JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHEMISTS IN THE BUREAU OF AGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL
CHEMISTRY LOUIS B. HOWARD' United States Depsrtmsnt of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. OBJECTIVES AND ORGANIZATION OF BUREAU RESEARCH
The United States Government has been engaged in chemical research on farm products for an even one hundred years. Congress made its first appropriation for this work in 1848, when it authorized the Patent Ofiice to spend 81000 for "chemical analyses of veget,able substances." That was before the Department of Agriculture had been established. Fourteen years later, in 1802, when the Department was organized, the first professionally trained appointee on its pay roll was a chemist. Today, chemical research sponsored by the Government in the interest of agriculture is a nationwide scientific enterprise, supported by millions of dollars each year and devoted to investigating chemical problems involved in all phases of the production and utilization of farm commodities. The federal agency which I represent-the Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry-is one of more than half-a-dozen research organizations in the Departmerit of Agriculture. It is concerned primarily with improving and expanding the utilization of farm prodncts. I should like to discuss with yon the kind of work the Bureau does, and to tell you about some of the opportunities for employment which it offers to chemists. Bkhough the historical origins of the Bureau go back at least a hundred years, its present organization and facilities are quite new. The four Regional Research Lal~oratories,where a major part of the Bureau's researrh is carried on, were authorized by Congress just ten years ago, in 1938, and they were constructed, equipped, and staffed by 1941. The purpose of these laboratories is to develop new and wider uses for agricultural commodities through chemical research and engineering, in order to reduce surpluses and waste, and Present &dress is Department of Food Technology in the College of Agriculture a t the University of Illinois, Urbana, IIIiiois.
to help increase the prosperity of farmers, industry, and the nation eenerallv. In these large research centers, and in the 13 other laboratories and field stations maintained by the Bureau, scientists are working to aid existing industries which make use of agricultural materials. Their research has provided solutions to anumber of manufacturing problems involving chemistry and chemical engineering. Some of those who have benefited are food processors, wet-millers of grains, producers and refiners of seed oils, manufacturers of paper pulps and fiber board, producers of alcohols and organic acids by fermentat~on,and chemical finishers of cotton textiles. I might add that consumers of the goods produced by these industries have also benefited from the Bureau's research. The Bureau has also contributed to the development of new industries by finding out more about the chemical constituents of plant and animal materials, how they can be recovered and purified, and how they can be changed into more useful suhstances through chemical reactions. New products such as allyl-starch varnish and the improved acrylic rubber, "Lactoprene EV"; developnient of a method for producing the drug rutin from buckwheat plants; advances in the processing and use of gum naval stores and their derivatives-these are examples of Bureau contributions toward the establishment of new industries, or the expansion of existing industries, which employ agricultural raw materials. The Bureau's four Regional Resesrch Laboratories are located a t Peoria, Illinois; New Orleans, Louisiana; Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania; and Albany, California. Each laboratory has seven research divisions devoted to various phases of the work of finding new and wider uses for the principal farm commodities grown in the region which the laboratory serves. The Northern Regional Laboratory a t Peoria is studying theutilization of cereal grains, soybeans, and agricultural residues such as corncobs and wheat straw. At 'the Southern Regional Laboratory in New Orleans the chief commodities under
