NOVEMBER 2014 SEPTEMBER-2006 · NOVEMBER 2014 Vol. 95 • No. 9 ISSN0019-6924 RECYCLE THIS PAPER...

NOVEMBER 2014 Vol. 95 • No. 9 ISSN0019-6924

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2014 ACS Fellows of theNY and NoJ Sections

Indicator hardcopymailing will cease

1/1/15See announcement on page 4.

John S. BlanchardNY

Hiroko I. KaranNY

Stephen A. KochNY

See article on page 5.

Qinghuang LinNY

Edward N. WalshNY

Marc A. WaltersNY

Kathryn UhrichNoJ

2 THE INDICATOR-NOVEMBER 2014

THIS MONTH IN CHEMICAL HISTORYHarold Goldwhite, California State University, Los [email protected]

This compound is widely used as a solvent and reagent by chemists; it is acrucial component of our countryʼs energy program; and it is an equally cru-cial component of beverages that many of us consume. Not a tough quiz is it?I refer of course to ethanol. These musings were prompted by an entertainingand enlightening short book that I recently acquired: “The Quest for AquaVitae; The History and Chemistry of Alcohol from Antiquity to the Middle Ages”by Seth C. Rasmussen. Dr. Rasmussen has been a key figure in the Divisionof the History of Chemistry of the ACS as its Program Chair for many years.The book is another contribution to the Springer short books on history ofchemistry. Its many appropriate and attractive illustrations are another virtueof this volume.

Aqua Vitae means water of life. It is the same term that gives rise through aCeltic phrase to the word whisky (or whiskey depending on your preferredlibation). It was given to ethanol by some of its earliest users around the 12th.century by virtue of its almost miraculous powers to restore the spirits (excusethe pun) of its partakers. Rasmussen discusses the wide variety of fermentedbeverages that have been in use since pre-literate times including the obvi-ous wine and beer, and the lesser known mead (honey), date wine, palmwine, and kefir and kumis (milk). The history of alcohol is also closelyentwined with the history of distillation, and reasonably concentrated ethanolwas probably first isolated by distillation from grape wine in the 12th. century,perhaps at the famous medical school in Salerno in Italy.

Fermented beverages containing ethanol have been used in medicine sinceancient times. Hippocrates, he of the oath (ca. 400 BCE), recommended winefor strengthening the body, as a purgative, and a diuretic. The Sumerians (ca.2100 BCE) washed wounds with beer. Later cultures often treated woundswith wine and other fermented beverages, which were probably mild antisep-tics. Palm wine was used by ancient Egyptians in perfumes, ink, incense –andin preparing bodies for mummification.

As to the origin of the term alcohol, the path Rasmussen traces is long andunexpected. The prefix al- shows its Arabic origin (alchemy, algebra, algo-rithm etc.). Kohl is a finely powdered preparation of stibnite, antimony trisul-fide, used as a black eye makeup in Egypt as early as 1500 BCE. The termal-kohl came into use in Arabic to describe not just the kohl preparation butany kind of very fine powder. Its use was gradually extended to mean thefinest and subtlest part and so, by extension, to materials obtained by distilla-tion. Paracelsus in the 16th. century referred to aqua vitae as alkohol vini, themost subtle part of wine. Eventually the vini was dropped, the k westernizedto c , and so the term alcohol was born.

[ I am a co-author with Cathy Cobb and Monty Fetterolf of a new book “TheChemistry of Alchemy: From Dragonʼs Blood to Donkey Dung; How Chemistrywas Forged” published by Prometheus Books in July 2014; it is available bothas a hardback and an ebook.]

THE INDICATORManager / Editor - LINDA ATKINS1 Milbark Court, Homosassa, FL 34446973-981-4383; Fax [email protected] Manager - VINCENT GALEMBO Services, PO Box 1150Marshfield, MA 02050-1150781-837-0424 • [email protected] COMMITTEEChair, DR. LES McQUIRE17 Crown Drive, Warren, NJ 07059908-334-5473 • [email protected] York Section Rep.DR. NEIL JESPERSENChemistry Dept., St. Johnʼs University8000 Utopia Parkway, Jamaica, NY 11439718-990-5221 • [email protected] Jersey Section Rep.JACQUELINE ERICKSONGSK, 1500 Littleton Road, Parsippany, NJ 07054973-889-2368e-mail: [email protected] MastersNY Section - DR. BRIAN [email protected] Section - PAUL [email protected] YORK SECTIONhttp://newyorkacs.orgChair, DR. PAMELA K. KERRIGANThe College of Mount Saint Vincent, Division ofNatural Sciences6301 Riverdale Avenue, Riverdale, NY 10471718-405-3402pamela.kerrigan@mountsaintvincent.eduChair-Elect, DR. PARIS SVORONOSDepartment of ChemistryCUNY-Queensborough Community College222-05 56th Avenue, Bayside, NY [email protected], DR. JOSEPH M. SERAFINDept. of Chemistry, St. Johnʼs University8000 Utopia Parkway, Jamaica, NY 11439718-990-5226 • [email protected] OfficeSt. Johnʼs University, Chemistry Dept.8000 Utopia Parkway, Jamaica, NY 11439516-883-7510; Fax [email protected] JERSEY SECTIONhttp://www.njacs.orgChair, DR. MONICA SEKHARANAssistant Research ProfessorRCSB Protein Data BankCenter for Integrative Proteomics ResearchRutgers, The State University of New Jersey174 Frelinghuysen Rd., Piscataway, NJ [email protected], DR. RONALD KONG212 Beech Drive N., River Edge, NJ 07661-1110201-707-3899 • [email protected], BETTYANN HOWSON49 Pippins Way, Morris Township, NJ 07960973-822-2575 • [email protected] Office49 Pippins Way, Morris Township, NJ 07960973-822-2575 • [email protected]

The monthly newsletter of the New York & NorthJersey Sections of the American ChemicalSociety. Published jointly by the two sections.

CONTENTSAdvertisersʼ Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Call for Nominations . . . . . . . . . . . . 20-21 Call for Presentations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Call for Volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Chemistry Lights Up the Beach . . . . .6-10New York Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-17 North Jersey Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . 11-12 NY & NoJ ACS Fellows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21-22 Press Releases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22-23 Professional/Product Directory . . . . . . . 24

EDITORIAL DEADLINESDecember October 20January 2015 November 20February December 20, 2014March January 20, 2015April February 20May March 20June April 20September July 20October August 20November September 20

The Indicator (ISSN0019-6924) is publishedmonthly except July and August by the NewYork and North Jersey Sections of theAmerican Chemical Society, Office of Publi ca -tion, 1 Milbark Court, Homosassa, FL 34446.Periodicals Postage Paid at Homosassa,Florida and at additional mailing offices.POSTMASTER: Send address changes to

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All views expressed are those of the editorand contributors and do not necessarily rep-resent the official position of the New Yorkand North Jersey Sections of the AmericanChemical Society unless so stated.Subscription price included in dues paid byNew York and North Jersey Section mem-bers. Distributed electronically to membersthrough the website www.TheIndicator.organd monthly emailings. Non-members areinvited to read it online. Members should register their email addresses atwww.acs.org/editmyprofile.

