested in the technology
in 2016. Prachi Patel talked with Prieto about her in-
novative technology and business plans.
Why give lithium-ion batteries a makeover?
Current batteries are limited by their materials and
architectures. In your cell phone or laptop, you have
a battery made of flat layers. If you want it to store a
lot of energy, you have to make the layers thick, which
means the battery doesn’t charge very quickly. And if
you want to make it fast, you have to make those lay-
ers thin, but then you cannot store very much energy.
We wanted to make a device without these trade-
offs so your phone battery could last a whole day and
you’d be able to charge it in 10 minutes instead of an
hour. That’s critical for larger-scale energy storage ap-
plications like electric vehicles or my ultimate dream:
battery banks for wind and solar farms.
How did you start thinking about this problem?
Originally, I was not thinking about something
that could be commercialized quickly but was look-
ing for enriching research for my students and post-
24 C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | JULY 16, 2018
Vitals
▸▸Birthplace: Bogotá, Colombia
▸▸Hometown: Fort Collins, Colo.
▸▸Studies: B.A., chemistry
and philosophy, Williams
College, 1996; Ph.D., inorganic
chemistry, University of
California, Berkeley, 2001
▸▸Professional highlights:
Postdoctoral research fellow,
Harvard University, 2002–05;
professor, Colorado State
University, 2005–present;
founder, CEO, and chief
scientific officer, Prieto Battery,
2009–present
▸▸Why battery research is
fun: I love the kinds of problems
where theorists have predicted
some property or somebody has
sketched a battery architecture,
but no one knows how to make
the materials go together. It’s a
lot like cooking, which I love.
▸▸On getting the Presidential
Early Career Award for
Scientists & Engineers
(2012) at the White House:
It was incredible on many levels.
I was fortunate to receive the
award from President Obama,
who gave a moving speech
about the incredible need for
diversity in science, which I feel
strongly about.
docs. From the beginning, we wanted a
manufacturing method that was scalable
and environmentally friendly and did not
require expensive capital equipment, high
temperatures, or long processing times. So
we decided on electroplating, a really good
method to deposit ions from a solution
onto an immersed surface using electric
current. It’s never been used for batter-
ies, but it is used for coating jewelry, car
parts, and interconnects on semiconductor
chips.
Today’s batteries use flat metal sheets
that are coated with anode and cathode ma-
terials. We start with a three-dimensional
copper foam, which has a high surface area
because it is porous, so you can get more
capacity in the same footprint as a standard
battery. But you can still have fast charge
and discharge because ions move through
the porous foam easily.
The foam goes into our electroplating
bath containing an aqueous solution of
citric acid with dissolved copper and an-
timony salts. Those salts deposit on the
foam surface as copper antimonide, a
known anode material. All these materials
C R E D I T: KAT I E H O FF N ER / P R I ETO BAT TE RY
are nontoxic. Antimony by itself is not the
most environmentally friendly, but it’s
very stable in copper antimonide. Next,
we electrochemically coat the foam with a
proprietary polymer that we formulated,
which acts as the electrolyte and the elec-
trode separator. Finally, we coat the foam
with a slurry of cathode materials, includ-
ing lithium cobalt oxide and lithium nickel
manganese cobalt oxide, which we buy
from suppliers.
Many others are pursuing novel lithium
battery chemistries. What gives your
design an edge?
A key aspect is that electroplating
allows us to customize our battery vol-
ume and make it in a variety of sizes and
shapes. We can control the thickness of
the anode coating based on the amount
of charge we pass during electroplating.
There are many applications, such as wear-
We provide the next step for lithium-ion batteries by
mostly using chemistry that’s understood today.
able devices, where device designers are
limited because they cannot find batteries
that conform to the volume requirements.
We can let designers daydream and make a
battery that fits their space constraint.
Another big advantage of our battery is
safety. Most batteries today have graphite
anodes. If you overcharge them, you can
get lithium plating on the graphite surface.
These metal deposits form spiky growths
called dendrites that cause a short circuit,
which can lead to battery fires. Copper
antimonide takes up lithium ions during
charging in a way that doesn’t allow lithi-
um plating. It is also thermally conductive,
so it dissipates heat and helps the battery
handle overheating. Plus, this is a sol-
id-state battery, so we don’t have flamma-
ble liquid electrolytes.
Some people in the battery industry
are working on new chemistries that are
critical for technologies that we will need
in 10–20 years. And others are optimizing
the engineering of current batteries to get
a couple percent improvement every year.
We fall between those two. We provide
the next step for lithium-ion batteries by
mostly using chemistry that’s understood
today. Our technology is something that
can be commercialized in the near future.
Tell me about your start-up and your
business partnerships. What are your
targets and timelines?
My business partner and I have a goal to
have our very first batteries on the market
within this calendar year. Most start-ups
raise a lot of money and build a whole
facility. We decided to instead raise only