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investigation are cotton, sweet potatoes, and peanuts. The Eastern Regional Laboratory, near Philadelphia, conducts research on tobacco, milk products, Eastern fruits and vegetables, animal fats and oils, tanning materials, and hides and skins. At the Western Regional Laboratory, in the San Francisco Bay area, commodities of primary interest are Western-grown fruits and vegetables, wheat, alfalfa, and poultry products. Additional investigations are carried on by nine independent research divisions and by a number of other specialized Bureau laboratories and field stations in various parts of the country. Only three of the research divisions, plus the Bureau's administrative headquarters, are located in the Washington area. Four of the nine independent divisions are concerned with applied re.Se3arch. Their effortsare directed toward solving the problems of processing and utilizing the products and by-products of pine gum, tung nuts, sugar plants, and citrus and other fruits; preservation of vegetables by brining or fermentation; extraction and processing of rubber from plants; and production of liquid motor fuels from crop wastes. The remaining five independent divisions conduct fundamental research bearing on the utilization of agricultural materials. Their investigations include work on allergenic substances, enzymes, and special biologically active compounds, and in the fields of pharmacology and microbiology. NATURE OF TEE WORK DONE BY THE BUREAU
To give you a more concrete idea of the work our chemists are doing, I shall describe very briefly a few of the results our research on cotton and oilseeds and on the production of rutin from buckwheat and motor-fuel supplements from corncobs. These projects by no means indicate the full scope of the Bureau's activities, but I hope that from our discussion of them you will obtain an understanding of the type of problems involved in our research. Several divisions of the Southern Laboratory are concerned with fundamental and applied research on cotton. In some cases, these divisions may all work together on different phases of one particular problemas, for instance, on improvingcotton tire cord. Chemists in one division developed a differential dyeing test which distinguishes lots of mature cotton-the type hest suited for tire cord and a number of other usesfrom lots containing mostly immature fibers. Other divisions at the Laboratory devised a combination of chemical and mechanical processing methods to produce an improved cotton tire cord of the proper size and structure having maximum tensile strength and durability. The Southern Laboratory also investigates methods for chemically treating cotton textiles to give them more desirable properties. Subjecting cotton to temporary contact with cellulose dispersing or hydrolyzing chemicals, for example, produces changes in the cotton's cellulose molecules without destroying its fibrous form. One textile-finishing process of this type developed by
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the Laboratory is partial acelylation. It is accomplished by treating cotton yarn or fabric with acetic anhydride and glacial acetic acid in the presence of a catalyst, perchloric acid. Some of the hydroxyl groups of the cellulose are replaced by acetyl (the acetic-acid radical). Partially acetylated cotton absorbs atmospheric moisture less readily than untreated cotton, has higher resistance to damage by heat, and higher electrical resistance. Although it retains the same appearance and "feel" as ordinary cotton, it is a great deal more resistant to mildew and rotting. In fact, it is superior in this property to fabrics treated with copper naphthenate or cuprammonium, the chemicals commonly used for mildewproofing. Rags made 'of partially acetylated cotton cloth were filled with rich soil and left out of doors on the ground for an extended period at the Southern Laboratory. After two years' exposure in the humid New Orleans climate, they still remained intact. Even a relatively low degree of acetylation (15 to 20 per cent) was found to make cotton s&iciently resistant to rot and mildew for a number of special uses. One major advantage of this treatment is that it does not Leave the fabric discolored, odorous, sticky, or poisonous. The Southern Laboratory has recently given technical assistance to a commercial firm which is using partial acetylation in the manufacture of cotton filter bags for watersoftener systems. Makers of fishing nets and lines, shoe linings, and other cotton products have also shown an interest in the process. Another example of Bureau research is the work on oils from cottonseed, peanuts, and soybeans. These vegetable oils have been modified by chemical processing to give them special properties for various uses, or to make them useful substitutes for other oils not so readily available. A good substitute for the palm oil used in making tin and terne d a t e was nrenared a t the Southern Regional ~ a b o r a t o r iby s e l e k d hydrogenation of cottonseed oil. Oil from cottonseed was also converted into a fat