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Visit Uswww.TheIndicator.org

NEW YORK SECTIONSaturday, November 1, 2014Global Climate Change WorkshopSee page 14.

Thursday, November 6, 2014Long Island SubsectionSee pages 15-16 .

Tuesday, November 11, 2014Nanoscience Discussion GroupSee page 16.

Friday, November 14, 2014High School Teachers Topical GroupSee page 16 .

Wednesday, November 19, 2014Westchester Chemical SocietySee pages 16-17.

Friday, November 21, 2014NY Section Board MeetingSee page 14.

NORTH JERSEY SECTIONWednesday, November 5, 2014Laboratory Robotics Interest GroupSee page 11.

Monday, November 10, 2014Careers in Transition GroupSee page 12.

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The Indicator is posted to the web on the 15th of the previous month at www.TheIndicator.org

November Calendar

Deadline for items to be included in theDecember 2014 issue of The Indicator is

October 20, 2014

Indicator hardcopy mailingwill cease 1/1/15

Colleagues,

The New York and North Jersey Boards of Directors have decided to ceasemailing hardcopies of The Indicator for financial reasons. The last mailed hard-copy will be the December 2014 issue. Our full-color edition of The Indicatorwill still appear monthly at www.TheIndicator.org and it can be downloadedand/or printed. The Indicator can be viewed on PC and Macintosh computers,laptops, tablets and smartphones. Our sections apologize for any inconve-nience this change will have. For those without computers or the neededexpertise, we have found that local libraries usually have computers and technical people who can help. Please feel free to access either section officewith any comments or concerns.

Signed, Les McQuire and Neil Jespersen


Sincere congratulations to John S. Blanchard,Hiroko I. Karan, Stephen A. Koch, QinghanLin, Edward N. Walsh, Marc A. Walters of theNew York Section and Kathryn Uhrich of theNorth Jersey Section on the occasion ofbecoming ACS Fellows in 2014. ACSPresident Thomas J. Barton and ACSImmediate Past President Marina Li Wu pre-sented the 2014 class of ACS Fellows at a cer-emony held on August 11th at the 248th ACSNational Meeting in San Francisco California.The ACS Fellows Program recognizes“Members of the ACS for OutstandingAchievements in and Contributions toScience, the Profession and the Society.”Congratulations again on a highly deservedhonor.

JOHN S. BLANCHARDAlbert Einstein College of Medicine

Contribution to the science/profession:Recognized for contributions to the mecha-nisms of enzymes, including those responsi-ble for antibacterial drug resistance.

Contribution to the ACS community: Served asVice Chair and Chair of the Division ofBiological Chemistry.

HIROKO I. KARANMedgar Evers College,The City University of New York

Contribution to the science/profession:Educated and mentored underrepresentedminority undergraduate students to succeed inchemical science careers. As a senior facultymember and Dean, mentored younger facultymembers to achieve their professional goals.

Contribution to the ACS community: Servedthe New York Local Section over the past 30years as Chair, a Councilor, and in othercapacities. Served on the Committee onMinority Affairs for the past ten years.

STEPHEN A. KOCHStony Brook University

Contribution to the science/profession:Recognized for synthesis and study ofanalogs for the active sites of iron-sulfur andzinc proteins and hydrogenase and nitroge-nase enzymes. Contributed to the 300-year-old area of iron cyanide chemistry.

Contribution to the ACS community: Served asa Program Co-Chair of the Division ofInorganic Chemistry since 2011. Organizedmany ACS symposia.

QINGHUANG LINIBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center

Contribution to the science/profession:Recognized for contributions to invention,research, development, and implementation offunctional materials in modern electronics.

Contribution to the ACS community: Servedthe Polymeric Materials: Science andEngineering Division in various roles, includ-ing Vice Chair, Secretary, and Webmaster.Led the Divisionʼs Web Presence Initiative andinternational engagements.

EDWARD N. WALSHAstraZeneca (Retired)

Contribution to the science/profession:Recognized for new syntheses, products, andprocesses of organophosphorous com-pounds. Holds 68 U.S. patents, including onewith T.M. Beck on Fyrol 6, which remains amost desired flame retardant for rigidpolyurethane foam.

Contribution to the ACS community:Contributed as an active member of ACS for64 years. Served in various capacities for theNew York Local Section, including Chair andfounder of the Sectionʼs Speakers Bureau andSafety Bureau.

MARC A. WALTERSNew York University

Contribution to the science/profession:Developed synthetic methods to study ligandhydrogen bonding and its influence on elec-tronic structure and redox potentials in metalcomplexes.

Contribution to the ACS community: Chairedthe New York Local Section and itsGovernment Affairs Committee. Providedongoing commitment to mentor students inProject SEED.

KATHRYN UHRICHRutgers University

Contribution to the science/profession:Recognized for her scholarship, entrepreneur-ship, and leadership in the polymer communi-ty. Her research in the design, synthesis, andcharacterization of biocompatible, biodegrad-able polymers serves a critical need in thera-peutics/drug delivery.

Contribution to the ACS community: Servedthe ACS community through national commit-tees, Division of Polymer Chemistry program-ming, and organizing North Jersey LocalSection events. Recognized as an exceptionalmentor who encourages her graduate stu-dents and postdoctoral associates to engageeven younger scientists.

2014 ACS Fellows of the NY and NoJ Sections

CHEMISTRY LIGHTS UP THE BEACHMartha Coston and the Signal Flare, Part 1.

By Kevin Olson, Montclair State University • <[email protected]>

With the coming of the cold weather most readers of The Indicator are probably not thinkingabout the shore. Winter can be cold and brutal on the Atlantic coast. Between the 1600sand the early 1900s navigating a ship along the coastline in the winter was dangerous anddifficult. Shipwrecks were so frequent that in 1848 congress established the US LifesavingService.

Despite its humanitarian mission, the service was underfunded and undermanned until 1871when a $200,000 congressional appropriation was used to enough hire full-time rescuecrews to establish regularly spaced stations along both coasts. Most of the stations now pre-served as museums or historic landmarks date to this period. Each station had a six-mancrew under the command of a keeper. The stations were all equipped with surfboats, life-saving equipment, meteorological instruments, cork-filled life preservers, and enough booksto last through a long winter.

