IMPORTANCE OF BIOLOGY IN CREATIVE CHEMISTRY
A young man recently did me the honor of consulting with me about his graduate work a t a southern university. He is majoring in organic chemistry or, let us say, in biological chemistry. When I questioned him as to his future plans, he advised me that he planned to work in the south, to do his bit to help in this new era of southern prosperity.
* * * * * The south today is developing industrially. Such an impetus has been gaining as t o be overwhelming. Great manufacturing centers are springing into being as the result of the work of the creative chemist. The whole creative work is essentially one of utilization of farm wastes. The southern farmer is the primary object. His prosperity is reflected in the South as a whole. Fundamentally, the South is agricultural. It has natural resources beyond any other section of the United States. But these products of nature are undeveloped. I n many instances they are iudigenous to certain southern localities, and cannot be grown elsewhere. A possible monopoly, if you please. A number of creative scientists are utilizing these farm wastes, these local products, to economic value. For instance, the peanut is the very backbone of southwest Georgia. In the South the average farmer heretofore has raised cotton; rather not raised it, but attempted it without success. The boll weevil has become so destructive that i t will not be long before the southern farmer will be unable to earn even the most meager livelihood from cotton. Many have already taken t o peanuts. The business man of the South wants to know what to do with all the peanuts which will be raised when every farmer whose land is suitable begins t o grow peanuts. His answer is from the creative chemist, one who has training not only in chemistry hut in botany as well. The industrial man will want a new article to manufacture. For example, let us say that there is a tremendous increase in growth of peanuts, so much in fact that the confectioner can just about utilize all the meats, in making his candy. What of the mountains of peanut shells? The production cost expert will begin t o figure these shells as a large portion of profit and loss. Then he will appeal t o the chemist for a chemical product which may be manufactured locally a t a price competitive with some other article, let us say, similar to that which may be created from the peanut hull. What, then, are the requirements of the chemist who will do this work? First, he will of necessity have to be a botanist, or a t least possess a knowledge of vegetable histology. That is, he will have to make a thorough study of the cells of the peanut shells. He will do as much work under the microscope as he can. Then he will make his analysis chemically. Now he knows what constitutes the individual cells. He has his background. 2158
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What next must he do? Create something! Let us see how he would do this, for instance, from the peanut hull. Theoretically, he would separate out the cellulose into the alpha and the other celluloses. Beside this he would place his pentose sugars; perhaps even hydrolyze them into their constituents, xylans, arabans, etc. Then, he would separate out his oil. Of this he may go so far as t o break it up into its constituent fatty acids and the glycerides; or even go so far as to look for psytosterols, vitamins, carotinoids, etc. His proteins are taken out and lined into order; then decomposed into their respective amino acids. The tannins are gotten out. The remaining sugars are tested and identified. The sort of nitrogen is estimated and lined up, whether it is amide, free, or whatever manner of combination it happens to be, combined within the peanut hull. Next he has some ash; this he breaks down into whatever it is-phosphoric acid, potash, iodine, and the like. He has broken down the peanut hull. Not yet is he through. Again he reverts to his biology. He has yet to study the fiber of cotton, hemp, spruce, and slash pine t o determine, by comparison with the fiber of the peanut hull, its possibility as rayon stock or as paper fiber. He must investigate the purpose and function of the different celluloses within his individual hull. His work must show him, by virtue of his biology, the condition and the variation of the sugars in the hull under many circumstances. This is a job in vegetable histology and with the microscope. Another task for him which concerns both his chemistry and his biology is the effect of the age, for example, upon the xylans in the peanut hull. There is a real difference. This vitally concerns any finished product which relies on the sugars as it governs the percentage yield. When he estimates on his vitamins, he brings into play some more of his biology. Or, in working with the proteins and the amino acids, he gets into his physiological chemistry. Or with his starches and sugars, with a view toward making fermentation products, bacteriology dovetails in. In any creative work for the utilization of organicals in industry, the finished product is the result of biology as much as of chemistry. Any chemist working with the usual vegetable substances of the farm finds himself face to face with the carbohydrates, gums, glucosides, tannins, proteins, and so on. Try if you can t o create a new product that the world has never seen before without making first a biological study of the raw material and it will be realized that the production engineer has something to say. For some reason, not known to himself, a great variance of yield will prevail, certain peculiarities will crop up continuously in the processing. The whole efficiency of the product will be lessened. The rebound strikes the creative chemist.
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To this young man, who consulted me, I suggested that he learn as much biology, that is, botany, and vegetable histology, as he can. He will need it. Unfortunately, he had never studied bacteriology. He must do that above everything if he would succeed in this work. Attempting t o do creative work in industrial biochemistry without a knowledge of botany is as improbable as attempting t o work with plants without knowing the different families t o which they belong. The industrial South has much to offer the trained college man with a profound knowledge of biochemistry, a creative ability, and a knowledge of botany, vegetable histology, and bacteriology.