having the consistency and other properties of cocoa butter, which is extensively used in confectionery and pharmaceutical products. And peanut oil was modified to produce a replacement for olive oil which could be used as a worsted-spinning lubricant. At the Northern Regional Laboratory, soybean oil was separated by selective-solvent extraction into a fraction of high iodine number, for use in paints and varnishes, and a fraction of low iodine number, suitable for use in food products. The high-iodine fraction consists largely of linoleic and linolenic acid glycerides, the eompou& responsible for the outstanding drying qnalities of linswd oil. These cornpollruts of soybean oil were converted to their conjugated isomers, which have an even greater ability to dry, both by oxidation and by polymerization. The dimeric and polymeric fat acids of soybean oil and their methyl esters can be separated and converted to glycol polyesters. These can then be made into a viscous product by heating, or converted by further polyesterification into a millable plastic. Either prod-
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uct is suitable for compounding with sulfur and other materials to produce a thermoplastic elastomer resembling wlcanized rubber. This substance is called "Norepol," an abbreviation of "Northern Regional Polymer." If the polymeric fat acids or their methyl esters are reacted with ethylene diamine, a thermoplastic resin called "Norelac" is produced. This polyamide resin from soybean oil is useful as a heat-sealing, laminating, and moisture-proofing agent for containers and wrappers for food and other products. It can also be used in cementing the cork lining of bottle caps and in the preparation of lacquers. "Norelac" is now being produced commercially on a limited scale. The discovery of the beneficial medicinal properties of rutin, and development of a process for extracting this new drug on a commercial scale from green buckwheat or dried buckwheat leaf meal, resulted from work a t the Eastern Regional Laboratory on the minor constituents of tobacco plants. The Laboratory undertook an analysis of tobacco leaves to determine whether some of the substauces they contain, besides nicotine, might be useful chemical products. One of these substances was rutin, a flavonol glucoside found as a pigment in various plants. Rutin was first discovered about a century ago, in the plant known as garden rue, but no use had ever been found for it. One of the chemists a t the Eastern Regional Laboratory analyzed this compound and decided that it was closely related to or possibly identical with citrin, the so-called vitamin P or "permeability vitamin," found in the peel and juice of citrus fruits. Enough rutin was extracted form flue-cured tobacco for cooperative research on its biological effects by the Bureau of Animal Industry of the Department of Agriculture, and on its therapeutic value by the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania. Clinical tests showed that this substance was definitely useful in treating a pathological condition known as "increased capillary fragility," sometimes associated with high blood pressure, which causes the capillary blood vessels to rupture. When this occurs in the retina of the eye, it may produce blindness, and in the brain it causes apoplexy. But flue-cured tobacco was a very expensive source of rutin, and various other plants were analyzed t o determine the amount of rutin which might be extracted from them. Green buckwheat plants finally proved to be the most promising commercial source. Processes were developed on a pilot-plant scale a t the Eastern Laboratory for extracting rutin from green buckwheat with alco'ol and from the leaf meal of dried buckwheat plants with alcohol or hot water. A method was also devised for purifying the crude rutin for medicinal use. The new drug first appeared on the market in September, 1946. Recently the Laboratory has developed more efficient extraction methods, using hot solvents which have been adopted by most rutin manufacturers. The ~roductionof rutin is now a well-established industry drhich is expected eventually to consume the yield of green plants from 50,000 acres of buckwheat every
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