Prior to the service being established, shipwrecked marinersrelied the thinly distributed coastal populations for assistance.There are a number of documented cases of fisherman andother coastal dwellers risking their lives to reach ships strandedoff shore and even wading into the winter surf to pull survivorsthrough undertows and to the safety of the beach. Contrary topopular mythology, the use of false lights to lure ships close tothe shore so they would be wrecked was extremely rare and isnot recorded happening in New Jersey. The one reportedinstance of a party “dancing with glee” on the beach as a shipbroke apart just offshore turned out to be a group of volunteerrescuers stamping their feet to keep warm. However years ofirregular assistance by communities with no experienced res-cue personnel, limited first aid supplies, and no specialized life-saving equipment finally convinced the federal government thatthere was a need for a permanent lifesaving service.

New Jerseyʼs coastline is characterized by a shallow and sandycostal plane. For example, just off shore at Sandy Hook thereis a deep channel close to the shore with depths from 18 to 27feet but within only a few hundred yards off the beach there is alarge sand bar where depths can be as low as 6 feet. Off ofBeach Haven water depths can be as low as 13 feet even hun-dreds of yards offshore. The Coast Guard still warns marinersthat there are dangerous sand bars between 300 and 800 yardsoffshore on both coasts. In New Jersey, the shore town ofShipbottom is named after a particularly notorious 1817 ship-wreck.

In an era before GPS or other electronic aids to navigation such as LORAN (LOng RAngeNavigation) a ship sailing along the Jersey Shore at night had to rely on visual contact withthe various lighthouses and frequent use of a sounding line. This simple device consistedof a lead weight attached to a rope with knots tied into it at regular intervals. The lead wastossed ahead of the ship and the knots were counted as it was pulled up from the bottom.This type of navigation worked well on clear nights but not when storms reduced visibility.

When a storm drove a ship into the shallow waters off a beach, the first priority of the life-saving service was to get the crew ashore. The constant pounding of the waves drove shipsdeeper into the sand and this action could break even the largest ships apart. The crewsmost often climbed the masts and clung to the rigging while awaiting rescue. Launching alifeboat and attempting to row ashore was not a good option. It is very difficult to judge thebreaking waves when looking from seaward and it took special skill to guide an oar-poweredopen boat through crashing surf.


A Lifesaving Service surf-man is shown in his foulweather gear in the early1900s. The lantern wasused by the surfman whenpatrolling the beach look-ing for shipwrecks. Signalflares were used to com-municate with ships in distress.

(Photograph from theUnited States Coast

Guard)

The rescue usually began when a surfmanpatrolling the beach at night spotted a shipaground, or in cases of poor visibility, heard thecries of crew. It was critical that the surfman lit aCoston Signal Flare that would let the crew knowthat help was coming. He returned to the stationto alert the others. The safest way to take thecrew off was to use a small cannon, named aLyle Gun after its inventor, to shoot a heavy ballwith a line attached over the ship's rigging. Thecrew would then use the line to pull two rescueropes out to the ship, the first was the hawserand the second was the whip line.

Suspended from the hawser was one of two pos-sible rescue devices. The first to be developedwas the sheet-iron life car. This looked like asmall covered boat and was hung from thehawser by rings at the front and back. About four

people could be shut inside. The lifesavers on the beach used the whip line to pull the carashore. When the passengers were safely on the beach the remaining crew on the strand-ed ship used the other end of the whip line to bring it back to the ship. The breeches buoyworked on the same principle and it consisted of a large pair of heavy canvas pants sus-pended from a life ring. The breeches buoy left the stranded sailor exposed to the elementsbut it was lighter, easier to get in and out of, and therefore faster.

In extreme cases the lifesaving crew would usually wait for daylight before launching a surf-boat and rowing out to the stranded ship. They could ferry the crew back to shore relyingon the skill of the crew and the steersman to bring survivors through the surf. (During thesummer months the surfboat crews practiced their skills including steering through the surfand righting an overturned boat.)

One of the fundamental problems of the lifesaving operations was communicating with theships. Marconi would not demonstrate wireless telegraphy until 1895 and radios that couldtransmit voices commands would not be available for another two decades. The windy con-ditions on the winter coast would quickly extinguish any kind of lantern and so the preferredmethod was to use a hand-held, brightly burning, signal flare.

This brings us to the story of a rather remarkable woman inventor and entrepreneur, MarthaCoston (1826-1904).

Martha Coston was not an unusual woman for the mid-1800s in that she established a busi-ness that provided for herself and her children, many widows were forced to do the same.She did however bring a new technology into being, founded a company that continued tomake flares until the 1980s, and even wrote an autobiography titled A Signal Success. Thework and travels of Mrs. Martha J. Coston (J.B. Lippencourt, 1886).

The story begins with Benjamin Franklin Coston receiving funds from Congress to establisha pyrotechnics laboratory at the Navy Yard. Martha and Benjamin married quite young, shewas about 16 and he was 21. Coston, his wife, and the coupleʼs four children settled com-fortably into government housing at the navy yard.

Coston supervised the construction of the facility that included a loosely-attached roof thatwould blow upwards in case of explosion. He also supervised the installation of the labora-tory equipment. One of the first tasks for the new laboratory came in December of 1846when Congress purchased the rights to the Hale Rocket. Coston was directed to adapt therocket for use by the US military. The Hale Rocket was a solid-fuel rocket propelled by acharge of gunpowder and was named for its British inventor, William Hale, who introducedthe rocket in 1844. The Hale Rocket was stabilized in flight by a spinning motion. It replacedthe earlier and less reliable Congreve Rocket that was used by the Royal Navy at the Battleof Baltimore. In this battle, the “rocketsʼ red glare” inspired a line in the Star SpangledBanner. (The Battle of Baltimore took place between September 12 and 15, 1814 and this


Lifesaving Service surfmen are shownpracticing with Coston Signal flares in theundated photograph.

(Photograph from theUnited States Naval Institute)

(continued on page 8)

article is being written on the 200th anniversary of the battle.) Costonʼs American version ofthe Hale Rocket was ready in time for use in the Mexican War.

Readers of The Indicator who are used to elaborate agreements regarding intellectual prop-erty will be shocked by the somewhat more informal arrangements that existed betweenCoston and the government during the months before his resignation. In late 1845 and early1846 Coston developed a percussion cap that could be used to ignite the charge in a muz-zle-loading cannon. This type of cannon was fired by stuffing a bag of gunpowder down the

muzzle and then ramming a cannon ball against thepowder bag. The gunner then turned his attentionto the “touch hole” located at the back of the barrel.Priming the cannon consisted of reaching downthrough the touch hole and pricking a small hole inthe bag of gunpowder. This was of course donewith a non-sparking metal rod. Then the touch holewas filled with gunpowder. Firing the cannonrequired igniting the gunpowder in the touch hole,and then hoping that it burned all the way down tothe bag of gunpowder where, hopefully, it wouldignite the gunpowder and fire the gun. It took agreat deal of skill to perform these steps so the can-non would reliably fire. Aboard a rolling ship thetime delay between igniting the primer and explod-ing the main charge had to be accounted for.Igniting the primer on a downward roll sent the can-non ball into the sea while igniting it on an upwardroll would send the cannon ball sailing harmlesslyover the enemyʼs heads.

