° programs that serve the in terests of industrial chemi cal scientists and improve the image of chemistry. Previous emphasis of these dues, at least as stated in the bylaws, has been on helping ACS publications, which now operate on a self-sustaining basis. The unsuccessful peti tion would have created a new Society Committee on Economic & Profes sional Affairs, and revised the duties of the Commit Crowds throng ACS meeting registration area tee on Membership Af ed some of his poems set to music. Cor fairs (MAC). The first part of the peti nell University chemist and flutist Jer- tion, dealing with revised MAC duties, rold Meinwald and his pianist wife, was sent to the Committee on Commit Charlotte Greenspan, played several du tees for further consideration. ets. The program concluded with mod The other part proposed folding the ern dance by Bella Lewitzky and the Le- activities of four existing committees in witzky Dance Co. of Los Angeles. the professional relations and econom Another special event was celebration ic status areas into a newly created so of Glenn T. Seaborg's 80th birthday. The Nobel Laureate and past ACS president was honored at a reception hosted by ACS executive director John Crum, where Seaborg was presented a birthday Herman Francis Mark, a founding father cake, and at a symposium on transactin- of polymer science—who made pioneer ium science honoring Seaborg's contri ing contributions both to fundamental butions. At the three-and-a-half-day studies and to commercial production of - symposium, sponsored by the Division fibers, plastics, and rubbers—died April of Nuclear Chemistry & Technology, he 6 in Austin, Tex., at age 96. Mark held also received a plaque recognizing his emeritus status at Polytechnic University extensive contributions to ACS. in Brooklyn, N.Y., as professor of organ The ACS Council and Board of Di ic chemistry, dean of faculty, and direc rectors acted on several significant mat tor of the Polymer Research Institute. ters. For instance, the council set ACS Mark was born in Vienna, Austria, membership dues for next year at $93, and received a Ph.D. summa cum laude up $2.00 from this year. Councilors also selected two candi dates from a slate of four to run in this fall's election for 1993 ACS president elect. The candidates are Ned D. Heindel, H. S. Bunn Professor at Lehigh Uni versity in Bethlehem, Pa., and Eli M. Pearce, university professor of chemistry and of chemical engineering at Polytech nic University, Brooklyn, and director of the Polymer Research Institute there. A third candidate for president-elect has already been nominated by petition— former CHEMTECH editor Benjamin J. Luberoff (C&EN, March 30, page 21). In addition, the council acted on two petitions to change the society's bylaws, adopting one. The approved petition will shift ACS Corporation Associates dues primarily to emphasize develop ment, support, and expansion of society
ciety committee (C&EN, March 2, page 26). That part of the petition won a ma jority, but narrowly missed the twothirds vote needed for adoption. (Each councilor's vote will be published in a later issue of C&EN.) The ACS Board approved 1993 sub scription prices for ACS journals and magazines. On average, prices will rise about 6% for ACS members and 12% for nonmembers. The board also agreed to provide free subscriptions for ACS pub lications to Baltic and former East bloc countries and former Soviet republics, to replace subscriptions dropped as a result of economic hardship. The cost is not to exceed $30,000 a year for up to three years. Recipients will have to ar range their own shipping. Both the council and board heard from the Society Committee on Budget & Finance that ACS finished 1991 in fairly sound shape. Revenues exceeded expenses by almost $7 million. Ernest Carpenter
Polymer science giant Herman Mark dead at 96
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in organic chemistry from the University of Vienna in 1921. Because of his Vien nese background, American colleagues and students dubbed him der Geheimrat (privy councilor), an honorary title once awarded to distinguished citizens by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When Mark arrived at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Fibers Chemistry in Berlin-Dahlem, Germany, in 1922, chemists were just getting used to the idea that polymers were very long chains, and not useless jumbles of mac rocycles. He used x-ray diffraction to discover the crystallinity of cellulosics and silk, the amorphous nature of rub ber, and the necessity of crystallinity to successful fiber-forming properties. Moving to I. G. Farbenindustrie in Ludwigshafen, Germany, in 1927, he worked out commercial production methods for polystyrene, polyvinyl chlo ride, poly(methylmethacrylate), and buna S (butadiene-styrene) and buna Ν (butadiene-acrylonitrile) rubbers. In 1932, with Nazi power growing, Mark— the son of a Jewish father—left Germany to become professor of organic chemis try at the University of Vienna. There he developed the modern the ory of rubber elasticity: Stretching aligned the chains, decreasing the en tropy of the system; stretched rubber APRIL 13,1992 C&EN
