INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Shellac Varnish. Before the war the bulk of the research on shellac in this country was conducted under the sponsorship of the Shellac Importers Association, b‘ut with shortages and the institution of government stock piling this was discontinued in 1942. Facilities for research in the industry are limited, and unless this program is resumed, research in the future will be largely in the hands of users of shellac. This may result in the development of shellac as a chemical raw material, expanding or replacing its traditional use as a resin. Already replaced by synthetics in a number of applications, shellac is still dominant in the three leading tonnage usesfloor varnish, sound records, and electrical insulation. Even here, however, inroads are being made by such materials as vinyl resins which were permitted for radio transcriptions when shellac was short. Long an inviting field for synthetic endeavor (Bakelite was one result), the search for shellac substitutes was intensified by war shortages. In the field of shellac varnishes, substitutes were constantly changed as materials successively became unavailable. They mere largely resin compositions of the maleic, phthalic, or phenolic types. Zein was used to some extent. Plasticizers and cellulose derivatives were also included in the substitute varnishes so that formulations were essentially lacquers with more resin than ester. The problems introduced by these substitutes were mostly concerned with solubility. Rosin was usually added to improve alcohol solubility, but with many of the synthetic resins solubility remained on the borderline so that the formulation often had undesirable temperature characteristics. Zein type substitutes tended to gel. Another difficulty was surface chalking due to solubility of the constituent waxes in lacquer solvents. The influence of synthetics, however, has tended to point out the possibilities of modifying shellac varnish through formulation, and i t is felt by some that the now-simple solution of shellac in alcohol mill be improved by the addition of other resins and modifying agents. With government controls on shellac removed, shellac varnish producers have returned to the natural product in spite of the rather high price of 33 to 35 cents per pound for flake lac, the native refined grade. At this price there are some synthetics, such as fast-drying phenolic “dispersion resins” which can compete with shellac on a price basis.
However, with price levels down to 15-22 cents per pound, as some expect, the substitutes will be forced to compete solely on a quality or specific use basis. Shrouded in secrecy, the shellac varnish industry operates as an old-fashioned art, and its very simplicity has tended to keep i t so. There are those in the industry who feel that i t will not change in this respect and that resin uses of ahellac will continue to develop in spite of synthetics. Disappearing Soap. Consumption of soap may be the yardstick of civilization, as someone has venturously asserted, but our current declining rate of soap production and use is due to more tangible reasons. Supplies of fats, vegetable oils, and rosin, the raw materials for soap manufacture, have become so seriously depleted that some retailers find i t necessary to ration their soap one cake a t a time to customers. In contrast, soap production in 1944 set a new high. I n normal times coconut oil is probably one of the most important raw materials for the soapmaker. It was supplied largely by the Philippines, and we may not be able to count on that source for coconut oil until some time in 1946. Other soap oils, including palm, cottonseed, soybean, olive, and whale, as well as tallow and grease, are not available to make up the coconut oil deficiency. * Just how short they are for all purposes is evident in the report of the United States Department of Agriculture for May l. This report shows that stocks of all fats and oils on that date totaled 1,823,000,000 pounds as compared with 2,709,000,000 pounds one year earlier. Rosin normally enters the manufacture of soap (laundry varieties particularly) on a large scale. Rosin consumption for this purpose during the naval stores season ending March, 1945, totaled 324,164 drums of 520 pounds each. However, since February of this year the use of rosin for civilian soaps has been limited to 25% of the 1944 rate. A surprisingly large tonnage of soap in various forms is being taken by the armed forces. It is being supplied directly t? men and women in service and to prisoners of war. Soap also has indirect war uses, as in the polymerization of synthetic rubber, Soap of an entirely different character, in the form of recently developed synthetic detergents, likewise is being taken by the Army and Navy (Continued on page 8)
I. & E. C. Reports on the Chemical World Today
y-vond
-e