Percussion caps solved this problem. These are small copper or brass cylinders that arefilled with a small amount of a shock-sensitive explosive material. Mercury fulminate wasthe most common choice. Striking the cap ignited the mercury fulminate and allowed themain charge to ignite without a delay.

Costonʼs percussion primer vastly improved a cannonʼs accuracy but there was only oneproblem. Coston never told the government how to manufacture them and kept the formu-lation of the explosive material a secret. In February of 1846 the commander of the NavyYard wrote Coston a letter politely requesting this information. Coston wrote back the sameday pointing out that he considered this information to be his “private property” and he“respectfully” declined to furnish it. He did offer to supply the Navy with the caps at a costof $9.81 each.

It should come as no surprise to modern readers that anyone working in Washington makesenemies and Coston was no exception. Rival scientists persuaded Congress to formalizethe Navyʼs Office of Pyrotechnics and set the directorʼs (i.e., Costonʼs) annual salary at$1500. The director would not hold naval rank and would not be provided with governmenthousing. Coston held the rank of Master and refused to relinquish his commission or giveup his housing. Not wanting to lose Costonʼs services the Secretary of the Navy paid hissalary until the matter could be resolved during the next session of Congress. The percus-sion primer was developed while his exact status was uncertain and therefore it was notclear whether the percussion cap formula was owned by Coston or the Navy. (see note)

It was largely a moot point. Costonʼs health had been badly damaged by exposure to chem-icals and he would not live much longer. At the time he had also been experimenting withgenerating methane for use in gas lighting and resigned from the Navy to work for a gaslighting company in Boston.

Coston died in Boston after a lingering illness leaving Martha and their children without ameans of support. On a rainy November afternoon she recalled searching through a box ofher late husbandʼs papers hoping to find some useful invention that could be the means of


CHEMISTRY LIGHTS UP THE BEACH(continued from page 7)

The crew of a lifesaving station poseon a snowy beach. The lifesaving sta-tion is in the background and their surfboat is on the left of the picture. Thecrewmen are wearing foul weathergear and cork-filled life preservers.

(Photograph from theUnited States Coast Guard)

“retrieving my fallen fortunes.”

Most the papers related to unfinished inventions or pyrotechnic chemistry. But there wasone idea that was ready for practical development. Coston had worked out a system offlares that burned first with one color and then another. The number of colors was only lim-ited by the size of the flare and the availability of pyrotechnic material.

Martha remembered that a test batch of these flares had been made up and a box of themwas in storage at the Navy Yard. She wrote to the superintendent asking for them back butthe yard was now commanded by one of Costonʼs enemies. He refused to return the flaresor allow them to be tested. Costonʼs friends, however, were soon back in control and theyagreed to test the signals. The tests were a failure but the idea appealed to the Navy.Thanks to the support of sympathetic naval officers and officials, Martha received funding tocarry on her husbandʼs work.

The support of the Navy was critical during this period. Living in Washington had givenMartha access to high-ranking military and government officials many of whom she countedas friends. In her study of woman patent holders, Lisa Marovich concluded that social andbusiness connections on a personal level were often crucial for successfully commercializ-ing and marketing a womanʼs invention. (Business & Economic History. Fall, 1998)

Unfortunately for historians of science Martha chose not to describe the series of experi-ments that lead to her first successful flare. She felt that the readers of her autobiographywould have been interested. However this omission leaves open the question of how muchof the work was personally done by Martha. She made no secret of the fact that much ofthe experimental work was done by collaborators recruited from the community of pyrotech-nics chemists. Martha is never clear about how much of the experimental work she did her-self. She hints about conducting experiments but these may have been confined to ignitingand observing the pyrotechnic mixtures. Even if she relied almost exclusively on collabora-tors or hired chemists, it is difficult to believe that she would have had no input on technicalmatters. She knew enough to dismiss chemists who were uncooperative, unproductive, ordismissive of her as a woman. According to the Columbia World of Quotations, Martha laterobserved that:

“We hear much of chivalry of men towards women; but...it vanishes like dew beforethe summer sun when one of us comes into competition with the manly sex. Let awoman sit, weep, wring her hands, and exult in her own helplessness, and the mod-ern knight buckles on his imaginary breastplate and draws his sword in her behalf; butwhen the woman girds up her loins for the battle of life, ready to fight like a lioness, ifneed be, to put food in the mouths of her children, let her select for her field theliving-room or the cooking range.”

When Coston received her first patent in 1859 her late husbandʼs name was on it, probablybecause patents granted to women were extremely rare. She claimed originality of the ideafor a flare that would burn sequentially in two or more colors. Costonʼs preference was fora flare that would burn first in red, then in white, and finally in blue. Neither Coston or hercollaborators were able to produce an intense blue color and so rather than the country'snational colors, the flares were commonly red, white, and green. The great two advantagesof her signals was that a burning flare that predictably changed color could not be mistakenfor anything else and that the color changes could be part of a signaling code.

Coston did not list the chemical composition of the pyrotechnic material on the patent.Perhaps this was because the basic chemistry of burning metal salts to create pyrotechnicdisplays was already common knowledge. Formulas for producing red, white, green, andblue flames do appear in the chemical literature of the period. Strontium nitrate's ability toproduce a red flame was first reported in 1793. In pyrotechnic formulations dating between1807 and 1843 it was often combined with black powder, coal dust, charcoal, shellac, sulfur,or potassium chlorate. Strontium nitrate decomposes to strontium oxide (SrO) but the redcolor is emitted by strontium monohydroxide (SrOH+). This means that the pyrotechnic for-mulation must contain a source of hydrogen. Coal and charcoal do not contain enoughhydrogen to produce an intense color and it was only with the use of shellac in 1843 that theformulation contained sufficient hydrogen to produce the desired red.



In 1843, tetraamine copper (II) chlorate was been mentioned in the literature as a means ofproducing blue pyrotechnics but it was too expensive for widespread use. There was alsospeculation that because of its instability, the compound would make an excellent highexplosive. This is one reason that modern pyrotechnic chemists do not use it.

A more practical approach was to use fine zinc metal mixed with potassium nitrate and char-coal. In 1843 this was described as being a source of green but the addition of lead (II)oxide produced pale blue color that was described as “uncertain” and “almost as green asblue.”

Zinc was also used to produce white. In 1830 a pyrotechnic formulas using black powder,potassium nitrate, zinc and sulfur were published. When used in fireworks, the rate of burn-ing appears to have been controlled by the proportions of oxidizer and sulfur. White-coloredsignal lights needed to be slow burning so zinc, potassium nitrate, and sulfur were usedwithout the addition of black powder.