what we needed as we went and then to
try to focus on establishing partnerships.
We targeted companies that really needed
new batteries. Intel is interested in flexible
battery sizes and formats for computing
devices. Stanley Black & Decker makes
things you’d imagine on a construction
site, and the company is interested in pow-
er and safety. So the markets are different
but complementary in that they both place
a high value on tech and innovation.
Our manufacturing partner is Moses
Lake Industries, which develops electro-
plating chemicals and processes for com-
panies like Intel and Samsung. They are
scaling up the process, so we don’t have to
build a new facility. Electroplating is used
in a variety of industries, so we don’t fore-
see any real technical challenges.
Prachi Patel is a freelance writer.
A version of this story appeared in
ACS Central Science:
cenm.ag/prieto. This
interview was edited for
length and clarity.
JULY 16, 2018 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN 25
 Musings
Musings
Musings on
onon
The unwritten rules of the laboratory
When hoarding chemicals and other shared
lab resources becomes a problem
E
ver shared someone else’s
toothbrush? I didn’t think so.
I certainly haven’t, and yet
there are some things
that we’re perfectly willing to
share, like a pen or perhaps a
jacket. These unwritten rules
are all around us, and they fol-
low us into the lab as well.
Have a fume hood all your
own? I bet that you’ve never
done much chemistry in
other people’s hoods—it
would probably feel weird.
You’d probably react poor-
ly to one of your lab mates
reaching into your hood
and pulling out your stir
plate. It probably doesn’t
belong to you, but it is
yours—you’re the one who
uses it most often, and
you’ve had it the en-
tire time that you’ve
been working in that
hood. That possessiveness you feel, it’s
one of those funny unwritten rules of the
lab.
This possessiveness doesn’t stop at
fume hoods, or simple equipment like
stir plates. Put enough blood, sweat, and
tears into a GC or an HPLC, and you’ll
find yourself saying, “Don’t mess up my
instrument!” to your untidy colleague who
is borrowing it.
Chemists can be even more possessive
of chemicals, especially when they have
been ordered for a specific purpose or
they have a limited shelf life. Break into
your lab mate’s new bottle of dibutylbo-
ron triflate solution before they had a
C R E D I T: C& E N /S H U TT E RSTOC K
chance to use it for their Evans aldol reac-
tion? You may receive coal in your stock-
ing at the group Christmas party.
In some labs, the unwritten rule seems
to be “No sharing whatsoever!” Everyone
is very possessive of their equipment
and glassware, and the number of shared
materials is very low. Often, there is sur-
Bench&&&cubice
Bench
working
Cubic
working
cubicee
in the
in the
the chemistry
chemistry
chemistryenterprise
enterprise
enterprise
BY CHEMJOBBER
MINE!
reptitious pilfering, and as a consequence,
people begin stowing stashes in odd spots.
People defend their materials by labeling
with their initials obsessively or perhaps
by posting a picture of Chuck Norris star-
ing down the would-be thief.
One way organizations can encourage
sharing and discourage hoarding is to be
generous. Want to make those stashes
disappear? Have a stockroom full of fresh
supplies waiting to be used by the enter-
prising chemist.
The environment within a laboratory
can also be an unspoken treaty. It’s un-
wise to move the thermostat up or down
significantly without talking to your
fellow lab workers. Many laboratories
compromise on the noise level by keeping
laboratory settings relatively quiet. Like
blasting really loud music while you’re
running columns? It might be time for
you to start working late at night or early
in the morning when your lab mates ar-
en’t around. Or it might be time to get a
set of headphones. (Just be sure it doesn’t
interfere with your ability to hear safety
alarms.)
Just as many unwritten and unspo-
ken rules exist about who receives
credit for an improvement or a discov-
ery in a laboratory. Think up an
idea in a group setting? I think
it’s wise to credit everyone who
contributed to the idea, even if
only one or two people actually
performed the key experiment.
But that’s just my opinion; your
laboratory’s traditions around
authorship are likely set by
your principal investigator if
you’re in academia, or by the
rules of inventorship if you’re
in industry. Because these
contributions are so valued
in the scientific community,
I don’t think it is a coinci-
dence that this is one of the
places where the unwritten
traditions of authorship can
become a serious source
of conflict.
I admit that I have bro-
ken unwritten rules. When I was a senior
graduate student, I had a moment of
weakness when I seized a group resource
and carried it furtively back to my hood.
I’m not proud of it, and I am glad that
someone confronted me.
Many of life’s unwritten rules are about
sharing, like giving other cars room on
a crowded exit ramp. So it is with many
of the laboratory’s unspoken rules: They
are about creating an environment where
people from different backgrounds can
minimize conflict and work together to
solve scientific problems. Just ask before
you use my favorite stir bar, OK?
Chemjobber is an industrial chemist who
blogs about the chemistry job market at
chemjobber.blogspot.com. Find all his
columns for C&EN and suggest future topics
at cenm.ag/benchandcubicle.
Views expressed are those of the author and
not necessarily those of C&EN or ACS.
JULY 16, 2018 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN 27
Cover story

