I/EC
Reports
THE EDITORS ANALYZE A N D INTERPRET THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS M O N T H
Missile Launcher Could Launch N e w Polymers, Too T h e Naval O r d n a n c e L a b probably wasn't thinking about high polymers when its 40-rnm. hypervelocity missile launching gun was developed. But a hit was certainly scored at the M i a m i meeting. Several listeners at the High Pressure Symposium h a d the same idea : C a p the end of the gun a n d use it to make high polymers. This might also provide a way to control the alumin u m alkyl catalyst reaction a n d make other polymers possible besides low pressure polyethylene.
N e w Compressors for High Pressure Applications Extreme conditions were defined at the Minneapolis A C S meeting in 1955 as from 2000 to 100,000 p.s.i. and u p to 600° F. At M i a m i conditions were at least as high and a bit hotter when N O L work by Price and Lales was described. They have an adiabatic compressor to obtain gases at high pressures and high temperatures during the same millisecond period. Pressures of 100,000 p.s.i. at 4000° K. arc the goal. Test runs have been m a d e to 60,000 p.s.i. M u c h interest is evident in compressors for high pressure work in research and pilot plant installations. T h e r e is the Corbin compressor, French equipment good to 5000 p.s.i. T h e Hofcr compressor, a G e r m a n product, reportedly not yet ready for the market, goes to 10,000 p.s.i. Wolf and Bowen of Pressure Products Industries reported at Miami on a diaphragm-type compressor which will reach 15,000 p.s.i. Information available to I & E C ' s editors indicates three of these
15,000 p.s.i. compressors in use in this country and availability at $13,000.
N e w Awakening for Rosin? Work at Hercules Powder seems to make available an entirely new classification of rosins. Yellowing due to oxidation has been a serious objection to use of rosin for some applications, such as in lacquers and adhesives. U p to now 5 0 % hydrogénation was about the limit, leaving plenty of carbon-to-carbon unsaturation. Hercules has succeeded in hydrogenating to essentially 1 0 0 % — nothing is left subject to oxidation and resulting yellowing. Corridor comment indicated there might be some hesitation to make a' higher priced product in an industry where rosin has always been a low priced commodity. But this perhydrogenated wood rosin isn't rosin in the sense that the naval stores industryhas always known it. If its superior qualities can c o m m a n d for it a higher price, why not?
M o r e Cotton Modifications O n e of the big disadvantages in cyanoethylation processes to make cotton yarns with improved dyeing properties and rot resistance is reagent loss due to by-product formation. Research workers at Cyanamid report a considerably reduced loss by using concentrated salt solutions with dilute alkali as swelling agents. Increase in rate a n d extent of cyanoethylation with no effect on the side reaction of acrylonitrile with water resulted in a new improvement in yield based on acrylonitrile. I & E C ' s August 1956 issue, page 1263, carried a Southern Regional Research Laboratory pilot plant article on continuous cyanoethylation of cotton, using a water solution
of acrylonitrile. Some of these same workers reported a distinctly newmethod in M i a m i . This method, with the reaction taking place in a heated mercury bath, and a n u m b e r of repeat steps to obtain good yields, looks a bit like R u b e Goldberg on first glance, but there is practically no reagent loss, and S R R L considers it a feasible approach to a commercial process.
Sucrose Esters Over-the-transom from the Atlantic City meeting we m a d e the initial reports on production of the Foster Dee Snell-developed sucrose fatty acid esters. At M i a m i , Snell researchers, reporting on stability of emulsions using these esters, pointed out that the esters are oil-in-water emulsifiers, the corresponding diesters are water-in-oil and that emulsions m a d e with a mixture of the two are more stable t h a n those made with either separately. Latest news on production of these materials is that Millmaster Chemical Co. is in production, Pfizer will be making commercial quantities as this issue comes off the press, and a third U. S. c o m p a n y is pilot-planting. O n l y European production now is in D e n m a r k .
Still After Better Flameproofing Tosylation, a short way of saying esterification with /?-toluenesulfonic acid, has some interesting angles with cotton fibers. At the Textile Research Institute, Schwenker and Pascu have tosylated in pyridine to get flame and glow-resistant cottons. Cost of pyridine and its difficulty of recovery could possibly pose a commercial problem. O n the other side of the fence, Klein and Snowden of the S R R L have tosylated in water solution and have used the ester not only to flameproof but as a route to a dozen new cellulose compounds. VOL. 49, NO. 5
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MAY 1957
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