The typical modern flare contains a metallic salt that forms the colorant, a combustiblematerial, and an oxidizer. According to the journal Chemistry (Vol. 19, issue 38) for manyyears perchlorate salts were the oxidizer of choice. They are cheap, stable, and release alarge amount of oxygen. But in ground water they can cause a number of health problemand the US EPA has placed a limit of 15 ppb in potable water. Recent research has sug-gested that 5-Aminotetrazole, the same material used to inflate air bags, might be a good,and non-hazardous, replacement.

Martha Coston's patented multi-colored flares were evaluated by a special board of NavalExaminers in 1859. The board declared them to be “decidedly superior” and recommend-ed immediate purchase. During the Civil War, the Union Navy bought hundreds of flares foruse as night signals and creative officers worked out elaborate codes that exploited theirmultiple colors.

The Union Navy established a blockade of the southern states. It would have been impos-sible to station ships along the entire coastline from Virginia to the Texas-Mexico border.Warships were be stationed off all eight major southern ports. Most of the smaller ports hadat least a few blockading ships, and the many of the larger coastal islands had at least someunion ground troops. The many minor inlets and small estuaries were too shallow forocean-going ships and were therefore unnecessary to blockade.

Southern blockade runners were low-slung, fast steamships that were hard to see at nightand able to outrun the heavier union warships. These ships operated at night and catchingthem required cooperation among the slower union ships. This cooperation required reli-able signals and the Coston Signal Flares were widely used. What happened in March of1863 provides a good example.

On March 19, the southern blockade runner Georgiana attempted to bring a $1,000,000cargo of munitions, medicine, and general merchandise into Charleston, South Carolina.She was spotted by the lightly-armed schooner America. The Americaʼs speed under sailwas legendary but she was too light to be of much use as a warship. Her crew lit signalflares alerting the warships USS Housatonic and USS Wissahickon. They chased theGeorgiana ashore on Long Island, South Carolina. While the loss of the cargo was a blowto the Confederacy, Georgianaʼs iron hulled made her a prime candidate for conversion toa warship.

Next month, we will examine what happened to Marthaʼs company in the years after theCivil War. Readers interested in learning more about pyrotechnic chemistry should consultthe Encyclopedic Dictionary of Pyrotechnics, published by the Journal of Pyrotechnics,2012.

Note: It would not be until 1873 that Congress authorized the Court of Claims to determineif Costonʼs estate would be entitled to compensation for the invention. Between 1847 and1873 the Navy manufactured 2,66,360 percussion primers. Eventually Costonʼs estate wasawarded $13,000 for use of the invention.


CHEMISTRY LIGHTS UP THE BEACH(continued from page 9)


North Jersey Meetingshttp://www.njacs.org

NORTH JERSEY EXECUTIVECOMMITTEE MEETINGSection officers, councilors, committeechairs, topical group chairs, and sectionevent organizers meet regularly at the Exec -utive Committee Meeting to discuss topicsof importance to running the section andrepresenting the membership. All ACSmem bers are welcome to attend this meet-ing and to become more involved in sectionactivities.

Date: Monday, November 17, 2014Times: 7:00 - 9:00 PMPlace: Doubletree Hotel

Somerset, NJ

Reservations: Please make your reserva-tion at our website, www.njacs.org prior to Tuesday, November 11, 2014.

hLABORATORY ROBOTICS INTEREST GROUPA View From the Bench

Technical Program:

“Automation of Bioanalytical Ligand-Binding Assays Using Modular RoboticScripts as a Generic Template inSupport of Discovery BiotherapeuticPrograms”

Speaker: Jia DuoAnalytical and Bioanalytical DevelopmentBristol-Myers Squibb

“Automation of Sample Preparation forQuantitative Liquid ChromatographyMass Spectrometry”

Speaker: Bernard K. ChoiBioanalytical Research GroupMerck

“Computational Approaches toAccelerate Drug Discovery”

Speaker: William J. WelshRobert Wood JohnsonMedical School

Dinner will be served buffet style:

Penne & Rigatoni with your choice of twoof Marinara, or Pesto

Broiled Salmon- Served in a Lemon & DillSauce

Prime Rib with Red Wine Sauce

Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate FudgeBrownies, Chocolate Candy Bars andKisses

Soft Drinks, Coffee, Tea, DecaffeinatedCoffee & Bottled Water

Date: Wednesday, November 5, 2014Times: 3:30 to 8:30 PM

Dinner 4:00 - 6:00 PMTechnical Program 6:00 PMCoffee and desserts 8:00 PM

Place: Holiday Inn Somerset195 Davidson AvenueSomerset, NJ 08873

Cost: Attendance is free but pre-registra-tion is requested. A buffet dinnerand vendor exhibition will be held.

To register for the meeting, use the meetinglink on the LRIG Mid-Atlantic Chapter's website: http://my.lrig.org/LRIGChapterMidAtlantic/Home/Site registration is required to access themeeting page. For questions about themeeting to become a sponsor, or present ata future meeting, please contact KevinOlsen at: [email protected]


CAREERS IN TRANSITION MEETINGSJob Hunting??

Resume & LinkedIn writing and key wordsearch rules are changing. To be found, comeand utilize our latest insights. Our ACS trainedCareer Consultants offer assistance atStudents2Science to help members with theirjob search on the second Monday of eachmonth. Topics at this free workshop are:

• Techniques to enhance resume effectiveness

• Interview practice along with responding todifficult questions

• Networking to find hidden jobs

• Planning a more effective job search

Date: Monday, November 10, 2014New from now on is a second CITmeeting in East Windsor on thethird Monday. Contact Bill fordetails.

Times: Meeting 5:30 - 9:00 PMPizza snack and soda 6:30 PM

Place: Students 2 Science, Inc.66 Deforest AvenueEast Hanover, NJ

Cost: $5.00 for pizza and soda

Reservations: at www.njacs.org/careers.htmlA job board and networking assistance isoffered at most topical group meetings.Appointments with Bill can be arranged forpersonal assistance at (908) 875-9069 [email protected].

See www.njacs.org under the Career tab forJobs hidden from sight and relevant blogs.

4NORTH JERSEY MASS SPECTROMETRY DISCUSSIONGROUPThe evening is free for attendees, courtesyof our sponsor, AB Sciex.

Date: Tuesday, November 11, 2014Times: 5:30 - 9:00 PM

Place: Holiday Inn Somerset-Bridgewater195 Davison AvenueSomerset, NJ

Cost: Free — courtesy of our sponsor,AB Sciex

Additional details and a full schedule ofevents will be posted on our website athttp://www.njacs.org/topical-groups/mass-spectrometry.