Greener I
n early June, Dalton Cheng
realized something big
was afoot. Cheng, who is
head of technology for
the textile printing firm Intech

textile
Digital, heard from customers
that Chinese government
authorities in Jiangsu province
had shut down massive factories
that produce synthetic dyes used In brief

dyeing
by the textile industry. Shoppers looking for their
next great outfit make their
It was just the latest in a series of actions that started selections on the basis of
in the summer of 2017, when tens of thousands of Chi- color, cut, style, and price.
na’s factories were forced to close and undergo environ- They may not know that dye-
mental inspections. ing clothes requires massive
Overall, as much as 60% of China’s denim-dyeing amounts of water, energy,
chemical capacity has been shuttered, Cheng says, equal and chemicals. Those chem-
to roughly 30% of global capacity. And that’s why his icals are released in waste-
phone was ringing. Intech, headquartered in Hong Kong, water from dye houses and
might be in a position to help apparel industry customers textile mills in places such
out of a critical supply bind. as China, India, and Bangla-
Intech’s specialty is digital printing on textiles, includ- desh. Reports of rivers with
ing cotton and other cellulosic fabrics like rayon. Printing unnatural hues have inspired
textiles with pigments rather than dyes uses very little government crackdowns and
Large and small suppliers vow water, Cheng says, and produces much less waste than
traditional methods.
sustainability pledges from
international apparel brands.
to help a resource-intensive Digital printing is one example from a growing list of
new, more sustainable fabric-coloring technologies from
But changing this $3 trillion
industry will require innova-
industry change with the times both major suppliers and smaller chemical and biotech
start-ups. The companies see business opportunity in
tion that can be scaled up
and adopted without cost or
MELODY BOMGARDNER, C&EN WEST COAST tackling dyeing’s wasteful water and energy practices and disruption for manufactur-
its reliance on toxic chemicals that can give rivers shock- ers. Read on to learn about
ing hues and harm human health. greener ways to color clothes
But the barriers facing those working to promote a that may soon be available
more sustainable textile technology are quite high. The from your favorite retailer.
industry’s sheer scale makes it hard to have an impact:
Textiles are a $3 trillion-per-year business that employs
nearly 60 million workers worldwide, according to eco-
nomic research firm Euler Hermes and FashionUnited,
an industry information resource.
It’s also a manufacturing industry under pressure.
Price competition is fierce, and profits are shrinking
thanks to volatile raw material costs and rising wages.
Despite public commitments by apparel brands to be-

C R E D I T: I NT EC H D I GI TA L
High-resolution color patterns can come more sustainable, suppliers contacted by C&EN say
be printed directly onto cotton their customers will not buy anything that could raise the
using pigment inks rather than cost of a finished garment by as little as a penny.
dyes to reduce the use of water The factory shutdowns have disrupted the textile sup-
and chemicals. ply chain, says Holger Schlaefke, global marketing man-
ager at Huntsman’s textile effects segment. Huntsman,

28 C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | JULY 16, 2018 JULY 16, 2018 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN 29
 Greenpeace’s Detox My
Fashion campaign brought
attention to pollution and
health hazards of dye and
other chemicals used in
textile manufacturing,
including at this plant in
Tianjin, China.

