n e w s of t h e w e e k quences, representing about 90% of the genes in the human genome. "Mapping all of Incyte's genes will create the framework [that] will enable faster, smarter sequencing of the human genome," says Scott. To complement its current capabilities, Incyte will spend $5 million in cash and about $33 million in stock to acquire Hexagen, a privately held company in Cambridge, England. The company was founded in 1996 by Peter Goodfellow and others based on technology from Goodfellow's laboratory at the University of Cambridge. Hexagen will become part of Incyte Genetics, a separately funded business unit that will focus on pharmacogenetics, which connects genetics and pharmacology. Hexagen has developed technology for the rapid discovery of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) that are believed to be important in determining a person's susceptibility to diseases or response to drugs. Along with completing the genome map, Incyte Genetics plans to eventually generate SNP data for every human gene for use in drug discovery. It will commercialize its technology through a combination of database products, gene-associated disease R&D programs, and pharmacogenetics products and services. Incyte's business has been based largely on licensing its gene sequencing data. The company has agreements with more than two dozen major pharmaceutical, life sciences, and biopharmaceutical companies. It also has a diagnostics products joint venture, diaDexus, with SmithKline Beecham. For the first six months of 1998, Incyte had revenues of $63.5 million and reported net earnings of $8.77 million. Incyte hopes to invest about $200 million, including the cost of the Hexagen acquisition, in Incyte Genetics in the first two years. About $20 million to $30 million in cash will come from Incyte itself. The remainder is to come from database subscription revenues, pharmacogenetics products, investments from strategic partners, and money raised in equity markets. Later this year, it will ask its stockholders for approval to issue a new common stock for Incyte Genetics. "Based on the business plan, supported by preliminary discussions with our pharmaceutical partners, Incyte Genetics is expected to be revenue generating in 1999 and profitable within four years," asserts Roy A. Whitfield, Incyte's chief executive officer. Ann Thayer 12 AUGUST 24, 1998 C&EN
Ionic liquids show promise for clean separation technology Room-temperature ionic liquids may prove to be suitable replacements for the toxic, flammable, and volatile organic compounds that are currently used in liquid-liquid separation processes, according to chemists at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. The team, led by chemistry professor Robin D. Rogers, has demonstrated that partitioning of organic solutes between an ionic liquid and water corresponds approximately to the distribution of the same solutes between molecular organic solvents and water [Chem. Commun., 1998, 1765]. "We have shown that room-temperature ionic liquids can be viewed as classical solvents and that they are suitable for liquid-liquid extraction processes," Rogers
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tells C&EN. "We know of no other published studies on the use of room-temperature ionic liquids for the design of novel liquid-liquid extraction systems." Room-temperature ionic liquids typically consist of nitrogen-containing organic cations and inorganic anions. Their chemical and physical properties can be finely tuned for a range of applications by varying the ions (C&EN, March 30, page 32). Ionic liquids are environmentally benign compared with traditional organic solvents. For example, they do not emit vapors and can easily be recycled. They are also relatively undemanding and inexpensive to manufacture, according to Rogers. The Alabama researchers studied partitioning of organic solutes in a biphasic system consisting of a dense ionic liquid phase and a light water phase. The ionic liquid they used was l-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate. The liquid is not only immiscible with water but is also stable in air. The team used 14C-labeled tracers to determine the distribution of simple sub-
stituted benzene derivatives—such as aniline, benzoic acid, chlorobenzene, and toluene—between the two liquid phases. The group then compared the distribution ratios with the partition coefficients of the same solutes between 1-octanol and water. The partitioning data of the two biphasic systems show a close correlation, although the distribution coefficients for the ionic liquid-water system are in general an order of magnitude lower than those for the octanol-water system. Even so, the differences do not necessarily imply that ionic liquids represent a "poorer" extracting phase than 1-octanol, according to the researchers. The distribution values found for the ionic liquids are adequate for practical applications, they state. "This is a beautiful application," comments chemistry professor Kenneth R. Seddon, who leads an ionic liquids research group at Queen's University of Belfast in Northern Ireland. "This is the first time that ionic liquids have been used for water-organic separations. Once the organic solute has been extracted from water, it can be easily separated from the ionic liquid by distillation. The ionic liquid can then be used again. "This work is likely to have an impact on the removal of organic contaminants from wastewater and the remediation of ground soils," he adds. The Alabama researchers say they are continuing to study these ionic liquid biphasic systems with the aim of developing novel clean separation technologies. Michael Freemantle
Fire in Cal State chem lab shuts down building When fall classes begin next month at California State University, Los Angeles, the chemistry department will be trying to function with only half its ordinary laboratory and classroom space. At least it hopes it will be. At the moment, all chemistry department space is shut down in the aftermath of an Aug. 9 laboratory fire. The fire began in a seventh-floor organic chemistry lab at about 7 PM that Sunday, and the fire department had it under control 40 minutes later. The lab, which is used by undergraduate and master's degree students, was unoccupied at the time, although students were working in other laboratories on the floor and elsewhere in the building. Altogether,
