Business Concentrates CANCER
New route planned to biobased ethylene glycol Haldor Topsoe, Braskem will test a catalytic process for making the polyester raw material from sugar sugars into mixed oxygenates. A Topsoe catalyst then hydrogenates the oxygenates into ethylene glycol and co-product propylene glycol. Braskem already operates a 200,000-metric-ton-per-year plant in Brazil that makes polyethylene from ethylene derived from domestically sourced ethanol. Conventional sugar-to-ethylene glycol approach The ethylene Dehydration glycol demonstraFermentation Oxidation Sugar OH tion plant will open H2O CO2 O2 Ethylene Ethanol in 2019. The firms OH hope to start up a O Hydration HO commercial plant H2O Ethylene Ethylene by 2023. glycol oxide James Iademarco, president of Haldor Topsoe process the consulting firm Pyrolysis Hydrogenation OH Strategic Avalanche, C1–C3 oxygenates Sugar HO says ethylene glycol H2 Ethylene is a good biobased glycol Examples: chemical target because commitments to biobased PET from nies are on the hunt for a biobased route companies such as Coca-Cola and Danone to this common beverage bottle plastic. Coca-Cola has used biobased ethylene gly- should support demand. Topsoe’s sleeker route may prove col to make its PlantBottle since 2009. The current method for making ethylene cheaper than the ethanol-based route in the long run. “Any time you go from five to glycol from biomass involves fermenting two steps, the promise is there,” he says. sugar to ethanol, which is converted to ethBut Iademarco points out that Avanylene and then on to ethylene glycol using conventional petrochemical processes. Two tium, which promotes polyethylene furanoate as a biobased alternative to PET, firms to have used this route are India Glyalso has an ethylene glycol effort. And the cols and Greencol Taiwan. Topsoe touts its process as simpler. The Iowa Corn Promotion Board has filed a patent for a catalytic route.—ALEX TULLO new route uses pyrolysis to break down Catalyst firm Haldor Topsoe and Brazilian petrochemical giant Braskem are building a demonstration plant in Denmark to test Topsoe’s new process for making ethylene glycol from sugar. Ethylene glycol is reacted with purified terephthalic acid to make polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and beverage compa-
BUSINESS
Ineos moves the goalposts Ineos, the Switzerland-based petrochemical company, has again expanded its non-chemical ambitions, this time by buying a soccer team, the Lausanne Football Club. CEO Jim Ratcliff plans to improve the beleaguered Swiss team’s performance and elevate it to European-league play. Ineos recently bought the fashion brand Belstaff and is working to produce a 4x4 vehicle.
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C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | NOVEMBER 20, 2017
Biotech Torque debuts to arm immune cells Torque has launched with $25 million from Flagship Pioneering to try to make cellular therapies more effective across a broader range of tumors. To do so, the biotech firm is arming immune cells with small molecules, antibodies, or small signaling proteins called cytokines. Torque joins a legion of companies tinkering with immune cells so they can find and attack cancer cells. In August, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved the first chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, Novartis’ Kymriah, to treat children and young adults with a type of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. In the highly personalized treatment, Novartis scientists engineer a patient’s own T-cells to include a receptor that recognizes a molecule on cancer cells. Treatments like Kymriah can prompt remarkable responses— even cures—for people with cancer. But cellular therapies, which encompass a range of technologies beyond CAR T-cells, do not work for everyone. And researchers have had a tough time getting engineered immune cells to tackle solid tumors. The results for Kymriah are “spectacular,” says Torque president and cofounder Ulrik Nielsen. “To take this to the next level, I think everyone agrees that you need to overcome the immune-suppressive microenvironment present in solid tumors and some lymphomas.” Nielsen says Torque is doing that by chemically linking “backpacks” of small molecules, antibodies, or cytokines to immune cells. The tethered molecules help by activating the immune cell, making the immune cell stealthier, or even modulating other cells in the tumor microenvironment. In each case, the goal is a stronger, longer-term immune response. The firm’s most advanced drug candidate, a T-cell loaded with the cytokine IL-15, should begin clinical trials in mid-2018.—LISA JARVIS
C R E D I T: FA N N Y S CH E RT ZE R / WI KI MED I A CO MM ON S
BIOBASED CHEMICALS