Archroma, and DyStar are the world’s largest suppli-

ers of dyes and textile chemicals.
“Shutdowns are a concern for companies like
Huntsman and also for retailers,” Schlaefke says.
“You can imagine retailers have contracted with a fab-
ric-producing mill—they negotiated six months ago
and agreed on a price—but suddenly that price is not
certain anymore. It’s not a crisis, but it makes busi-
ness a little more complicated for everyone.”
The largest impact of the factory shutdowns has
been in the supply and price of so-called disperse
dyes, which are used to color synthetic fibers like
polyester, a specialty of Chinese producers, Schlaefke
says. Availability of reactive dyes, which are used on
cotton, was also reduced, though manufacturers in
cotton-rich India are likely to take up the slack.
In India as well, the government is taking steps
to reel in the textile industry to save precious water
resources. “In India, a trend is huge investment in
wastewater treatment for liquid discharge,” Schlaefke
says. It’s now common for factories to reuse 90% of
their water.
While both cotton and polyester are normally col-
ored with synthetic dyes, dyeing cotton is a more wa-
ter- and heat-intensive process. The surface of cotton
fibers is negatively charged and doesn’t readily react
with negatively charged dye compounds.
Even with an assist from salts and alkali added to
“There are arsenic, copper, and zinc. Dyes and chem-
icals released into waterways also block
sunlight and increase biological oxygen
beautiful demand (J. Chem. Eng. Process Technol.
2014, DOI: 10.4172/2157-7048.1000182).
colors in To reduce this burden, Huntsman has
developed a line of dyes for cotton called
Avitera that bonds to the fiber more read-
the ocean, ily. According to the company, the colors
require one-quarter to one-third less water
in insects— and one-third less energy. Three reactive
groups are attached to the dye formula’s
you can chromophore—or color-providing mol-
ecule—compared with the one or two
reactive groups common for cotton dyes.
crack open a Thanks to these extra reactive groups, the
dye step lasts about four hours, compared
wide palette with seven hours for conventional dyes.
Still, it takes a lot of legwork to sell
of colors.” customers on a new suite of dyes. “It can
be hard to show cost savings when the
savings comes from water use or ener-
—David Nugent, cofounder, gy,” Schlaefke says. Different regions and
Colorifix countries have different cost structures,
he says. For example, Bangladesh is now
the biggest cotton-producing country,
“and as we know, they have no shortage of
water,” he notes.
C R E D I T: LU GUA N G/G R E EN P EAC E

the dye solution, cotton takes up only about 75% of Another way to improve the bond be-
the dye. To ensure colorfastness, dyed fabric or yarn tween dyes and cotton fibers is a process
is washed over and over again in hot water, creating called cationization. In North Carolina,
large amounts of wastewater. textile industry veteran Tony Leonard
All told, about 200 L of water is used to produce is taking that approach. Leonard is the
1 kg of fabric. A review of wastewater treatment steps inventor and technical director behind
found that textile effluent contains high concentra- ColorZen, a start-up that has developed a
tions of dyes and chemicals, including chromium, cotton pretreatment step.

30 C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | JULY 16, 2018

Learn the textile industry’s lingo “With conventional cotton dyeing,
salt is used to negate the charge on the
▸▸Bleeding and crocking: Two components of colorfastness. surface of the cotton,” Leonard explains.
Bleeding happens when dye comes off a fabric in contact with “ColorZen technology uses a quaternary
liquid. Crocking occurs when a dye on a dry fabric rubs off on ammonium compound to permanently
another dry fabric. attach a positively charged amino site on
▸▸Colorfastness: The ability of a dye to preserve the original the cellulose molecule.” That makes for a
color during industrial processing and subsequent customer natural attraction between dye and fiber,
use. The American Association of Textile Chemists & Colorists he says.
provides several dozen test methods to ensure colorfastness ColorZen treats raw cotton fiber right
of dye products. from the field after the
▸▸Digital textile printing: Directly printing colors and
patterns onto fabric using design software, large-format “The textile seeds are removed. “North
Carolina is still the heart
printers, and specialty inks made with pigments or dyes.
Digital printing is an alternative to standard screen printing,
which uses a constrained color palette and requires separate
industry, of the cotton and textile
industry here in the United
States, and there are ready
stencils and production steps for each color.
▸▸Dye: Soluble chemicals that contain chromophores, or including supplies of baled U.S. cot-
ton here that our customers

retail, is
color-containing compounds. Dyes are mixed with other are tapping into,” Leonard
additives in a color solution. They can be derived from natural notes. After treatment,
sources, such as plants, but are more commonly human made. cotton is spun into yarn at
Different classes of dyes are used for different fibers and
stages of the textile production process. very, very customer facilities.
Leonard contends that
ColorZen’s pretreatment
▸▸Direct dye: A class of dye that can be applied directly to
cotton or other cellulosic fabrics such as rayon, silk, and wool.
Direct dyes are applied in a neutral or alkaline bath of hot
competitive, makes the dyeing process
faster while using 90% less
water. They do not require mordant or fixatives for fastness;
instead, they attach with hydrogen bonds and van der Waals and in the water, 75% less energy, and
90% fewer auxiliary chemi-
cals. It also cuts out almost
forces. Direct dyes are soluble salts of complex sulfonic acids,
including diazo or polyazo chemicals.
▸▸Disperse dye: A category of nonionic dyes used to color
end, cost half the dye compared with
processes that call for salts

