RESEARCH
tion. The principle did not hold—significantly more electrons were going in one direction than the other. This established "handedness." The other confirmatory experiment was clone by Richard L. Garwin and associates of Columbia. They find that when the pi meson disintegrates into a mu meson and a neutrino, the niu mesons always spin, not equally in both directions, but instead in the direction of motion—"handedness/' again. Counting the end products of mu meson decay, again electrons, showed how mu spins are aligned. Parallel but unrelated studies at University of Chicago by Valentine L. Telegdi and Jerome I. Friedman also show the "handedness" of pi meson decay. They, however, use photographic emulsions instead of electronic techniques to count t h e electrons. • Theories Fall and Rise. Thus the new findings destroy the principle of parity and also an allied principle, charge conjugation. The latter says that a particle and its corresponding antiparticle will decay in an identical manner. The work casts doubt on a third principle, that of time reversal. It says that physical principles are t h e same going forward in time as going backward. Cobalt-60 experiments to resolve this point are under way. The new work opens the way to a correct and unifying theory of elementary particles. T h e over-all symmetry of the universe may still be preserved by assuming that if our galaxy is essentially right-handed, some distant galaxy may b e in turn left-handed. This distant galaxy may h e identical with antimatter, now a subject of intense speculation. This would greatly simplify the theoretical attack on structure of the universe.
Go-Ahead for Reactors Industrial Reactor L a b o r a tories, Westinghouse, a n d Bell plan research reactors INDUSTRIAL
REACTOR
LABORATORIES'
proposed pool tvpe research reactor (C&EN, Oct. 1, 1956, page 4739) h a s received a construction permit from Atomic Energy Commission. AMF Atomics, which will build the reactor, received the permit, since IRL's organizational plans are not yet complete. The reactor, to b e built 4l/2 miles from Princeton, N. J., will operate at power levels up to 5000 kw. to provide fast and thermal neutron fluxes a n d gamma rays. T h e reactor will be simi28
C&EN
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lar to the Bulk Shield Test Facility in operation at Oak Ridge since 1951, with these major differences: • A stall will be a d d e d to one end of the reactor pool. T h e stall will contain beam holes, a dry irradiation chamber, and a thermal column for experimental use. • T h e pool will b e divided into two areas with a partition and movable gate. AMF Atomics plans to build into the far end of the pool a dry irradiation chamber using spent fuel elements from the reactor as a gamma ray source. T h e reactor is scheduled for completion between March and December 1957. It will b e operated under the direction of a university not yet selected. • Westinghouse Too. AEC has also granted Westinghouse a construction permit for a reactor. Called the Westinghouse Test Reactor, it will be located about 2 9 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Ordinary water u n d e r pressure will serve as cooler and moderator, enriched uranium as fuel. T h e reactor will generate 20,000 kw. of heat. Westinghouse plans to use it for: • Developing and testing power reactor fuel elements. • Radiation d a m a g e testing of materials and components. • Producing limited amounts of radioisotopes. T h e company will make the reactor available to others on a commercial basis. Plans call for completion in the last half of 1957. • And Bell. Not quite so far along in its plans is Bell Telephone Labs, which is about to ask A E C for a license for a reactor a t its Whippany, N. J., location. The Air Force will provide the reactor, as well as a 3 m.e.v. Van de Graaff accelerator to assist Bell in expanding its research in nuclear physics. Specific aims of the expanded prograin : • T o get more information about electric, magnetic, and structural properties of solids. • T o study effects of nuclear radiation on various materials and components of military electronic systems. T h e heterogeneous reactor will use heavy water as a moderator; the reactor is similar to one first developed at Argonne. If the Air F o r c e approves plans for the program, construction starts in 1957 and should take over a year to complete. In the meantime. Bell will continue to use outside facilities.
Steroid Patent to Pfizer Pfizer gets first U. S. process p a t e n t to produce the a r t h r i tis steroids, prednisone a n d prednisolone X HIS M O N T H Pfizer received t h e first U. S. process patent to produce p r e d n i sone and prednisolone, drugs t o treat arthritis (C&EN, Jan. 2 1 , p a g e 7 ) . The p a t e n t covers a fermentation process using Protaminobacter organisms. The drug firm has said it makes prednisolone hy a combined chemical synthesis a n d fermentation ( C & E N , Sept. 5, 1955, page 3 6 7 0 ) . Pfizer will not say if t h e new p a t e n t covers t h e route it uses in commercial production. According to the Pfizer patent, steroids are oxidized to prednisone or prednisolone via Protaminobacter. A number of 3-keto-4 unsaturated steroids may be u s e d as starting materials—including cortisone and hydrocortisone. Key chemical step of the process is dehydrogenation in the 1,2 position of the steroid ring to make a double bond. The steroid reacts with the oxidizing organism in aqueous solution. A s usual in fermentation, the reaction works with an actively growing culture, with cells of the Protaminobacter removed from the culture, or with extracts of t h e oxidizing enzymes from t h e culture. The process is not limited to p r o d u c tion of prednisone and prednisolone. It can also b e used for making a number of delta-1,4 steroids such as deltaic-testosterone. • Other Companies. Schering still claims two ways to make the "pred" drugs. O n e is a chemical method, t h e other a fermentation one using Corynehacteriam simplex. T h e organism can convert cortisone to prednisone a n d 'hydrocortisone to prednisolone, conversions Protam'.nobacter can also make. The c o m p a n y will not indicate t h e preferred way. Merck, on the other hand, combines a chemical and fermentation synthesis. Upjohn says the same thing b u t adds that it starts with progesterone. Since t h e pred drugs were found a couple of years back, these compounds have been t h e subject of a lot of patent discussion. Pfizer is the only company to get a patent so far, but even before this, several companies drew u p cross licensing agreements. Schering, for example, c a m e to agreement with Pfizer (C&EN, Jan. 9, 1956, page 120). Pfizer points out that the new x:>rocess has not been licensed. Although Schering, Merck, and Pfizer h a v e a p plied for patents in the U . S . , n o n e h a d been issued prior to this month. c