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thus relaxed to its original dimensions conductor are combined to produce a to increase the entropy once more. He useful function." The work was pubalso devised the current method of de- lished late last month [/. Am. Chem. Soc, termining molecular weights of poly- 114, 2737 (1992)]. mers by measuring the viscosities of Other researchers previously showed their solutions. And he determined the solid-state superconductor devices can kinetics of free-radical polymerization. be fashioned into highly sensitive light When the Nazis took over Austria in detectors that work from the ultraviolet 1938, Mark went to Canada, where he to the far-infrared. McDevitfs contribujoined the Canadian International Paper tion was to coat the superconductor with Co. in Hawkesbury, Ontario. There, he a dye so that the superconductor rediscovered wood waste could be made sponds strongly only to the wavelengths into rayon for tire cord if resin, lignin, that are strongly absorbed by the dye. and ash were completely removed and The work was inspired by photosynthe molecular weight distribution of the thesis, which is set in motion when a cellulose was narrow. porphyrin (chlorophyll) absorbs light In 1940, Mark moved to what is now and that light energy is funneled into a Polytechnic University in Brooklyn. His leafs reaction center. In the same way, work turned to block and graft copoly- McDevitfs group uses porphyrin-based merization. During the war, he worked dye molecules as an "antenna" to absorb for the U.S. government on synthetic fi- light and transfer that energy to the bers, films, rubbers, coatings for plastic- chilled superconductor. coated tents, gas-proof clothing, and milThe mechanism of that transfer is dew-proof fabrics. thought to involve rapid conversion of He received numerous honors, in- the absorbed light into thermal energy, cluding the National Medal of Science, momentarily raising the superconducthe Wolf Prize in Chemistry, the Perkin tor above its transition temperature (92 Medal, and the Willard Gibbs Medal. He K). This causes the superconductor to also founded and edited the journal of lose its ability to carry current without any resistance; in other words, it bePolymer Science, journal of Applied Polymer Science, and the "Encyclopedia of Poly- comes a normal conductor. And this mer Science & Technology/' and au- change can be detected electronically. thored more than 600 publications and To make its device, the group depos20 books. He retired from all posts in its a thin film of the well-studied super1965, but remained active in teaching, re- conductor YBa2Cu307 on a substrate searching, editing, and consulting. and patterns it into a narrow microStephen Stinson bridge. Then it deposits a dye film, such as octaethylporphyrin or phthalocyanine, on the microbridge. Electrical leads are attached to the microbridge From San Francisco and the assembly is cooled to just below the superconductor's transition temperature. If s possible for a single optical fiber to carry several different signals, each one Researchers at the University of Texas, encoded in a different color. But to deAustin, have demonstrated that a new code these signals, one would need a light-sensing device based on a molec- light sensor that could distinguish beular dye and a high-temperature su- tween the different colors. McDevitfs perconductor can respond selectively goal is to develop such selective sensors. to different colors of light. So far, he and his coworkers, Jianai This behavior is contrary to that of Zhao, David Jurbergs, and Brett Yaconventional solid-state detectors, which mazi, have fabricated sensors that refor the most part respond equally well to spond selectively to blue, green, or red a broad range of wavelengths. The de- light. They are trying to make a sensor vice thus offers the possibility of a new that responds to near-IR light—which generation of optical detectors and sen- McDevitt calls more appropriate for sors. Assistant professor of chemistry optoelectronic applications. The chalJohn T. McDevitt, who led the work, lenge is to find a near-IR dye that can told the Inorganic Chemistry Division be deposited without chemically alterthat the new device is the first in which ing the underlying superconductor. "a molecular component and a superMcDevitt stresses more work is need-
Color-specific light detector demonstrated
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APRIL 13,1992 C&EN
Blue light from a mono chromât or is bounced off a mirror onto a dye-coated superconductor assembly ed before practical devices can be made. For example, his group needs to determine such devices7 sensitivity and how fast they can process information. Superconductivity researcher Charles M. Lieber of Harvard University notes selective wavelength detectors can be engineered using semiconductor superlattices. But McDevitfs superconductorbased approach has promise, Lieber says, and is "certainly worth pursuing." Ron Dagani
Immunex sues Hoechst over marketing of drug Immunex, a Seattle, Wash.-based biotechnology firm, is suing Hoechst A.G. and two of its subsidiaries over issues related to their marketing agreement on granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF)—a drug that stimulates growth of white blood cells, strengthening the immune system. In its Seattle Superior Court suit, Immunex alleges the two subsidiaries, Germany-based Behringwerke A.G. and U.S.-based Hoechst-Roussel Pharmaceuticals, engaged in unfair competition, business interference, and breach of contract. It charges Hoechst-Roussel undercut U.S. demand for Immunex's GM-CSF, and failed to market this product as required by agreements between the companies. Instead, Immunex claims, a Hoechst-
