RESEARCH
For GM's General Staff N e w $ 1 0 0 million G M Technical C e n t e r houses research, engineering, styling, a n d process development W A R R E N , M I C H . - G e n e r a l Motors' $100 million Technical Center, dedicated h e r e M a y 15-16, w a s built with the i d e a t h a t science is a source of economic energy for industry, t h e nation, a n d t h e world. Its purpose: to provide an environment for creative thinking and independent development by G M ' s four central staff organizations—research staff, ^engineering staff, styling, and process development section. Although the facility is new, it will merely bring together—in this · Detroit suburb near company headquarters a n d at the c e n t e r of the automotive industries—scientists and technologists w h o 'have been working i n scattered locations. Divisions of t h e company do about 9 0 % of their ovvn researcL· and engineering but concentrate on short-range or production problems. The Technical Center provides a campuslike atmosphere where more advanced work can b e carried out away from t h e press of day-to-day problems. GM officials believe t h e company's
success in achieving i t s top position in industry has come from "expansion from within"—new products, processes, techniques, industries. Purpose of t h e more than 4000 engineers, researchers, stylists, designers, machinists, a n d other specialists at the Technical Center is, in general, to keep G M in business in the years to come. Intention t o build t h e center was announced in 1945. Construction on t h e 330-acre site was started in 1949. Last of t h e 25 buildings w a s for styling; it was occupied last fall. T h e architecture symbolizes t h e dedication of t h e center's employees t o a better tomorrow through a b o l d look today. T h e three-story buildings have "window walls" and brightly glazed brick end walls. They are arranged in five clusters around a 22-acre decorative artificial lake. Spectacular staircases individualize each major administration building. • R e s e a r c h . Work of the research staff encompasses metallurgy, chemistry, physics, and many phases of mechanical engineering. " T h e field of materials is t h e one which troubles General Motors in t h e most places a n d most intimately/' says L a w r e n c e R. Hafstad, w h o came t o G M as a vice president nine months ago to h e a d Research Staff after top-flight experience in t h e atomic energy field. Physical properties of available materials are
utilized to their very limits in searching for lower costs a n d better performance. "Even for our regular automotive activities we n e e d steel t h a t is stronger, copper that is a better conductor, a n d insulators t h a t p a s s even less current. For t h e newer fields of aeronautics, guided missiles, and atomic energy, such d e m a n d s a r e increased many fold. In these areas w e will need a whole new category of materials which will operate continuously at really h i g h temperatures." Physical properties of available m a t e rials set tHe lirait on performance in structural elements of engines of all types. F o r chemically powered engines, materials t o operate continuously in t h e r a n g e of 2500° to 5000° F . are urgentiy n e e d e d . For really efficient use of nuclear reactors even n o w m a t e rials which can operate in t h e r a n g e from 5000° to 10,000° F . are needed. The h i g h e s t temperatures attained in current o p e r a t i n g practice, specifically for turbine blades, are in the neighborhood of 1650° F . " N e w alloys, perhaps even entirely new metals from among the rare earths, will b e needed for uses which n o w can be foreseen. Metals such as hafnium, zirconium, hthixim, a n d niobium n o w are hardly known outside t h e laboratories. T b e y may soon b e c o m e as familiar as aluminum, magnesium, a n d zinc are now," says Hafstad. •
GM's Technical Center—"Where today meets tomorrow 2640
C&EN
MAY 2 8, 1956
Victor
makes major leaguer of SODIUM HYPOPHOSPHITE
HERE'S THE SCORE. PROPERTIES
;
A strong reducing agent, slow to react a t room
temperature
in many cases. Reduces aqueous çupr/'c ions to cuprous a n d m e t a l l i c c o p p e r , riickel s a l t s t o n i c k e l . ' _•· SOLUBILITIES:
ν •° C ) ,· • S. P . 30 Etrn|l A l c o h o l Cilqçerin 9S%
PRESENT USES:
'-
Ejectroless p l a t i n g s o l u t i o n s EÎectroplating^baths Reducing agent, antioxidant
^ P a r t s per TOO p a r t s Saturated Solution ' 50—60 23 • _ 56-S'_. _
state-
•
-
Blasting caps, detonating mixtures > . • A n t i c l u s t e r i n g a g e n t in ' granular polymerization I n t e r m e d i a t e in p r e p a r i n g - alkane phosphinic acids
Now . . . and for t h e first time . . . the versatile chemical properties of sodium hypophosphite can be viewed with new interest by all industry. T h a t ' s because Victor's new sodium hyporftpsphite plant a t Nashville, Tennessee, produ^Jjeb in volume at a cost t h a t makes wide usage b y industry practicable. Be sure to check t h e chemical ' 'score board" above. New Victor sodium hypophosphite might score a hit i n your process or product.
