good reagent for transferring trifluorosilyl groups to other compounds. Lagow plans to investigate the latter's synthetic capabilities in greater detail. These cadmium compounds, on heating in solution, also eliminate reactive, divalent species that have synthetic uses. The trifluoromethyl compound yields difluorocarbene (CF2), and the trifluorosilyl derivative yields the silicon analog, difluorosilylene (SiF2). The intriguing reactions of S1F2 in the gas phase were explored extensively by chemist John L. Margrave of Rice University, and Lagow has found SiF 2 , s chemistry to be similar in solution. Because Lagow can prepare coordinatively unsaturated metal alkyls at low temperatures, he expects to be able to add on almost any desired ligand at will. This capability, he says, could be an ad\ mtage in creating novel h o m o g e n e o u s catalysts. Even as his group continues to pursue atom /radical reactions with transition metals, Lagow already has his sights on the lanthanides and actinides. He's succeeded in vaporizing a small amount of uranium metal and spectroscopically detecting the formation of a trifluoromethyl compound that he surmises is U(CF3)6. But to prepare larger quantities of this and other heavy-metal compounds, he needs a laser to vaporize the metals more effectively. To finance the purchase of this $300,000 device, Lagow plans to submit a proposal outlining the use of U(CF3)6 in uranium isotope separation. The gist of his idea involves triggering the selective decomposition of 235U(CF3)6 to 235 UF 6 (by elimination of difluorocarbenes), and separating the latter from the much larger quantity of 238U(CF3)6 present. Currently, he says, the best isotope separation method involves breaking uranium-fluorine bonds in UF 6 and separating out the resulting UF4. "And that's a lot more difficult to d o " than his proposed method, Lagow notes. Although Lagow obviously knows the many practical uses of these metal alkyls, what really seems to motivate his research efforts is, to put it simply, the joy of discovery. "Basically," he tells C&EN, "we're just
interested in s y n t h e s i z i n g n e w classes of matter." Grants from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the National Science Foundation, and the Robert A. Welch Foundation have helped him pursue this primary goal. But there are many side projects that also clamor for attention. For example, Lagow is interested in the
synthetic chemistry and surface catalysis of these new, sometimes exotic, compounds. These side investigations proceed "at a much slower pace," he explains, because of limited time, manpower, and money. What's more, he observes, "it's hard [pursuing] the followup chemistry when the primary [thrust of] discovery is so exciting." D
Sri Lanka gets CHEMRAWN briefing As a conference, "CHEMRAWN II: Chemistry and World Food Supplies—The New Frontiers" is long over. But effort to promote action based on its message continues. A briefing of officials in Sri Lanka early this year is the first of what sponsors of the December 1982 conference hope will be a series. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economies of most developing countries. Nonetheless, many such countries are s t r u g g l i n g to p r o d u c e enough food for their growing populations. Exceptions do exist, however, and Sri Lanka ranks among the leading ones. Its literacy rate is high (about 85%), it has an active agricultural research and development program, and officials up to and including the country's president, J. R. Jayewardene, know that it must use the best agricultural science and technology available. Moreover, it is increasing its arable land about 25% as it brings another 1 million acres
under cultivation with completion of a major irrigation project. Despite these advantages, however, the country will progress the most only if it coordinates its agricultural R&D much better and if it provides higher salaries and much improved working conditions for its agricultural scientists and engineers. These were the two major conclusions recently sent to President Jayewardene by a group of six scientists who had visited Sri Lanka earlier this year at his request. These scientists' aim was to help evaluate agricultural R&D there and suggest ways in which chemical R&D might contribute more effectively to Sri Lanka's efforts to become not only self-sufficient in food but to be a net exporter of food products. The scientists represented the Future Actions Committee of CHEMRAWN II. CHEMRAWN II was the second conference in a program called Chemical Research Applied to World
Sri Lanka briefing group included (from left) scientists Nickell, Hopper, Brady, Ponnamperuma, Rossiter, and Porter April 8, 1985 C&EN
25
EDUCATION
Science Needs, begun in 1978 by the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry. Jointly sponsored by the International Rice Research Institute, which is located in the Philippines, the conference was held in Manila (C&EN, Dec. 20, 1982, page 9). The recent briefing was attended by nearly 30 secretaries of government ministries, heads of research institutes, and faculty members of universities in Sri Lanka who have responsibilities in the fields of agriculture, plantation crops, and food processing. They had been gathered together for the briefing by Cyril Ponnamperuma, chairman of CHEMRAWN IPs Future Actions Committee and currently science adviser to President Jayewardene and director of the Institute of Fundamental Studies recently established in Sri Lanka. Members of the briefing group included, in addition to Ponnamperuma, Louis G. Nickell, vice president for research and development of Velsicol Chemical Corp., Chica-