on a scale which precludes their use by civilians. They enable Navy personnel to use salt water in laundering operations and also soften! spring water supplies pressed into service for the same purpose at Army encampments. Made from petroleum distillates or alcohol, the detergents are not dependent on imported raw materials. Expansion of this chemical activity can be set down as a certainty, following Japan’s defeat, to meet hundreds of industrial and household uses. Laboratory Apparatus. Foreign demand for capital laboratory equipment, together with the many new installations and increased funds of domestic laboratories, have raised the demand for heavy equipment t o twice the output. Shipments on Lend-Lease sometimes have a higher priority than for domestic private organidations; as a result our college and industrial laboratories frequently have been forced t o wait until orders from foreign laboratories, which have expanded extremely rapidly during the war, are filled. The general situation in laboratory apparatus is easing, however, with some lines, such as hardware and porcelain, readily available. Microscopes can again be purchased without priority, and analytical balances are becoming easier to obtain. The substitution of soft glass for Pyrex, where possible, has done much to ease the situation on laboratory glassware during the last several years. Ground joints and graduated glassware are yet presenting difficult delivery problems. Standard items are on schedule, but on some specialty lines fabricators are as much as two years behind. The manpower shortage has hit the laboratory suppliers principally in the glass and machine shops. Research and development have kept pace with the increased tempo of the industry, and postwar offerings of new equipment are expected to feature electronics and light metals. Vitapine. Science always comes to the resque. Now comes a use for the old Christmas tree. We noted this recently in an unpublished speech of V. N. Bukin of the Academy of Sciences of U.S.S.R. The Russians during the war made vitamin C from pine needles to eke out their supplies for the army. Investigated and used a t the same time was also the unripe fruit of the walnut. Pine needles are widespread and accessible during the winter months. The vitamin C content is not high, but it is said to exceed five times that of lemons. The meat of unripe walnuts contains about 2y0 vitamin C. To obtain the antiscorbutic material, the pine needles were covered with water containing about 0.5 to 1% of liquid bread yeaat, and this mixture was kept for two or three days a t 86” or 90” F. The pine needles had to be fermented in this way to remove the bitter taste from the extract. Such methods of vitamin production helped the Russian army over a difficult period, and during the present war the army has been free from scurvy aa compared to about 286,000 cases during World War I. (Continua4 on page IO) 8
1. & E. C. Reports on the Chemical World
qah
Harmower. About this time of year our lawn begins to look like a botanical garden display of common weeds, and friend wife repeatedly makes pointed remarks and comparisons. There is infinitely more attraction in thinking of beautiful lawns than doing the work necessary to get one. We dream constantly about a magic spray that will get rid of all weeds, crab grass, unwanted ferns, wild onions, stray oak trees, dogs, cats, and bare spots. The nearest we have ever come to doing anything about it was to apply concentrated nitric acid to the plantain; this was bad for the plantain, but next year it was back in greater numbers. Besihes, nitric acid went on allocation and we were tired. Therefore, we made mental note last winter when the new weed killer, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid was announced, that we would find .out more about its properties. Last month, after a session with the lawn mower, we visited the Beltsville, Md., laboratories of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, intent on improving our knowledge, lawn, and faith in the powers of science. We saw John W. Mitchell, a plant physiologist who has conducted some of the bureau’s experiments on the new herbicide. This same chemical, incidentally, appeared in a different guise in May I. &E. C. Reports (advertising section page 8) as a plant hormone. This summer will be the “proof of the pudding” as far as 2,4dichlorophenoxyacetic acid as a weed killer is concerned. Extensive test patches are being run throughout the country, on golf courses and public squares such as the Mall in Washington, D. C. The Golf Association is actively interested in the project and was among the first to plan experiments with the regulator. According to our guide, the first to suggest that plant hormones might be used to kill instead ofpromote growth of plants was E. J. Kraus, an eminent biologist. Preliminary experiments were carried out in Beltsville during 1941 where Kraus WM working at the time. The first problem was to find a suitable carrier for the hormones (many were tested) ; finally polyethylene glycol compounds were hit upon as being satisfactory. I n the dry state little if any action is obtained from the hormoneshence the necessity for a spreader. During the early experiments, and before Zimmerman published data on the properties of substituted phenoxy compounds as plant growth regulators, other familiar hormones such as P-indolacetic acid, were tried. However, 2,4dichlorophenoxyacetic proved to be the number one killer, and a t the experimental station we were shown several examples of its power. Large test plots a t the station have been sprayed with the herbicide; alternate patches, having approximately the same weed infestation, were left unsprayed. The hormone, usually applied in concentrations of about 1000 p.p.m. and thoroughly sprayed on the plot, does a good job of eliminating weeds and clover and leaving grass and crab grass untouched. The unsprayed plots resembled our lawn with huge waving stems of plantain and dandelion speckling the grass. The sprayetl portions, however, were not entirely free from weeds, for the hormone will not kill daisy, (Coniinued on page 12) 10