çNORTH JERSEY CHROMATOGRAPHY GROUPAdvance of Large Molecule Separationand Characterization

Sponsored by: Wyatt Technology andWaters. Corp.

Date: Monday, November 17, 2014Times: 6:30 - 9:00 PMPlace: DoubleTree Hotel, Somerset

200 Atrium Drive, Somerset, NJ Cost: $10.00

Additional details and a full schedule ofevent will be posted on our website athttp://www.njcg.org/

iNORTH JERSEY CANDIDATES The Nominating Committee of the North Jersey ACS Section is pleased to presentthe slate of candidates listed below in alpha-betical order by category for election tooffices to begin in 2015.

Ballots will be distributed to members in thefall.

Candidates for Chair-Elect Luciano Mueller Matthew Mongelli

Candidates for CouncilorAmy Balija Jonathan HoAlan Cooper Matthew MongelliRonald Doll Donald TrussJacqueline Erickson


CONGRATULATIONS TO THE2014 CREATIVITY IN MOLECULAR DESIGN ANDSYNTHESIS AWARD RECIPIENT,DAVID W.C. MAC MILLAN!

Dave MacMillanwas born inBellshill, Scot -land andreceived hisundergraduatedegree in chem-istry at theUniversity ofGlasgow, wherehe worked withDr. Ernie Colvin.In 1990, he leftthe UK to begin

his doctoral studies under the direction ofProfessor Larry Overman at the Universityof California, Irvine. In 1996, he moved to apostdoctoral position with Professor DaveEvans at Harvard University where his stud-ies centered on enantioselective catalysis.He began his independent career atUniversity of California, Berkeley in July of1998 before moving to the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology in June of 2000. In2003, he was promoted to Full Professor atCaltech, before being appointed the Earle C.Anthony Chair of Organic Chemistry in2004. In 2006, Dave moved to the eastcoast of the US to take up a position atPrinceton University as the A. BartonHepburn Chair of Chemistry and Director ofthe Merck Center for Catalysis at PrincetonUniversity. Dave became the PrincetonChemistry Department Chair in July of 2010,and in July of 2011 became the James S.McDonnell Distinguished University Chair.

The MacMillan research program is cen-

tered on chemical synthesis with specificinterests in new reaction development,enantioselective organocatalysis and therapid construction of molecular complexity.The MacMillan group currently consists ofapproximately 40 coworkers. Dave wasrecently inducted into the Fellowship of theRoyal Society (2012) and elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences(2012). He has received several awardsincluding the Aldrich ACS Award forCreativity in Organic Synthesis (2011), theUC Irvine Distinguished Alumni Award(2011), the Mitsui Catalysis Award (2011),Mukaiyama Award (2007), ISHC Award inHeterocyclic Chemistry (2007), ACS CopeScholar Award (2007), Thieme-IUPAC Prizein Organic Synthesis (2006), Elias J. CoreyAward for Outstanding Original Contributionin Organic Synthesis by a Young Investi -gator (2005), the Tetrahderon Young Investi -gator Award (2005), the Corday-MorganMedal (2005), and a Woodward ScholarshipAward from Harvard University (2001).

Dave is currently editor-in-chief of the newRSC journal “Chemical Sciences” and is amember of the Chemical Communications,Tetrahedron, Tetrahedron Letters,Chemistry-an Asian Journal, Advances inCatalysis and Synthesis editorial advisoryboards.

Date: Friday, December 5, 2014Place: Rutgers University

Busch CampusPiscataway, NJ

Cost: Dinner $20.00;Students $10.00

More information will be posted on the NorthJersey website at www.njacs.org.

New York Meetingswww.newyorkacs.org

NEW YORK SECTION BOARDMEETING DATES FOR 2014The dates for the Board Meetings of theACS New York Section for 2014 were cho-sen and approved at the September 2013Board Meeting. The meetings are openmeetings – all are welcome. If non boardmembers would like to attend the meeting,please let the New York Section office knowby emailing Mrs. Marilyn Jespersen [email protected] or calling theoffice at (516) 883-7510.

The 2014 Board Meetings will be held on thefollowing Fridays at 6:00 PM at the Collegeof Mount Saint Vincent, Benedicts(Founderʼs Hall), Riverdale, NY. Dr. PamelaK. Kerrigan will chair the meetings.

Friday, November 21

More information will be posted in futureissues of the Indicator and on the New Yorkwebsite at http://www.NewYorkACS.org.

dGLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGESYMPOSIUM AND WORKSHOPTentative Schedule

9:00 – 9:45 AM — Lead Speaker to stressand excitement of this issue

9:45 – 10:30 AM — Dr Jerry Bell “TheGlobal Climate Change Toolbox andits Importance for EducationStrategies”

10:30 – 10:40 AM — First Breakout leader(Grades K-6)

10:40 – 10:50 AM — Second Breakoutleader (Grades 7 – 12)

10:50 –11:00 AM — Third Breakout leader(College Level)

11:00 – 11:15 AM — Coffee Break

11:15 AM — Breakout sessions in St JohnʼsLabs

12:00 PM — Regroup and reports onbreakout sessions

12:30 PM — Panel Discussion

1:00 PM — Adjourn

Optional Group Lunch at Local Restaurant

Date: Saturday, November 1, 2014Time: 8:30 AM – 1:00 PMPlace: St. Johnʼs University

8000 Utopia ParkwayJamaica, NY

Rooms: TBACost: $25 for Teachers and ACS

Members; $10 for Students,Unemployed, Retired;$35 for Other Interested People.(Teachers can obtain ProfessionalDevelopment Credit)

Please register online atwww.newyorkacs.org/meetings/Global.php

Credit cards can be accepted through paypal.

hLONG ISLAND SUBSECTIONSurface Crystal Growth and Stabilizationof Amorphous Pharmaceutical Solids

Speaker: Daniele MusumeciYork College - CUNY.

Glasses are amorphous materials that com-bine the mechanical stability of solids withthe microscopic spatial uniformity of liquids,making them ideal for many applications,including electronics, bio-preservation anddrug delivery. Amorphous solids, however,are inherently unstable, and can crystallizeover time, sometimes surprisingly fast.Recent studies have discovered that asorganic liquids are cooled to become glass-es, crystal growth at the free surface can besubstantially faster than in the interior. Thisphenomenon is uncommon for inorganicmaterials and it is generally terminated asthe glasses are heated to become liquids.We have applied scanning electronmicroscopy (SEM) and real-time atomicforce microscopy (AFM) to investigate thesurface crystal growth on glassyindomethacin (IMC), an anti-inflammatorydrug, in the alpha and gamma polymorphs.The high-resolution microscopies providedcomplete micro-structural details of surfacecrystal growth. We observed that surfacecrystals rise hundreds of nano-metersabove the amorphous surface as they growlaterally, and are surrounded by depletionzones. Upon heating above the glass transi-tion temperature, the onset of liquid flowembeds upward-growing surface crystalsand terminates their growth, but this effect isremarkably mild for the gamma polymorph



of IMC. This effect arises because the veloc-ity of liquid flow exceeds the growth frontvelocity, causing the wetting and embeddingof upward-growing surface crystals. Thesefindings are important for understanding andpredicting the stability of amorphous drugs.