VICTOR CHEMICAL WORKS, 155 N . Wacker Drive, Chicago 6, III.
CEN-528
Please send: (Check one or more)
VICTOR ν Dependable
Name in N *«& ~
I | Sample of Sodium Hypophosphite for use in_ (application) I I Data sheet
f j Prices (state quantity)
Firm N a m e . Address Your N a m e .
-State.
_City_ -Title. Please attach to your letterhead
MAY
2 8.
1956
C&EN
2641
RESEARCH
New Way to Lignification New light has been shed on the mechanism of lignin formation in plants by F . F . Nord, W . J. Schubert, and Gerd Eberhard (a postdoctoral fel low from G e r m a n y ) at Fordham Uni versity. They say shikimic acid—often found in Japanese plants—is responsible for the aromatic rings leading to lignin.
COOH I
OH-
V OH
x
OH
Shikimic Acid
T h e Fordham chemists explain that enzymatic action of the wood-destroy ing mold Lentinus lepideus on plant carbohydrates leads to methyl p-methoxycinnamate—but shikimic acid along with sedoheptulose and p-hydroxylphenylpyruvic acid are found as intermediates. This means there is a relationship between the living or ganism synthesizing methyl p-methoxy cinnamate a n d t h e formation of certain lignin building stones during lignifica tion. To prove the relation, Nord a n d his group labeled shikimic acid with C 1 4 at the two and six position of its cyclohexene ring and then incorporated the acid in growing sugar cane. Later the hgnin was isolated from the cane and distribution studies made. Conclusion: T h e cyclohexene ring of shikimic acid is converted directly into the aromatic ring systems of hgnin without any ran domization of t h e carbon atoms of the
ing—is placed in a beam of particles. Charged particles passing through the chamber leave trails of bubbles just before the liquid boils. Some of the charged particles interact with atoms of xenon, creating electrons, which also leave bubble trails. Other neutral particles decay into those which create electrons. From diverging paths of the electrons, the energies and paths of the original particles can be charted. Paths of the neutral particles d o not actually appear, b u t because xenon is so dense, virtually all neutral particles reveal their routes b y reacting with the tightly packed xenon atoms to create charged particles, Glaser says in April 15 Phys. Rev. Glaser and his associates have tested a small xenon chamber and are planning one 20 inches long.
Atom Picture Single atoms o n the surface of a solid have been photographed by Pennsylvania State University's Erwin Miiller. The atoms—of tungsten—are about 5 χ 10"9 inch in diameter. Miiller took the photograph in late 1955 with the field ion microscope he invented. It is based on similar prin ciples as the field electron microscope
he developed 20 years ago. But, the new microscope allows a much better resolution b y using positive ions with a shorter d e Broglie w a v e length for the image formation and by working at liquid hydrogen temperatures to im prove sharpness of t h e image. T h e old microscope showed only a few atoms or molecules that were pro truding at the surface of the metal tip, while the new one reveals for the first time the atomic structure of the needle surface with its lattice arrangement of the atoms. Thus it permits study of surface films.
• A
new
method f o r
synthesis
of
fused-ring compounds has been found by Gordon N. Walker of National Heart Institute. The method, said to offer certain advantages over other methods, consists of the reaction of cyclic ketones with phenylacetic anhy drides in the presence of boron trifluoride. Acylation and cyclization are accomplished together in one step, and substituted β-naphthols or 4-hydroxy-2-tetralones are isolated. Walker says in May 2 0 JACS that the synthesis permits variation of the size of ring C and thus will b e useful in getting compounds related t o colchicine as well as new phenanthrenes.
t£3&%$''i
ring.
Improved Bubble Chamber Passage of neutral particles can b e detected with a n instrument developed at University of Michigan. A n im proved version of the bubble chamber, it can easily and rapidly detect neutral particles, as well as the charged parti cles the original bubble chamber can. T h e "xenon chamber," according to its developer Donald Glaser (who also developed the bubble chamber), may reveal nuclear events not yet known and establish t h e identity of particles whose existences are only suspected. Like the bubble chamber, the xenon chamber—with t h e hquid xenon filling the chamber held at the verge of boil 2642
C&EN
MAY
2 8,
1956
φ An Assist from Franklin HighHght of opening day ceremonies at Leeds & Northrup Co.'s n e w North Wales, Pa., electronic instrument plant was "Ben Franklin," who ignited the tape electri cally. "Franklin," like t h e original, charged the glass tube by r u b b i n g with a silk cloth. T h e charge was transferred to a spherical receiver a n d amplified to a point where a trigger device emitted sparks, firing t h e special t a p e . L&N's presi dent, I. "Melville Stein, presided over the dedication of the new plant which will b e devoted entirely to production of recorders, controllers, a n d other automatic instrumentation for industry.