year. The work of the Eastern Regional Laboratory in making this valuable drug available has been one of the outstanding accomplishments in chemistry and medicine of recent years. Chemists a t the Northern Regional Laboratory, cooperating in the program sponsored by the Bureau of Mines for the development of nonpetroleum fuels, have been experimenting with agricultural residues as sources of liquid motor fuels. Their work has led to the development of a saccharification process for converting the cellulose of such materials as corncobs into a solution of dextrose, and the hemicelluloses into a solution of xylose and furfural, leaving lignin as a residue. In the f i s t stage of the process, the hemicelluloses are treated with dilute sulfuric acid and converted into xylose and a small quantity of furfural. The xylose solution is mixed with dextrose and fermented to produce butanol, acetone, and ethyl alcohol, which can be used successfully as motor fuels. In the second stage of the process, the cellulose fraction of the residues is converted to dextrose by a novel and highly efficient procedure using concentrated sulfuric acid at low temperature. The resulting dextrose solutiou is fermented to ethyl alcohol This process can be applied successfully to five agricultural residues--corncobs, sugarcane bagasse, flax shives, oat hulls and cottonseed hulls. Development of the second step, saccharificatiou of the cellulose fraction on a semiworks scale is still in progress. When this is accomplished, chemists a t the synthetic liquid fuels plant will determine the economic practicability of the entire process. Engine tests made a t the Laboratory have already demonstrated that using derivatives of agricultural residues as motor-fuel supplements is technically feasible. OPPORTUNITIES BUREAU
FOR
EMPLOYMENT
IN
THE
The brief description I have given of the Bureau's organization' and facilities, and the examples cited of the type of investigations which Bureau chemists are called upon to make, indicate the need which this agency has for men trained in special fields of chemistry and chemical engineering. At the present time, some 1500 employees work in the Bureau's various laboratories, and about 700 of them fill professional positions. Employees holding professional grades established under the Civil Service classification system range from P-l's, those in the lowest grade, to P-8, assigned to the Chief of the Bureau. inthe junior professional grade (p-1) there were 139 per. sons at the end of the last fiscal year. In the assistant professiond grade (P-2). 151. In the associate professional grade (P-3), 139. In the full professional grade (P-41, 108. In the senior grade (P-5), for section chiefs, etc., there were 105 persons.
These jobs c a w salaries ranging from about $2900 per year"for those just beginning as P-1's to about $7000, the top pay for P-5section chiefs. In addition,
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the Bureau has more than 50 positions in the higher grades-P-6, P-7, and P-8-including heads of divisions, directors of laboratories, assistant chiefs, and the Chief of the Bureau. As you may know, the Government's highest salary for those who come under the Civil Service Classification Act is now about $10,330 per year. It is true that salaries in Government service may not be as high as some of those being paid by industry. I might say, however, that this is more often the case in the higher brackets than for those just beginning their scientific careers. Government service does have many advantages which industry frequently does not offer, and I shall say a word about them in a moment. But I wish to mention here that some h s engaged in chemical processing of agricultural materials have come to look upon the Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry as a training ground for their prospective soientific employees. In this connection, you may he interested to hear what the vice-president in charge of the research department of a large industrial concern recently wrote me. He said: Although your four regional laboratories have been in operation only seven yeam, I now look fist to your Bureau for outstanding personnel to fill the key positions in this expanding department. Thus it was that we asked for the release of . . . . (one of the Bureau's P-6 employees) . . in order that he become an Associate Director of this Depmtment. Not only the facilities of your four regional laboratories, but also the very purposes, the attitude, and the splendid direction which is given to those parts of your Bureau, prepare its men for leading positions in the agricultural processing industries. In fact, I have recently recommended to several students of chemistry that they should specifically look forward to the possibility of some three to six years of work with your Bureau following the termination of their academic training, whether at the B.S. or Ph.D. level, before they enter industry. Indeed, I am coming to look upon such experience as an essential posbuniversity "internship"for leaders in this field.