Coordination of agricultural R&D; better salaries, working conditions for scientists and engineers were recommended go; W. David Hopper, vice president for South Asia, World Bank, Washington, D.C.; Nyle C. Brady, senior assistant administrator for science and technology, Agency for International Development, Washington, D.C.; Bryant W. Rossiter, director of science and technology development, Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester (and chairman of the CHEMRAWN II Organizing Committee); and Sir George Porter, director of the Royal Institution, London. The CHEMRAWN conference on chemistry and world food supplies sought to identify R&D areas in which results provided by chemistry could increase food production greatly, make chemical R&D stronger and more effective in developing countries, and set chemical R&D priorities so that persons in policy po26
April 8, 1985 C&EN
sitions could make the best choices among projects competing for funding. The CHEMRAWN II Future Actions Committee published 17 recommendations based on lectures given during the conference. The recommendations covered a span from the need for long-range research in such basic areas as genetic engineering, plant physiology, photosynthesis, and biological nitrogen fixation to more near-term applied research in such areas as fertilizer and pesticide field trials, food preservation methods, and preparation of food analogs (C&EN, Aug. 1,1983, page 4). The conference's recommendations were not discussed in detail during the Sri Lanka briefing. However, the group did point out that in addition to its two major recommendations, it is essential for a developing country such as Sri Lanka to conduct at least some research that is long range in its possibilities for practical use and not simply to concentrate on problems that require immediately practical results for crisis situations. The three most important areas, the group said, are genetic engineering, plant growth regulators, and biological nitrogen fixation. Sound research in these fields does not require large investments in facilities and equipment, the group pointed out, and thus would not drain limited R&D resources unduly. But in some 15 to 20 years, results could be critical to meeting the need for some two to three times as much food as is produced now. If countries such as Sri Lanka do no research in these areas, moreover, they not only may not recognize the value of results obtained elsewhere, but they may have to pay royalties for products and processes developed in countries that do the necessary research. The briefing in Sri Lanka was the first of six that IUPAC hopes to conduct with assistance from the American Chemical Society's Department of International Activities to promote action on the conference's recommendations. Additional ones are now being considered for later this year and in 1986: two in Africa, two in Latin America, and one in Southeast Asia. D
Directory of Graduate Research Put On-line For 30 years, the Directory of Graduate Research, published by the American Chemical Society, has been providing users with information on faculties at universities in the U.S. and Canada that offer graduate degrees at M.S. or Ph.D. levels in the chemical sciences. A new move is making DGR more useful. It has been computerized and put on line. DGR-ONLINE contains all of the information in the print version. And because it contains additional information as well, it's possible for users to carry out various types of searches and make various correlations that weren't possible or weren't practical with the print version. At present, DGR-ONLINE is available through Bibliographic Retrieval Services (BRS), Latham, N.Y. In addition to its normal daytime service, BRS provides a low-cost AfterDark service. Custom work is also available. The print version of DGR has been published biennially, with the most recent edition, the 16th, appearing in 1983. It is a responsibility of the ACS Committee on Professional Training, which prepared it originally to document research activity in graduate schools for the benefit of both students and professional scientists. For the schools with graduate degrees, DGR includes departmental, biographical, and technical information on all affiliated departments of chemistry, chemical engineering, biochemistry, pharmaceutical/medicinal chemistry, clinical chemistry, and polymer science. But the only means of getting at the information was through an alphabetical index of names of faculty and an alphabetical index of institutions according to department type. Over the years, students, faculty members, book and journal editors, government agencies, symposium organizers, recruiters, and professional scientists in general have all found DGR useful. One person in particular found it useful—but not useful enough. That person was Melvin B. Robin, a member of the
