ΝEWSOi TH:E WEEK HOMELAND
SECURITY
BUSH TAPS UNEXPECTED CHOICE Michael Chertoff is a former prosecutor and sitting judge NOMINEE Bush selects Chertoff to be the new secretary of homeland security.
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RESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
has tapped federal judge Michael Chertoff as his sec ond choice to replace Tom Ridge as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Former New % r k City police commissioner Bernard B. Kerik withdrew his nomination. Before sitting on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, Chertoff, 51, headed theJustice Depart ment's Criminal Division from2001 to 2003. AtJus tice, Chertoff helped craft the Bush Administration's
legal response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, including the controversial USA Patriot Act. Earlier, Chertoff was a U.S. at torney for New Jersey a federal prosecutor in N e w a r k City and a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennanjr. Bush has stressed Chertoff's confirmability—he's already been confirmed three times—and his management of Justice's 8 0 0 person criminal division. Critics, however, cite Chertoff's relative lack of management experience. He will head an amalgamated de partment of 22 preexisting fed eral agencies and 180,000 people.
NANOSCIENCE
FILLING A FULLERENE TRAPPED Komatsu and coworkers close a 13-membered-ring hole in four synthetic steps to make H2@C60 (C = gray, 0 = red, Ν = blue, S = yellow, H = blue spheres).
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C&EN
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Japanese group uses organic synthesis to make milligrams of H2-fiUed C 60
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SING ORGANIC SYNTHESIS AS
a scalpel and stitches,Japan ese researchers have per formed "molecular surgery" on a buckyball. Agroup at Kyoto Uni versity creates an opening in the molecule, inserts H ? into the
2005
cavity, and then, in just four steps, closes up the C 6 0 frame work to construct the endohedral fullerene H 2 @C 6 0 [Science, 307,238(2005)}. T h e key point "is that we showed, for the first time, the great potential of organic syn thesis for the production of endohedral fullerenes, which thus far has relied on hardly control lable physical methods under ex treme conditions," says chemistry professor Koichi Komatsu, who spearheaded the effort. Previously, Komatsu's group had prepared a C 60 derivative con taining a 13-membered-ring ori fice that they quantitatively filled with H 2 (C&EN, June 16,2003,
"He's very distinguished in the legal arena," says retired Col. Ran dallJ. Larsen, president of the con sulting firm Homeland Security Associates, "but there is nothing in his background about manag ing any sort of large organization. To me, that should have been on the top of the list." Sen. SusanM. Collins (R-Maine), who chairs the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee, lauds Chertoff as "a strong candidate for this impor tant post." Still, the American Civil Liberties Union urges the Senate to question him "aggres sively to ensure his fitness for the position and the strength of his dedication to the Bill of Rights." Sen. Jon S. Corzine (D-NJ.) says he will strongly support the nominee. But that won't stop Corzine from impressing on Chertoff the need for "tougher rail security standards and the adoption of mandatory federal security standards for chemical facilities."—LOIS EMBER
page 5). In the latest work, Ko matsu and coworkers Michihisa Murata and Yisujiro Murata syn thetically "sew" this hole to make the nanocontainer. "Our success depends on the presence of a readily removable sulfur atom on the rim of the ori fice," Komatsu says. Once the hy drogen is trapped within the fullerene, the researchers oxidize this sulfide group to a sulfoxide. The sulfoxide is then excised photochemicalry, shrinking the hole by one atom. Titanium-mediat ed coupling of carbonyl groups tightens the opening to an eightmembered ring. T h e opening is then small enough that the team can heat the compound without losing the hydrogen cargo. The fullerene de rivative rearranges—presumably via thermally allowed electrocyclization—restoring the C 6 0 cage and eliminating 2-cyanopyridine and diphenylacetylene in the process. —BETHANY HALF0RD HTTP://WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