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This statement is of course a compliment which the Bureau appreciates, but I wanted to read it to you as an expression of well-considered advice from a leading chemical industrialist to young men and women just beginning their scientific careers. Industry's practice of taking some of our best trained professional employees certainly does not make things any easier for the Bureau. But I believe we are, tors high degree, serving the purpose of our existence as a government agency when we not only develop in the laboratory and pilot plant methods for industrial utilization of agricultural materials, but also supply the country's industries with chemists who are qualified to guide the industrial application of these methods for the ultimate benefit of all. I should like to emphasize, however, that professional employment in the Bureau of Agricultural and Iudustrial Chemistry has advantages other than serving as a valuable apprenticeship for industry. And it also has advantages in addition to those usually associated with positions under the federal government, such as security of employment, regular promotions within certain limits, generous annual and sick leave with pay, and systematic saving through the government retirement plan, with liberal annuities after retirement or refund of
deposits to resigning employees with compound interest. Some of the special advantages of professional employment in the Bureau are the following: it provides satisfying association with other chemists and scientists in other fields, and opportunity to join scientific organizations and to participate in their activities. The work is interesting, diversified, progressive, and almost entirely free from routine. It sometimes includes participation in the pilot-plant development of new processes. There is opportunity for the chemist to continually increase his knowledge through laboratory investigations and through searching the world's chemical literature for known facts relating to particular subjects and problems. Bureau chemists can pursue postgraduate courses in chemistry or other subjects in nearby educational institutions outside of official hours. They frequently become known in the profession through authorship of research papers or acknowledged contributions to them. They have opportunities to attend meetings of national soientificsocieties a t government expense and to present papers on Bureau research a t these meetings. And they receive credit for inventions made and patented a t government expense and dedicated to the public or assigned to the Secretary of Agriculture to be licensed for nonmonopolistic use. Sometimes they may be granted commercial rights in patents not related to the inventor's regular work. In these cases, the government reserves the right to use the invention if it desires to do so. Those are some of the opportunities. They can be realized, of course, only if the individual chemist is properly qualified for the work which he will be required to do in the Bureau. The qualifications expected of a young chemist seeking employment in the Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry include, first of all, a good education in general descriptive and theoretical chemistry, organic chemistry and analytical chemistry. And, needless to say, he should have an inquisitive mind and a determination to learn the answers to chemical questions. Willingness to work harmoniously with other scientists, and to do one's utmost for the success of the research team of which he is a part, is a qualification more necessary now, perhaps, than ever before, because of the increasing necessity for teamwork in achieving scientific progress today. The Bureau chemist must also be honest in his attitude and actions with regard to the public's interest in the work he does and ownership of the results he accomplishes. After a chemist becomes a staff member of the Bureau, certain qualities will contribute to his advancement within the organization. Particularly today, he needs postgraduate work in a special field, such as physical chemistry or biological chemistry, or in a related science. It is extremely important that he be able to report his research results logically, concisely, in good English, as demonstrated by theses, published papers, or oral presentations before scientific gatherings. He should be acquainted with the more important journals of the world's chemical
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION litezatnre, and he should have the ability to find in them all that has been published on a particular subject. He should endeavor to keep up to date his knowledge of current progress in some special field or branch of chemistry. L i e all good chemists, he needs to have imagination, influenced by logic and common sense, that helps him to visualize the implications of new scientificdiscoveries and the possibility of applying them for practical purposes. And finally, he should have the habit of planning his work and of working according to plan. These qualifications are, of course, hardly different from those demanded by any good industrial research orgmization. I have tried to describe for you the purpose and organization of the Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry, to indicate very briefly the kind of problems with which it is concerned, m d to point out in a general way the opportunities and advantages of employment which it offers. Those of us who have been with the Bureau for a number of years are, I think, justly proud of some of its accomplishments and of the fact that the Bureau's work is well regarded among
chemists and chemical engineers in the field of industrial utilization of farm products. I do not wish to leave the impression that the Bureau has, a t any one time, a large number of vacancies in the beginning professional grade. But there are usually a limited number of positions open. Also, it should be pointed out that the selection of candidates to fill vacancies in the P-1 grade is made from registers of the Civil Service Commission resulting from annual examinations given throughout the country. These examinations are normally announced in the fall and are given in February of the following year. Chemists with MS. or Ph.D. degrees, who can qualify for associate or higher professional grades, will find that registers for these positions are kept open continuously by the Civil Service Commission, and qualified candidates can obtain places on the registers by application to the Commission. Like all forward-loolung organizations, the Bureau is anxious to attract capable, well-trained, energetic personnel. In its particular field, the utilization of farm products, it offers unique opportunities for service in advancing chemical science and industry in the United States. The Bnreau will ~velcomeyour int,erest.
