its olefins and polyolefins operations to the Borealis joint venture with Norway's Statoil. This move left the much smaller Neste Chemicals division—which has a In a move that has long seemed predes- product slate particularly strong in polytined, Neste Chemicals is to be spun off ester gel-coat resins, urea-formaldehyde into an independent company. Its par- adhesives for construction, and similar ent, Fortum Corp., has agreed to sell products—as the oil and gas producer's Neste Chemicals to Nordic investment lone chemical business. After the Finnish government firm Industri Kapital for about $535 million. Neste Chemicals' current manag- merged Neste Corp. with Finnish power ers, led by President and Chief Execu- company IVO early last year to form tive Georges Marzloff, will become own- what is now called Fortum Corp., Neste Chemicals looked even more awkwarders of the newly independent firm. In January 1994, Neste Corp. assigned ly situated and even smaller in propor-
Neste Chemicals will go it alone
Tiny pen plotter makes big mark at nanoscale
Using teeny letters to convey a great big message, researchers at Northwestern University, Evanston, 111., have printed a microscopic-sized excerpt from late physicist Richard Feynman's 40-year-old futuristic speech on the subject of miniaturization. Postdoctoral associate Seunghun Hong, graduate student Jin Zhu, and chemistry professor Chad A, Mirkin can draw letters and other patterns with nanometer-scale spatial control in a fast and automated fashion using a new multiple-ink version of their dip-pen nanolithography technique [Science, 286, 523 (1999)]. The method may lead to advances in fabricating nanocircuits and preparing new catalysts and chemical sensors. In this demonstration, the group uses an atomic force microscope tip as a pen nib to write the paragraph with a single molecular layer of mercaptohexadecanoic acid "ink" on a gold surface. The neatly aligned characters show high contrast against the background because each letter is surrounded by a single molecular layer of octadecanethiol—a second "ink." After writing the pattern, the chemists use the same lanoscale pen plotter to record the image. "The work is a real contribution toward making nanoscience accessible to chemists and biologists," comments Harvard University chemistry professor George M. Whitesides. Unlike other high-resolution patterning methods that require millions of dollars of equipment, Whitesides notes, "this study provides new types of techniaues that are lot complex, expensive, and instrument-dependent" Mitch Jacoby
tion to its new, larger parent. Its sales in 1998 were just over $1 billion; Fortum's totaled $9.4 billion. "Neste Chemicals is not linked to our core business, [which is] energy," says Eero Aittola, chief financial officer of Fortum. "We have been saying for some time that we wanted to find Neste Chemicals new owners who will further develop the company. We are pleased to have found a buyer, Industri Kapital, which is strongly committed to Neste Chemicals' growth in the future." Indeed, according to Harald Mix, deputy chief executive of Industri Kapital: "We believe that Neste Chemicals, as one of the leading suppliers to selected industrial adhesives and coatings markets, is well positioned to benefit from the global consolidation of the chemical sector. Neste Chemicals offers a unique platform to create a world-leading specialty chemical company and today has a product portfolio well suited for further development." Privately, Neste Chemicals staffers are jubilant about gaining what they see as their freedom. They will work for an independent company, not a relatively insignificant part of a large energy company. And they are trying hard not to feel smug, as their former oil company colleagues envy their retention of the name Neste, a once-powerful name in Finnish industry. For the time being, Neste Chemicals is located in the Helsinki suburb of Espoo, in a building formerly known as the Neste Tower. However, the newly independent business is expected to soon find other offices in the Helsinki area, although in the booming Finnish economy office space is currently hard to come by, one executive notes. Patricia Layman
Roche to get richer on Genentech shares Roche Holdings, part of Switzerland's Roche Group, is cashing in on its ownership of Genentech. It could pick up more than $3 billion simply by once again selling up to 22 million of its shares in the South San Francisco-based biopharmaceutical producer. Roche also plans to offer bonds exchangeable for up to 5.5 million shares of Genentech stock, reaping another $1 billion in return. After if s done, Roche will retain a substantial 65% stake in the company—down from its present 82% holding, but still worth more than $12.5 billion at recent share OCTOBER 18,1999 C&EN
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