thing—the benches, the books, the walls, the ceiling—throughout most of the labs on the seventh floor," Pine says. Investigations are also continuing to find out what caused the fire. Both Pine and other university sources say the Los Angeles Fire Department's preliminary assessment is that the fire was accidental and not caused by arson. In the coming weeks, Pine will be interviewing the students who were in the building at the time to see if it's possible to piece together what may have happened. Rebecca Rawls
Pine: it's quite a mess
Hoechst makes plans to integrate polyester business
about a dozen people were in the building at the time, none of whom were hurt, according to the university. Even such a relatively small fire leaves a formidable task of cleanup and repair. "It's quite a mess!" says Stanley H. Pine, professor of chemistry and biochemistry and the university's chemical safety officer. The fire "pretty well gutted two labs and badly damaged about four others. In addition, water damaged many, many other rooms in the building," Pine tells C&EN. Heat from the blaze caused a seventh-floor water pipe to break, causing most of the water damage to the floors below. The chemistry department occupies the top four floors of the eight-story building, which it shares with the geology and physics departments. Pine says most of the post-fire work has concentrated on "environmental testing to make sure the air quality in the building is safe for people to go in and start cleanup and repairs. We've been checking for asbestos and any toxic chemicals that might have come out of the labs." These tests have all come back fine, Pine notes. But the building, which went into service in 1971, does contain asbestos that is now exposed because of water damage to ceilings on most floors. Asbestos abatement will have to take place before general cleanup can begin, he explains. The goal is to get the lower sixfloorsof the building cleaned up and usable before fall classes begin. But the upper two floors—where half the chemistry department's facilities are located—will take a lot longer. "There's black soot on every-
It's about to sell off its polyester business, but that didn't stop Hoechst from just acquiring nonexclusive rights to Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.'s production technology for purified terephthalic acid (PTA), a key polyester feedstock. Back-integration likely will be the name of the game under the new owners as well since the rights—purchased for an undisclosed price—will be part of the polyester business when it is sold to a venture between Koch Industries of Wichita, Kan., and the Isaac Saba family of Mexico City (C&EN, April 27, page 8). The license is applicable to both Europe and the Americas. But the main reason for its purchase is that Hoechst is considering construction of a PTA plant of world-scale capacity—generally considered to be 500,000 metric tons per year—in the Americas. Hoechst, the world's largest PTA buyer, began to study backward-integration of its polyester business before the sale to Koch and partners was conceived, according to Harry Snodgrass, manager of value-chain optimization for Hoechst's polyester intermediates unit. "We're at the point in the maturation of polyester that this is the next step," Snodgrass says, pointing out that polymers such as polypropylene and polystyrene went through similar integration phases in their life cycles. Even if a PTA plant is built, Hoechst will continue to be a net buyer of PTA, he notes. Backward-integration would make even more sense for Koch than for Hoechst, because it is a leading U.S. producer of p-xylene, the feedstock for PTA. For Koch, adding PTA production would
provide a missing link in the polyester production chain. Hoechst is not the only polyester producer considering PTA production. Shrewsbury, N.J.-based Wellman Inc. said last fall that it is evaluating PTA technologies for possible back-integration of its polyester business. Joseph Tucker, vice president for corporate development, says Wellman has received a number of proposals and should pick one within the next 60 days. And DuPont indicated soon after its acquisition of ICI's polyester and intermediates business last year that it would consider building a PTA plant in the Americas that employs ICI technology. All this talk of back-integration likely has Amoco Chemical, the only significant U.S. seller of PTA, a little concerned. However, a spokesman only will say that Amoco realizes it is in a competitive business and that it will do whatever it can to remain competitive. Michael McCoy
White House may fight tobacco ruling Thwarted by the courts and Congress, the Clinton Administration is considering a different tack on tobacco regulation: legal action against tobacco companies to recoup the costs covered by Medicare and other federal programs for treatment of smoking-related health problems. The action being contemplated by the White House and the Departments of Justice and Health & Human Services would seek damages of up to $ 1 trillion, dwarfing the potential recovery from suits brought by 40 state attorneys general against cigarette makers. Gary Black, a Wall Street analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein, sees such a move as an "attempt by the Administration to get industry to negotiate a settlement" that would give the Food & Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco products. If such an agreement is worked out, industry would then drop its lawsuit challenging FDA's jurisdiction over nicotine-containing products, Black explains. The industryfiledsuit in 1996, immediately after FDA exerted authority over tobacco products and issued regulations to stem youth smoking. Last year, in a split decision, North Carolina U.S. District Judge William L. Osteen ruled that FDA had the authority to regulate nicotine as a drug and cigarettes as delivery systems, AUGUST 24, 1998 C&EN 13
