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sibly overlooked by military researchers. They list more than 380 vital technical problems that need solving. On the chemistry list are over 90 puzzlers. A typical problem plaguing military chemists is finding a method to float sodium fluorescin dye just below the surface of the water. This would greatly bolster air-sea rescue operations. Now. this dye floats on the surface and disperses in rough water. And dye below the surface sinks because of its density. In another field, government chemists are scratching their heads over lubricating problems. They want an all-weather oil that will work well throughout a temperature range of —65° to 125° F . Also, they'd like to run into a lubricant effective to 1000° C. These arc b u t a few representative examples. Chemical brain-rackers fall under the general headings of adhesives; batteries and electroplating; chemicals and processes; coatings, preservatives; crystals; elastomers; rubber and plastics; fuels, oils, and lubricants; and special materials. In addition, the list includes problems that chemicals or chemical processes might solve. Deicing aircraft and runways, and stabilizing rocket fuels are examples of the latter. NIC emphasizes that it is not looking for firms interested in getting government contracts to work on these problems. Of course, this does not mean that they can't submit ideas for examination. In any case, the armed forces branch furnishing the problem to NIC decides if an idea is acceptable or not. Neither does N I C want to locate products already on the market. Most of these have been, or are being, tested. Manufacturers usually submit these through different channels. NIC says legislation was started at t h e last session of Congress for paying contributors of worthy ideas. But no decision has been reached as yet.
New in Cigarettes N o v e l gas chromatographic method finds new acids in c i g a r e t t e smoke—it m a y find other uses too U SING GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY,
Duke
chemists have isolated 10 new acids from cigarette smoke. This technique may prove useful for analyzing these 46
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and similar acids in other fields. These studies are part of a large scale program to find out what is in tobacco smoke and w h a t effect smoking has on body functions. These acids, all nonvolatile, are lactic, succinic, nialeic, oxalic, furoic, levulinic, glutaric, phthalic, adipic, and malonic, says Louis D. Quin of Duke. The most prominent are lactic and succinic, he adds. Most of them are important in biochemistry and enter into the complex chemistry of various plant and animal processes. Quin told the ACS Southeastern Regional Meeting that five other acids were separated but not identified. Marcus E . Hobbs, Pelham Wilder, Jr., and Quin, collaborating on this experiment, started out by separating the acids from the other smoke constituents. They did this by ion exchange methods. Steam distilling got rid of the simple volatile acids. The big problem was getting nonvolatile acids into a volatile form. This was done by converting t h e m to their methyl esters with diazomethane—a quantitative reaction. They used a Perkin-Elmer Vapor Fractometer to separate the complex ester mixture and identify components. They also g o t a rough quantitative estimate b y this method. But they feel that there is some ester loss during the operation. Quin says that the method may work in other fields, such as biochemistry. For example, some of the acids mentioned play an important role in the Krebs cycle for metabolizing carbohydrates. T h e Duke technique might work out as a suitable method to analyze for these acids in this process. The Duke work, which is sponsored by a grant from the Damon Runyon Fund, will continue.
An Orange a Day Man lacks an important enzyme system. Result? Man and other primates can't synthesize vitamin C. This leaves humans susceptible to scurvy. Missing, says J. J. Burns of National Institutes of Health, is an enzyme system that converts L-gulonolactone, a product of sugar metabolism in the body, to L-ascorbic acid. All other ma/amals can produce this vital vitamin, says Burns. Research shows that L-gulonolactone is a forerunner of vitamin C in the liver of the
rat. Working with this clue, Burns tagged L-gulonolactone with carbon-14 and incubated it with homogenates of guinea pig and rat liver. Rat liver converts more than 100 times more L-gulonolactone to L-ascorbic acid than does guinea pig liver. Experiments using human liver show it is unable to maJke the conversion. T h e biosynthesis of vitamin C stazrts with D-glucose, then goes successively through D-glucuronolactone and L-gulonolactone to L-ascorbic acid. T h e step from D-glncuronolactone to L-gulonolactone probably takes place in all species of mammals. At one time, scurvy was one of man's most dreaded diseases. The 19th century witnessed 104 epidemics of scurvy* and it has figured in all wars. While it can be fatal, few deaths result from scurvy today. Still, much of the -world is on an inadequate diet so the threat of scurvy still exists. Next, says Burns, the enzymes capable of producing ascorbic acid must be identified. This is a tou_gli job, because these enzymes, secreted by the liver, are hard to get at.
Testing Anticancer Vaccine More than 1000 extracts from plants all over the world are being tested at the University of Texas Biochemioal Institute for anticancer activity. R e searchers there arc trying to find a plant juice that will destroy or retard cancerous tissue growth. Using plant extracts supplied by USD A, they inject the material into mouse tumors grown in incubating eggs. After checking results of t h e extracts on cancerous tissue growing beside embryonic chicks, the biochemists will then experiment with their effect on tumors in mice. The head of the project, Alfred Taylor, says, "If we get any worthwhile results with the mice, then the extract will be tried on human cancer."
^ Expansion of health research facilities by at least $120 million is under way as a result of the first two years of a three-year grant program of the Public Health Service. The program is "being financed by federal funds and an equivalent amount, or more, provided by the participating institutions. L-ast month, with approval of 43 new grant awards totaling $3.7 million, the $60
RESEARCH million appropriated by Congress for fiscal 1957 and 1958 has been allocated. • Revised instrument calibrations
in
roentgens in the energy region from 0.5 to 3 m.e.v. will go into effect on Jan. 1, according to a joint statement of the National Bureau of Standards and the National Research Council of Canada. The change is due to a revised estimate of the "stopping power" corrections that must be applied to materials involved in the calibration. To conform to the new basis, instruments calibrated in roentgens with cobalt-60 gamma rays before Jan. 1 should have their calibration factors reduced by 1.8%. • A b o a r d of scientific counselors has
been established by the Public Health Service to review, discuss, and make recommendations concerning the research conducted by the National Cancer Institute and in the field. The sixman group is composed of nonfederal scientists and is headed by Wendell M. Stanley, Nobel prize winning director of the virus laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley. • Use of thallium a s a pesticide should be restricted to persons familiar with its hazards and trained in its handling, an American Medical Association committee has recommended. This recommendation, in the Nov. 23 J.A.M.A., was prompted by the occurrence within six months of more than 6 0 cases of thallium poisoning, including three deaths in small children in Texas. • Veterinary radiological h e a l t h will be the topic of a special two-week course at Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies March 10—21. Particular stress will be p u t on the biological effects and possible or potential factors involved in the radio contamination of food-producing animals or animal-food products. Registration fee will be $25.00; information may b e obtained from Ralph T. Overman, ORINS Special Training Division, P. O. Box 117, Oak Ridge, Tenn. • Basic research g r a n t s amounting to $305,344 were awarded by Research Corp. during the third quarter of 1957. These grants were distributed from three funds set up by the foundation: Frederick Gardner Cottrell Grants, Williams-Waterman Fund for the Combat of Dietary Diseases, and the BrownHazen Fund.
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