synthetic yarns and fabrics such as polyester. These organic

chemicals, mostly monoazo dyes, are nonsoluble and rely on
dispersing agents to spread the color molecules in water.
▸▸Reactive dye: A class of colored synthetic organic
chemicals that attach to textile fibers via a chemical reaction
that forms a covalent bond. Reactive dyes are the most
permanent of all dye types and are the most common type
of dye used on cotton and other cellulose fibers. They are
categorized by their functional group, such as dichlorotriazine
or vinyl sulfone.
▸▸Dye exhaustion or dye fixation: The mass of dye taken up
by the yarn or fabric divided by the total initial mass of dye in
the water bath. Once the dyeing process reaches equilibrium, a
portion of the dye remains in the dye bath and becomes part of
the dye process wastewater. The exhaustion ratio depends on
the quality of the dye and the characteristics of the fiber.
▸▸Leveling agent: Used in disperse dyeing to regulate or slow
the uptake of dye onto synthetic fibers to ensure that the color
level is uniform. Leveling agents are often nonionic surfactants
that increase the solubility of the dye and slow adsorption.
▸▸Mordant: Also called a dye fixative, a substance used to
chemically bond a dye to natural fibers to ensure fastness.
Mordant chemicals include alum, caustic soda, and metal
salts. The mordant forms a coordination complex with the dye,
increasing its molecular weight and making it insoluble.
▸▸Pigment: Insoluble materials, usually in powder form, that
add color to inks, paints, plastics, cosmetics, and foods. When
used on textiles, they require binders or other additives to
attach to the fibers. Pigments can be derived from minerals
but can also be made synthetically. Because they are not
soluble in water, they can last longer than dyes.
matters.” in the dye bath.
The company has a part-
nership with the manufac-
—Holger Schlaefke, global turing technology firm Jabil
marketing manager, Huntsman’s to help it scale up its plant
textile effects segment in Mebane, N.C. It is also
in a program run by the ap-
parel start-up incubator Fashion for Good.
Leonard says the company is developing
a supply chain by educating dye houses,
spinners, and retailers about ColorZen’s
benefits.
Even the best pretreatment process
can’t eliminate the health effects of the
dyes and the chemicals used to make
them. That’s the focus of many of the tex-
tile industry’s eco-certification programs.
“With advances in measurement in-
struments, we’re seeing more evidence of
contaminants and degradation products
than ever before,” observes John Frazier,
technical director at Hohenstein Institute
America, a textile research organization.
Hohenstein developed Oeko-Tex, a se-
ries of standards and tools for certifying
nontoxic textiles. The first version of the
standard was called Oeko-Tex 100 for the
number of chemicals it tracked. Oeko-Tex
certification is now up to more than 300
chemicals.
The industry needs to both develop
“better chemistry and ensure there is less
water going out the back,” Frazier says. He

JULY 16, 2018 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN 31

Environmental hit
Dyeing cotton has more impact than dyeing other fibers.

Cotton
Warm temperature, long
process time, requires
Dyeing addition of large amounts
of salt and alkali fixatives
Dye
fixation Poor, 75%
Long, energy- and
water-intensive process
Washing using multiple baths, with
at least one at boiling
temperature
Source: Natural Resouces Defense Council
TYPE OF FIBER
Polyester
Hot temperature, short
process time, no fixatives
required
Good, 99% or more
Shorter process requiring
less energy, water, and
chemicals than cotton.
Uses alkali and chemical
reducing agent.
Viscose (Rayon) Wool
Warm temperature, long Warm temperature, simple
process time, requires less process
salt and alkali than cotton
Fair, 85–90% Good, 95% or more
Similar to cotton but shorter Generally a relatively simple
process, possibly due to less wash-off procedure
unfixed dye to be removed

says he’s seeing “a ton of innovation hap-
pening. It’s very exciting.”
Schlaefke says Huntsman’s Avitera dyes
were formulated to be free from p-chloro-
aniline (PCA), a hazardous chemical used
as an intermediate in the manufacture of
azo dyes and pigments. “What we see now
is a bit more retailers are looking at PCA,”
he notes. Currently, brands including REI
and Levi Strauss & Co. restrict the use of
PCA along with a list of other amines from
colorants.
Synthetic indigo, used to make blue
jeans blue, is an example of a dye that can
release unreacted chemicals downstream
of manufacturing. A small number of Chi-
nese manufacturers produce most of the
world’s indigo using aniline as a key raw
material. Indigo is unlike most dyes in that
in its unreduced form it is not soluble. So
companies like Archroma upgrade it into
easier-to-use, prereduced solutions that
are more water soluble.
The company became concerned af-
ter seeing published reports that about
400 metric tons of aniline per year escapes
the dyeing process from 70,000 metric
tons of indigo. Two-thirds of the escaped
chemical ends up in wastewater, on work-
ers, and in the air, while one-third stays on
the denim that goes to stores, says James
Carnahan, Archroma’s global sustainabili-
ty manager for textiles.
Archroma developed a technology for
prereducing indigo to prevent aniline
from carrying through as a contaminant.
Finished textiles colored with the dye con-
tain a nondetectable amount of aniline,
whereas competitor dyes can contain up
to 2,000 ppm of the chemical, according
to Archroma.
Brands’ awareness of aniline contami-
nation is growing, and the compound has
started to appear on lists that brands send
to manufacturers restricting the chemicals
they can use.
Carnahan acknowledges differing views
about how big a problem aniline is in the
textile industry. It has a better reputation
than the category 1 carcinogenic amines
that cleave off of azo dyes and were an
early target for elimination by clothing
brands. “Aniline is category 2, instead—
which is not good, though,” Carnahan
says.
Of course, in the beginning, indigo
came from a plant, not a factory. The
very first pair of modern-style blue jeans,
made by Levi Strauss, debuted in 1873.
That was about 25 years before chemists
developed the synthetic route to indigo
dye—with its unappetizing starting mate-
rials of aniline, formaldehyde, and hydro-
gen cyanide.
The ambition at Stony Creek Colors is
to return to those early days. Founder Sar-
ah Bellos says a complete life-cycle review
of the production and use of synthetic
indigo provides plenty of reasons to look
again at indigo from plants.
Stony Creek is developing varieties
of leguminous indigo plants that can
provide a high-yield, high-profit crop for
Tennessee farmers looking for an alterna-
tive to tobacco. The company is selling all
the dye it can make; its goal is to expand
U.S. indigo production to 6,000 hect-
ares in the next five years. That could
displace 2.8% of global synthetic indigo
production.
The indigo molecule itself is exactly
the same as the synthetic version, with
one small difference: “Synthetic indigo
has a tighter crystal formation that makes
it more difficult to reduce,” Bellos says.
Dye houses can reduce natural indigo in
bacterial fermentation vats or use more
common reducing systems, she adds.
Other start-ups have also turned to
biology—in particular, engineered mi-
crobes—to reduce the use of chemicals
in textile dyes. U.K.-based Colorifix and
the French firm Pili say microbes can pro-
duce high-performance, renewable dyes
suitable for mainstream textiles. All that
is required to scale up are fermentation
tanks and sugar.
The idea for Colorifix came out of a
biological sensor program in Nepal and
Bangladesh. David Nugent and colleagues
were in the region to test drinking water
wells for arsenic. They asked local village
governments what other substances in
their water concerned them. “We got a
large list of chemicals,” Nugent recalls.
“When we asked, ‘Where do they come
from?’ the answer we got was textiles,
again and again.”
The team was already using color made
by microorganisms to act as a sensor for
water contaminants. Soon, Nugent says,
it became clear the researchers could
engineer them to produce natural colors,
including anthocyanins and carotenoids.
“Once you start looking at how nature
makes colors, you see a lot of similarities
in the sequences of the proteins and en-
zymes,” Nugent says. With more resourc-
es, he’d like to go prospecting to find new
molecules. “There are beautiful colors in
the ocean, in insects—you can crack open
a wide palette of colors.”
Not all the colors that engineered mi-
crobes can make meet textile industry
requirements for lightfastness and tem-
perature stability. Chlorophyll, the secret