During the seminar, we will discuss the edu-cational pathways and the career opportuni-ties provided by the B.S. degree program inPharmaceutical Science at York College.

Date: Thursday, November 6, 2014Times: Social 5:30 PM

(Light refreshments)Seminar Start 6:00 PM

Place: Queensborough Community CollegeScience Building, Room S-112

;NEW YORK NANOSCIENCE DISCUSSION GROUP 2014-2015 Sessions

Speakers to be announced

Hosted by: New York UniversityDepartment of Chemistry

The NYNDG is an ACS Topical Group thatmeets in the New York UniversityDepartment of Chemistry. Sessions featurethree 30-minute presentations on nano -science, one each with strong orientation inbiology, chemistry, and physics/appliedmathematics. Presen ta tions will be focusedon discussion of recent work, althoughspeakers will place the work in a contextunderstandable to a broad audience.

Mark your Calendars!

Dates: Tuesday, November 11, 2014Tuesday, February 3, 2015Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Times: Refreshments at 7:00 PMScience at 7:30 p.m.

Place: NYU Silver CenterRoom 1003 (10th floor)31 Washington Place(between Washington SquareEast and Greene Street)New York, NY

For more information, contact: James Canary ([email protected])

Topical Group History: http://www.nyu.edu/projects/nanoscience

HUDSON-BERGEN CHEMICALSOCIETY — JOINT MEETINGWITH SIGMA XI CHAPTER OFRAMAPO COLLEGE, AMERICANSOCIETY FOR BIOCHEMISTRYAND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY,AND PHI LAMBDA UPSILONOrganocascade Reactions

Speaker: Stacey Brenner-Moyer, PhDRutgers University, Newark, NJ

Organocascade reactions are efficient greenchemical methods for rapidly building mole-cular complexity, because they utilize anorganic compound to catalyze the formationof multiple new bonds and stereocenters ina single transformation. Cascade reactionsusing diphenylprolinol silyl ether organocat-alysts typically involve the combination ofiminium- and enamine-catalyzed reactions.Using this class of organocatalysts, theBrenner-Moyer research group has beeninvestigating the development of syntheti-cally useful cascade reactions, and ourprogress in this area in recent years will bediscussed.

Stacey obtained her PhD from StanfordUniversity, working with Prof. Paul Wender,and was a postdoctoral research associatein the laboratory of Prof. Steve Ley at theUniversity of Cambridge in England. Shebegan her independent career at the CityUniversity of New York at Brooklyn College,where she earned the NSF CAREER awardin recognition of her achievements, andpotential for future achievements, in the fieldof organo catalysis research. She ispresently an Associate Professor at RutgersUniversity — Newark.

Date: Friday, November 14, 2014Times: 5:00 p.m. Social

5:30 p.m. Dinner6:30 p.m. Lecture

Place: Alumni Lounge, SC-138Ramapo College of New JerseyMahwah, NJ

Reservations: Dr. Jay R. Carreon (201) 684-7710, e-mail: [email protected] byNovember 10, 2014 by 1:00 PM,


HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS TOPICAL GROUPEngineering Shape: The Novel Geometries of Colloidal Self-Assembly

Speaker: Stefano SacannaNew York University

Shape and chemical anisotropy play funda-mental roles at the colloidal scale, as theycan govern the autonomous organization ofparticles into precise hierarchical structuresand ultimately into a desired new material. Inthis talk, I will present an emulsion-basedmethodology to design and mass-producebuilding blocks featuring anisotropic shapesand interactions. The method is based onchemically reactive emulsion droplets thatcan be polymerized, reshaped and function-alized in bulk. I will further highlight how weuse these building blocks to develop heuris-tic rules to create self-assembling colloidalsystems.

Date: Friday, November 14, 2014Times: Social and Dinner — 5:45 PM

Meeting — 7:15 PMPlace: Social and Dinner — TBD

Meeting — New York UniversitySilver Center Room 20732 Waverly Place (South-east corner Washington Sq. East)New York, NY

Security at NYU requires that you show apicture ID to enter the building In case ofunexpected severe weather, call JohnRoeder, (212) 497-6500, between 9:00 AMand 2:00 PM to verify that meeting is still on;(516) 385-4698 for other info.

Note: On street parking is free after 6:00PM.

AWESTCHESTER CHEMICAL SOCIETYSpecial Seminar “Efficient BiomassPretreatment Using Ionic LiquidsDerived from Lignin and Hemicellulose”

Speaker: Aaron M. Socha, PhDAssistant ProfessorDepartment of ChemistryDirectorCenter for Sustainable EnergyBronx Community CollegeBronx, NY

Ionic liquids (ILs), solvents composedentirely of paired ions, have been used in a

variety of process chemistry and renewableenergy applications. Imidazolium-based ILseffectively dissolve biomass and represent aremarkable platform for biomass pretreat-ment. Although efficient, imidazolium cationsare expensive and thus limited in their large-scale industrial deployment. To replace imi-dazolium-based ILs with those derived fromrenewable sources, a series of tertiaryamine-based ILs were synthesized fromaromatic aldehydes derived from lignin andhemicellulose, the major byproducts of lig-nocellulosic biofuel production.Compositional analysis of switchgrass pre-treated with ILs derived from vanillin, p-anisaldehyde, and furfural confirmed theirefficacy. Enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreatedswitchgrass allowed for direct comparison ofsugar yields and lignin removal between bio-mass-derived ILs and 1-ethyl-3-methylimi-dazolium acetate. Although the rate of cellu-lose hydrolysis for switchgrass pretreatedwith biomass-derived ILs was slightly slowerthan that of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazoliumacetate, 90–95% glucose and 70–75%xylose yields were obtained for these sam-ples after 72-h incubation. Molecular model-ing was used to compare IL solvent parame-ters with experimentally obtained composi-tional analysis data. Effective pretreatmentof lignocellulose was further investigated bypowder X-ray diffraction and glycome profil-ing of switchgrass cell walls. These studiesshowed different cellulose structuralchanges and differences in hemicelluloseepitopes between switchgrass pretreat-ments with the aforementioned ILs. Theconcept of deriving ILs from lignocellulosicbiomass shows significant potential for therealization of a “closed-loop” process forfuture lignocellulosic biorefineries and hasfar-reaching economic impacts for other IL-based process technology currently usingILs synthesized from petroleum sources.

