Serving the chemical, life sciences, and laboratory worlds
VOLUME 92, NUMBER 32 AUGUST 11, 2014
BUSINESS 10 12
CONCENTRATES FORGING BONDS WITH METHANOL
Cheap gas and strong demand power a trade partnership between the U.S. and China. 14
FIRST-HALF 2014 CHEMICAL EARNINGS
Reinvigorated demand and restructuring drive modest improvements in sales and earnings. 16
FIRST-HALF 2014 PHARMA EARNINGS
Big biotech posts strong results so far this year; big pharma still looks anemic.
GOVERNMENT & POLICY 18 19
COVER STORY
100 YEARS OF X-RAY CRYSTALLOGRAPHY C&EN reveals some of our favorite crystal structures—ones that answered pressing chemical questions of their day. PAGE 32 QUOTE OF THE WEEK “We have dispatched your communication to the printers but I cannot help feeling that you have been at the hashish again.” MARSHALL D. GATES, AN ASSISTANT EDITOR OF THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, IN A COMMUNICATION TO ROBERT BURNS WOODWARD REGARDING A 1952 PAPER IN WHICH WOODWARD AND GEOFFREY WILKINSON PROPOSED FERROCENE’S THENCONTROVERSIAL SANDWICH STRUCTURE
Regulators consider 3-D organ-emulating devices for drug safety, chemical assessments. 21
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 23 26 28
DEADLY EXPLOSIONS IN TAIWAN
Blasts from a leaking underground propylene pipeline claim 30 lives. 7
SEEING A CAPACITOR AT WORK
AWARDS 46
New MRI images of storage device as it charges and delivers energy could lead to improvements. 7
PHOSGENE MAKERS UNITE
VanDeMark, Framochem will join forces to create a powerhouse for an important chemical. 8
2015 ACS NATIONAL AWARDS
Recipients are announced.
GRIM FIGHT AGAINST EBOLA
Treatments are in the pipeline, but none appears potent enough to extinguish outbreaks. 7
CONCENTRATES FROM THE SCENES UNDERSTANDING THE PLACENTA ▶
Probing the under-studied organ could yield lifesaving discoveries for mothers and babies.
UNIFORM CARBON NANOTUBES
Carbon nanotubes of like chirality and size have been created at last, researchers report. 6
DIGGING UP DATA
U.S. Geological Survey data help distinguish naturally occurring elements in soil from industrial pollution.
NEWS OF THE WEEK 5
CONCENTRATES ORGANS ON CHIPS
HEALTH STATUS CALLING
THE DEPARTMENTS 3 4 45 51 56
EDITOR’S PAGE LETTERS ACS NEWS CLASSIFIEDS NEWSCRIPTS ▶
Electrochemical device can use a cell phone to send results for remote analysis. 8
SPOTTING ACETOMINOPHEN OVERDOSE
MicroRNA biomarkers could improve care for emergency room patients, researchers say. 9
CONTAMINATED WATER IN OHIO
Crisis has passed, but researchers are still trying to determine the true level of threat in Toledo.
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ACCESS TO DOE RESEARCH RESULTS
Energy Department is first agency to grant limited free access to research results it has funded.
COVER: William Lawrence Bragg’s 1913 stereographic diagram of a 2.5-mm-thick section of rock salt. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A
CENEAR 92 (32) 1–56 • ISSN 0 00 9-2347