32 C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | JULY 16, 2018

to nature’s abundance of green, can turn
an unstylish brown in factory conditions,
Nugent says.
But microbes that produce stable colors
can be adopted by dye houses with very
little change to their normal processes.
First the microbes go into a solution like
a regular dye and get embedded in the
textile fiber. Then they are given nutrients
that cause them to grow. When heat is
applied, the organisms’ membranes burst.
That causes the color to chemically attach
to the fiber with help from metal ions and
salts in the microbes’ cytoplasm.
Nugent says the process works like a
very efficient reactive dye that requires
only a single finish wash. He claims a wa-
ter savings of 90% and an energy savings
of 20% over standard processes. Colorifix
is setting up pilot operations in Italy and
France; partner dye houses first have to
get a certification to work with genetically
modified microbes.
Pili got its start as a biology outreach
program. “We were doing workshops with
kids, growing bacteria and making colors
with them, painting with them,” Chief Sci-
ence Officer Guillaume Boissonnat recalls.
In 2015, he and his partners realized they
could make industrially useful colors that
way.
Biology is more efficient than the chem-
ical industry at making dye structures,
Boissonnat argues. “Dyes are usually the
aromatic molecules from heavy fractions
of petroleum. We have made some calcu-
lations that show to produce 1 kg of dye,
you need 100 kg of petroleum, 1,000 L of
water, and 10 kg of other chemicals.”
But the major portion of water used for
textile dyeing comes after dyeing, when
fabrics, particularly cotton, have to be
washed over and over again to remove
unfixed dye. Instead, manufacturers can
skip dyes and use pigments. As at Intech
Digital, the enabling technology for that
move is large-scale printers that take the
place of dyeing vats. The printers use spe-
cial versions of ink-jet printheads designed
to work with textile inks.
The use of digital textile printing is
growing rapidly, thanks in large part to
demand from fast-fashion purveyors, says
Tim Check, a textile product manager at
Epson, which makes printers, printheads,
and inks for textiles. Check says retailers
such as H&M or Zara demand short runs
of styles to appear in stores in as little as
two weeks, rather than the traditional de-
sign schedule of huge runs delivered after
several months.
Patterned textiles for such garments
were historically made by screen printing,
which is expensive to set up, requires cus-
tom templates for each color, and uses a
limited set of hues. Digital printers, which
give designers almost unlimited choices,
are taking over some of that market.
“The big reason we’re really excited is
it’s having huge growth, well over 20%
per year,” Check says. But that increase is
from a small base of about 2–3% of total
textile output.
Digital printing on polyester uses a
two-step dye sublimation process that
is almost waterless. The pattern is first
printed on transfer paper; heat then turns
the color into a cloud of gas, which bonds
with the softened polyester.
This process doesn’t work for cotton,
silk, and other natural fabrics, Intech’s
Cheng points out. For them, his firm
offers a new specialty ink made with
powdered, insoluble pigments plus a
polymer-like binder designed to make the
color stick.
Epson’s Check says the digital printing
approach can allow apparel manufacturers
to operate in regions closer to their cus-
tomers, such as in North America. “All you
need is a printer and a heat system to fix
the ink. That means you can do that here
in the U.S. without the environmental
concerns or cost of managing wastewater,”
he says.
Huntsman’s Schlaefke agrees that dig-
ital printing is a trend that could have an
impact on how much and what types of
colorants are used. “The market is moving
in the right direction for printing,” he says.
Since Huntsman sells both traditional
dyes and specialty inks, it stands to gain
whichever way the wind blows. Schlaefke
says the segment’s growth will depend
in large part on how economical the ma-
chines become.
“The textile industry, including retail, is
very, very competitive, and in the end, cost
matters,” Schlaefke says. He points out
that a penny of additional cost adds up to
a lot of money when a company is making
millions of garments.
For companies that have strong chem-
istry capabilities, being able to help textile
customers meet sustainability goals lends
a competitive edge. “If you only see it as
a threat and you are getting worried, I
think you won’t survive in the long run,”
Schlaefke says.
But nothing is straightforward in the
textile industry. While China cracks down
with environmental inspections, and
wages in the country rise, the industry is
moving to countries, including Bangladesh
and Vietnam, with fewer environmental
controls. Innovators with greener dyeing
technology will have to work hard to keep
their progress from unraveling. ◾
JULY 16, 2018 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN 33
ACS
NEWS
COMMENT
ACS Council and its role
in shaping the society
MARY K. CARROLL, VICE CHAIR, ACS COUNCIL POLICY COMMITTEE
Y
ou have heard the American
Chemical Society described as
the “world’s largest scientific
society.” The size of our society
(more than 150,000 members) allows it to
provide members with an extensive port-
folio of programs and resources, which
enable members to advance chemistry,
elevate their career po-
tential, expand their net-
works, educate and in-
spire future generations,
collaborate globally,
and build communities
that provide scientific
solutions. A society of
this scope requires a
robust national gover-
nance structure. ACS has
a board of directors, a
council, and quite a num-
ber of committees.
This structure affords
volunteer leadership
opportunities and countless other ways
for members to provide input into gover-
nance and help guide the direction of the
society. In a June 4 Comment in C&EN,
ACS Board Chair John Adams described
how the board functions. And in a June 18
Comment, Carolyn Ribes, chair of the
Committee on Committees, discussed
ways to get involved in national commit-
tees. Here, I focus on the ACS Council:
how it is currently constructed, how it
operates, and how you can help it improve.
Early in its history, ACS developed a
grassroots, representative system of na-
tional governance. The council’s role is to
serve as the popular, deliberative assembly
of ACS and to advise on matters pertain-
ing to the general management of the soci-
ety. It is meant to represent the member-
ship as a whole and to receive and deliver
information via two-way communications
with the board and the committees.
In its current form, the council consists
of nearly 500 councilors, most of whom
are elected to represent local sections
or divisions. Board members and ACS
past-presidents are ex officio members.
Councilors from 185 local sections and 32
34 C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | JULY 16, 2018
divisions represent ACS members on the
basis of geography (where they live, work,
or study) or subject matter (specialization
or interests). Divisions also provide a
means for international members to have
representation in ACS governance. Each
local section has one or more councilors,
based on its total membership, and divi-
sions have one to four
councilors, depending on
size and a proportional
formula prescribed in the
ACS bylaws. Many coun-
cilors serve on national
committees as well as the
executive committees
of their local sections or
divisions.
The council meets in
person, twice yearly, on
the Wednesday morning
of each ACS national
meeting. The Coun-
cil Policy Committee
(CPC), the executive committee of the
council, sets the agenda for this meeting.
At the council meeting, councilors hear
reports from the officers of ACS and from
leaders of council-related committees,
participate in elections, and discuss and
vote on proposals for action brought
forward by committees or groups of
councilors. In addition, the council some-
times engages in discussion on a special
topic. Although participation is limited
to councilors, anyone present at the na-
tional meeting is welcome to observe the
council meeting. If you’re going to be in
Boston this August, consider adding this
to your calendar.
Why should you, an individual mem-
ber, care about ACS governance? You
may be content with receiving the quality
programs, products, and services that
ACS provides. But you undoubtedly have
thoughts about the profession we are en-
gaged in and perhaps see opportunities for
ACS to play a role in making it stronger
and more valuable and valued. As we ap-
proach the sesquicentennial of the found-
ing of ACS (2026), it is appropriate to con-
sider improvements to the current gover-
nance structure, including the council, to
best position the society for the future.
ACS strives to take full advantage of
the considerable expertise of its member
volunteers, provide mechanisms for mean-
ingful volunteer experiences, and connect
individual members to all levels of gover-
nance. Our governing structure should be
(but is not always) characterized by effi-
cient communication, which is essential
for impactful decision-making. As part of
a concerted effort in governance redesign,
CPC’s Future Council Representation
Working Group is considering how the
council could be restructured to facilitate
discussion and productive interactions
with the board and committees while in-
creasing communication with members
at the grassroots level, including the pos-
sibility of greater representation for ACS
members who live and work outside the
U.S.
I encourage you to reach out to your
councilor or councilors to express your
views on this or any other subject rele-
vant to the chemistry enterprise and the
ACS vision of “improving people’s lives
through the transforming power of chem-
istry.” Your councilors will be pleased to
bring your input, ideas, and suggestions to
the governance system.
You may want to go beyond simply
expressing your views and become more
actively involved in governance. If so, talk
with your local section or division officers
about running for councilor or taking on
another leadership position. ACS and the
profession benefit when individuals with
diverse backgrounds, experiences, and
perspectives contribute to leadership.
Finally, keep in mind that all ACS
members have the ability to influence
governance through the electoral process.
Please take the time to vote in your local
section and division elections and in the
national ACS elections for president and
C R E D I T: CA R LY N STU D I O
the board of directors.
CPC welcomes your feedback and sug-
gestions at cpc@acs.org.
Views expressed are those of the author and
not necessarily those of C&EN or ACS.
 ▸▸ 2018 ACS Fellows
ACS
NEWS
The American Chemical Society has named
U.S. team heads to International
51 members as ACS Fellows. The new
fellows will be feted at the society’s fall na- Chemistry Olympiad
tional meeting in Boston this August.
The fellows program began in 2009 as Four high school students have secured a spot on the team representing
a way to recognize and honor ACS mem- the U.S. at the 50th International Chemistry Olympiad, which will start in
bers for outstanding achievements in and Bratislava, Slovakia, on July 19 and end in Prague on July 29.
contributions to science, the profession, The U.S. team was finalized after an intensive two-week Chemistry Olym-
and ACS. piad Study Camp, sponsored by the American Chemical Society and held at
Nominations for the 2019 class of ACS the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Fellows will open in the first quarter of The students are Yutong Dai, who
next year. Additional information about just graduated from Princeton Inter-
the program, including a list of fellows national School of Mathematics &
named in earlier years, is available at Science in Princeton, N.J.; Michelle
www.acs.org/fellows.—LINDA WANG Lu, a rising junior at Pomperaug High
School in Southbury, Conn.; Jeffrey
Souhail R. Al-Abed Brian R. Gibney Shi, a rising senior at Marcellus
U.S. Environmental Brooklyn College and High School in Marcellus, N.Y.; and
Protection Agency the Graduate Center Andrew Wu, a rising senior at Park Michelle Lu (from left), Jeffrey Shi,
of the City University Tudor School in Indianapolis. Andrew Wu, and Yutong Dai.
Kara M. Allen of New York
Aegis Sciences The first alternate is Aniket
Cathleen Hapeman ­Dehadrai, who recently graduated from Oklahoma School of Science &
Peter R. Bernstein Agricultural Mathematics in Oklahoma City. The second alternate is Edward Jin, a rising
PhaRmaB Research Service, senior at Arnold O. Beckman High School in Irvine, Calif.
Amanda Bryant- U.S. Department of “We’re very excited,” says head mentor Christine Saber, an assistant pro-
Friedrich Agriculture fessor of chemistry at Gannon University. “Each year, these students appear
University of Toledo to be stronger and stronger in the chemical principles and practices. They
Lynn G. Hartshorn are an inspiration to me.”
Susan Beda Butts University of St. “It’s still sinking in,” Lu says of making the team. “It’s been very rewarding
Dow Chemical Thomas to be able to participate in this camp. There’s always so much more to learn,
Teresa Head- and I hope to make the U.S. proud.”
William F. Carroll
Gordon Wu says his passion for chemistry started during his freshman year of high
Jr.
University of school. “I had a really amazing teacher. He taught me a lot of chemistry.”
Indiana University
California, Berkeley “I’m excited about meeting students from other countries,” Shi says of the
Hongyu Chen international competition. “I think that will be really helpful in both devel-
Dow Chemical Barbara R. Hillery oping my network and just learning about the international community in
SUNY Old Westbury general.”—LINDA WANG
Pat N. Confalone
Confalone Elizabeth M.
Consulting Howson
Chatham High School Louise M. Lawter Andrew W. Michael A. Jay S. Siegel
Janine Cossy Degussa (retired) Maverick Reynolds Tianjin University
ESPCI Paris Malika Jeffries-EL Louisiana State Shell Exploration &
Boston University Eric K. Lin Paris Svoronos
E. Bryan Coughlin University Production
National Institute Queensborough
University of Kimberly Begley of Standards & Scott J. Miller Stuart Rowan Community College
Massachusetts, Jeskie Technology Yale University University of Chicago
Amherst Oak Ridge National Richard P. Van
Laboratory John M. Long Burnaby Munson Martin D. Rudd Duyne
Paul J. Fagan JM Long Rubber University of University of Northwestern
DuPont Kerry K. Karukstis Consultants Delaware Wisconsin, Oshkosh University
Harvey Mudd College
Andrew L. Feig Walter D. Loveland Roger Alan Parker Joseph Sabol Dujin Wang
Wayne State Michelle K. Kidder Oregon State Xavier University Joseph E. Sabol Chinese Academy of
University Oak Ridge National
University Consulting Sciences
Laboratory Melissa A.
Neil K. Garg Ripudaman Pasquinelli Daniel A. Savin Michael S. Wong
University of Judy E. Kim
C R E D I T: CH R I ST I N E SA B ER

Malhotra North Carolina State University of Florida Rice University

California, Los University of
SRI International University
Angeles California, San Diego Dawn A. Wendy B. Young
Stephen F. Martin Sarma V. Pisupati Shaughnessy Genentech
Carmen Valdez Jaqueline L. University of Texas, Pennsylvania State Lawrence Livermore
Gauthier Kiplinger Austin University National Laboratory Doris Zimmerman
Florida Southern Los Alamos National Thiel College
College Laboratory (retired)

JULY 16, 2018 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN 35

 AWARDS
▸▸ 3 young scientists
win Blavatnik Awards
Three young researchers have been named
the winners of the 2018 Blavatnik National
Awards for Young Scientists, presented by
the Blavatnik Family Foundation and the
New York Academy of Sciences.
The awards are given annually to prom-
ising researchers in the U.S. aged 42 and
younger in the categories of chemistry,
life sciences, and physical sciences and
engineering. Each recipient will receive
$250,000 in unrestricted funds.
Janelle Ayres, an associate professor
at the Nomis Center for Immunobiology
& Microbial Pathogenesis and Helen Mc-
Loraine Developmental Chair at the Salk
Institute of Biological Studies, is the recip-
ient of the Blavatnik National Award for
Young Scientists
in Life Sciences
for her research
on host-patho-
gen interactions,
which could help
C R E D I T: STA N FO R D UN I V E RS I TY ( D E I S S E ROTH ) ; SA LK I N STI T U TE ( AY R ES ); CO U RT ESY O F N EAL DEVARAJ ; CO U RT ESY O F SE RG E I KAL I N I N
fight antimicrobial
resistance.
“Many investiga-
tors seek to extend
existing knowledge
by asking how something works, an import-
ant and laudable scientific endeavor. I like
to ask, ‘Why do things work the way they
do?’ ” she says of the inspiration behind her
research. “I hope that my perspective has
the potential to provide solutions to global
challenges of infectious diseases.”
Neal K. Devaraj, associate professor of
chemistry and biochemistry and of bioen-
gineering at the University of California,
San Diego, won the Blavatnik National
Award for Young Scientists in Chemistry
for his transformative work on the synthe-
sis of artificial cells and membranes. His
work has enabled
the development of
new methods for
labeling biological
molecules.
“Some of the
most exciting and
challenging scien-
tific problems are
at the interface
between fields,” he
says. “I would encourage younger scien-
tists to not be afraid to take risks and leave
your comfort zone when thinking about
the kinds of research problems you want
to tackle and to not be afraid of going after
really challenging and difficult problems.”
ACS
NEWS
Kyoto Prize to Karl Deisseroth
Karl Deisseroth, professor of bioengineering and of psychiatry and behav-
ioral sciences at Stanford University, is the winner of the 2018 Kyoto Prize in
Advanced Technology.
“It’s a tremendous honor, and I feel very fortunate to have worked with
so many talented students and postdocs over the years who worked with
me on this project,” says Deisseroth, who is the youngest person to win
this prize.
Deisseroth pioneered the field of optogenetics,
which has enabled scientists to use light to manip-
ulate the activity of nerve cells in the brains of lab
animals and understand how that stimulation affects
the animals’ behavior. Applications of this research
include better understanding of brain disorders
such as schizophrenia, depression, and Parkinson’s
disease.
“Nobody could have predicted 14 years ago that
putting some algae genes into neurons would give
us insights into psychiatry, for example,” Deisseroth says. “There are op-
togenetics-guided clinical trials now where people are using insights from
optogenetics to guide other kinds of interventions for diseases like drug
addiction.”
“It’s really been amazing to see not only experiments that I hoped would
be possible but also many things I never would have imagined,” he says. “It’s
a testament to basic science.”
He envisions the future of this field to have even broader applications.
“As people get insights into how neural circuitry actually works causally,
that will make all kinds of clinical interventions, whether they’re phar-
macological or brain stimulation or even behavioral, more precise and
powerful.”
His colleagues say he is deserving of this honor. “In addition to driving
extraordinary, generously shared science and technology, Karl has been an
outstanding mentor,” says Viviana Gradinaru, professor of neuroscience and
biological engineering at California Institute of Technology, who was a post-
doc in Deisseroth’s group.
The Kyoto Prize is awarded by Japan’s Inamori Foundation in the cate-
gories of advanced technology, basic sciences, and arts and philosophy. The
prizes, which include a gift of 100 million yen (approximately $898,000), will
be awarded at a ceremony in Kyoto, Japan, on Nov. 10.—LINDA WANG
Sergei V. Kalinin, director of the Insti- potentially allow us to collect orders of
tute for Functional Imaging of Materials magnitude more data from imaging tools,
at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is the rapidly analyze them to learn physics
recipient of the Blavatnik National Award and make libraries of structure-property
for Young Scientists in Physical Sciences & relationships, and act upon this knowl-
Engineering for his edge in real time,” he says. “This in turn
work on nanoscale opens a pathway for making better mate-
instrumentation rials by being able to learn from atomic
to better under- structures of real materials and not only
stand materials and averaged properties. It further allows us
their functionality to assemble matter atom by atom using
at the nanoscale electron beams, opening a new way to-
and to enable at- ward nanotechnology.”
om-by-atom fabri- The laureates will be honored at the
cation by electron Blavatnik National Awards ceremony on
beams. Sept. 24 in New York City.—LINDA WANG
“In the last several years, the emer-
gence of supercomputers, big-data tech- Please send announcements of awards to
niques, and deep-learning approaches l_wang@acs.org
JULY 16, 2018 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN 37
 ®

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 Newscripts
Kipchoge won the 2018 London Marathon while wearing the
Flyprints, with a time of 2:04:17.

Keeping on her toes

Curating quirky science since 1943
W
hile Nike 3-D prints running shoes with ul-
tra-lightweight materials, professional ballerinas
are still dancing on the tips of their toes, pro-
tected by what often amounts to layers of paper,
Fleet of foot cardboard, and glue.
Professional ballet dancers typically go through two or three
pairs of pointe shoes per performance. The reason is the shank,

H
oofers in no particular rush might just the stiff center of the shoe, which with moderate wear can snap
as well wear clogs. But for a marathoner,
every millisecond counts. That’s why
Nike designed its new Flyprint sneaker,
the first with a three-dimensionally printed upper,
the part of the shoe covering the top of the foot,
especially for elite runners like Eliud Kipchoge, a
Kenyan with an unofficial marathon-distance time of
2:00:25.
For a frame of reference, this Newscriptster just
ran her first 5K—about a one-eighth marathon—at a
breakneck pace of 32:13.
Nike is not the first major shoemaker to use 3-D
printing. The Adidas Futurecraft and the Under Ar-
mour Futurist employ a 3-D-printed midsole, which
makes for quicker development, less production-relat-
ed waste, and higher customizability. However, Nike
is the first to 3-D print the upper as a widely printed
lattice for not only minimal weight but also smart pro-
tection against water absorption, which can add signifi- Carbon footprint: Freed’s three-layer carbon fiber shank (left)
cant weight to the shoe and slow down the runner. and Freed’s foot, en pointe, in the carbon-fiber-reinforced shoe.

without notice. And at around $100 per pair, it’s enough to

make a young ballerina, or her parents, do the same.
Abigail Freed was going through about a pair per performance
before the idea dawned on her to redesign the shank of her pointe
shoes. The 17-year-old decided to try carbon fiber; she wanted
something flexible yet supportive and, most important, long
lasting.
“I literally bought a roll of carbon fiber and a vacuum pump
off Amazon and cured [the shanks] in my oven,” she tells the
Newscripts gang. “I took a traditional pointe shoe, scooped out
the old shank, and put mine in.”
And it works. While her dance colleagues are still going
through a pair per performance, Freed has been dancing on her

C R E D I T: N IK E ( UP P E RS ) ; A B I GA I L FR E E D ( P O I N T E S H O ES )
invention since December. She even has a provisional patent on
the shoes, giving her a year to file a full patent, if she so choos-
es. The invention won her the Arconic Foundation’s Materials
Science or Engineering, Third Award of $1,000 at the 2018 Intel
Hot off the press: Nike’s Flyprint uppers on a 3-D printer. International Science & Engineering Fair.
Freed has also thought about re-engineering other parts of
The Flyprint uses flexible thermoplastic poly- the traditional pointe shoe, such as the box (which encases the
urethane, which does not absorb water. The wide dancer’s toes) and even the satin fabric that gives the shoe its tra-
holes in the meshlike material ditional, graceful look. Then, she says, she’ll be able to
allow water to easily escape. So Melissa Gilden make a shoe that really won’t break or fray.
even if you run those 26.2 miles wrote this week’s The rising high school senior says she would like to
(42.2 km) in a torrential downpour, column.Please major in mechanical or industrial engineering when she
your shoes “will weigh the same in send comments gets to college. It’s possible she will still be dancing in
the end,” says Brett Holts, Nike’s vice and suggestions to the same pair of carbon-fiber-reinforced pointe shoes
president of running footwear. newscripts@acs.org. then.

40 C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | JULY 16, 2018