Aaron Socha has been at Bronx CC since2011, and began at Center for SustainableEnergy in 2013. His early career focused ondrug discovery from marine microbes wherehe performed structure elucidations andsyntheses of bisanthraquinone and peptideantibiotics. As a postdoc at BrownUniversity Dept. of Chemistry, heresearched microbial lipid production anddeveloped a fascination with renewablefuels. He now works closely with LawrenceBerkeley National Labʼs Joint BioEnergyInstitute to prepare and evaluate biomass-derived ionic liquids. He holds patents inthese areas and is currently participating in


the NSF ICorps program. With a recentaward through the CUNY 2020 program, theCenter for Sustainable Energy will be build-ing a $4M biofuel and green chemistry labover the next 24-36 months. Aaron receivedhis BS from Fordham University and hisPhD from University of Rhode IslandCollege of Pharmacy.

Date: Wednesday, November 19, 2014Times: Refreshments 5:30 PM

Lecture 6:00 PMPlace: Westchester Community College

Gateway Building, Room 11075 Grasslands RoadValhalla, NY

Cost: Free and Open to the Public

Further Information: Paul [email protected](914) 393-6940

9WESTCHESTER CHEMICAL SOCIETY

*** Additional Lectures ***

Special Seminar – “Whatʼs Beyond theLithium-Ion Battery”

Speaker: Lin-Feng Li, PhDBettergy Corp.Peekskill, NY

Since its introduction in 1990, the lithium ionbattery has gained tremendous marketshare in the rechargeable battery marketplace due to its superior energy density. Thebattery has found widespread applicationsin portable electronics, mobile communica-tion devices as well as Hybridized ElectricVehicles (HEVs), Plug-in Hybridized ElectricVehicles (PHEVs) and Electric Vehicles(EVs). The specific energy of the lithium ionbattery has nonetheless reached theplateau – room for improvement is now lim-ited. Nonetheless, there is a constant drivingforce to develop the higher energy density(Wh/kg), low cost battery that can greatlyextend the range of electric vehicles.Researchers are now focusing more andmore on the chemistry beyond the lithiumion battery. In this presentation, the state-of-the art R&D work in the field will be reviewedand discussed.

Lin-Feng Li has had extensive and success-ful experience in managing multiple milliondollar DoD (US Navy, Army and DARPA),DOE, NASA, NSF and NYSERDA SBIR(Small Business Innovation Research) and

non-SBIR programs as the principle investi-gator. Some of these projects have beensuccessfully commercialized in batteriesand battery-related products. Dr. Li has got-ten BS and MS degrees in chemistry and inapplied physics from Tsinghua University,Beijing, China and his PhD in chemistry fromCase Western Reserve University,Cleveland, Ohio. He has been a researchassociate at The National Key Laboratory ofCoordination Chemistry in Nanjing, China.After completing his PhD, Dr. Li rose from aposition as a research staff member to Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer ofeVionyx, Inc. (a subsidiary of Reveo, Inc.).He has been Vice-President of ProductDevelopment for Zinc Matrix Power Inc.(now Zpower) in Camarillo, CA and isfounder, President and CTO of BettergyCorp. He has more than fifteen patents,either granted or pending, and more thanthirty publications and presentations.

Date: Tuesday, December 9, 2014Times: Refreshments 5:30 PM

Lecture 6:00 PMPlace: Westchester Community College

Gateway Building, Room 11075 Grasslands RoadValhalla, NY

Cost: Free and Open to the Public

Further Information: Paul [email protected](914) 393-6940

rEMPLOYMENT AND PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSCOMMITTEE OF THE NEW YORKSECTIONTo Human Resources Departments inIndustry and Academia

The Employment and Professional Rela tionsCommittee maintains a roster of candidateswho are ACS members seeking a position inthe New York metropolitan area. If you havejob openings and would like qualified candidates to contact you, please send abrief job description and educational/experi-ence background required to [email protected].

Candidates from our roster who meet therequirements you describe will be asked tocontact you.


HUDSON-BERGEN CHEMICALSOCIETY AND THE SCHOOLOF NATURAL SCIENCES OFFAIRLEIGH DICKINSON UNIVERSITY16th Student Research Symposiumand Award Night

Students from colleges in our area pre-sented their research at the 16th StudentResearch Symposium and Award Night,held on April 25 on the MetropolitanCampus of Fairleigh Dickinson Universityand organized by the Hudson-BergenChemical Society and the School ofNatural Sciences of FDU.

Trupti Patel (left) and Iwon Sato (right) pre-sented their research work done under theguidance of Dr. Ish Kumar (not in the photo).Iwon Sato was also the recipient of the StudentAward (chemistry major with highest GPA).

Niharika Bollu (left) andManasa Peddineni(right) presented theirresearch. Mentors wereDr. M. Leonida (center),and. Dr. A. Benzecry(not in the photo).

Thong Vo (senior,FDU) presenting hisposter to a group of

participants.

(Photos courtesy ofMihaela Leonida)


NEW YORK INORGANIC TOPICAL GROUP2014 Frontiers of Inorganic andOrganometallic Chemistry LectureSymposium and 1st Annual ION PosterSession

The Inorganic and Organometallic TopicalGroup hosted the third annual Frontiers ofInorganic and Organometallic Chemistrylecture symposium and the 1st annual ION(Inorganic, Organometallic, Nanoscience)Poster Session on Friday, September 19,2014 on the campus of Columbia University.The event attracted a record audience ofmore than 100 academic and industrialchemists, including graduate and under-graduate students, to hear about new devel-opments in inorganic chemistry fromchemists in the NY metro area.

The symposium featured presentations byNY section members Ged Parkin (ColumbiaUniversity), Jianfeng Jiang (YeshivaUniversity), Adam Fischmann (CytecIndustries), and Daniela Buccella (NYU).Geoffrey Coates (Cornell University) deliv-

ered the keynote address entitled “BimetallicCatalysis – Are Two Metals Better ThanOne? Applications in the Synthesis ofNatural Products, Fine Chemicals,Pharmaceuticals, and Polymers”. TheTopical Group co-chairs James Camara andKathleen Kristian served as session chairsfor the symposium.

The first annual ION Poster Session, imme-diately following the symposium, featuredinformal poster presentations by graduateand undergraduate students from SarahLawrence College, Long Island University,Brooklyn College, College of Staten Island,John Jay College, and Columbia University.

The Inorganic and Organometallic TopicalGroup is committed to supporting the mis-sion of NY-ACS by providing programmingto encourage the formation of a strong sci-entific community through lectures, sym-posia, and other events on all topics relatedto Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry.If you would like get involved, or have ques-tions, comments or suggestions, please visitthe NY ACS web site and contact the chairs.

Prof. Geoffrey Coates of Cornell University delivers the keynote address to a crowdof more than 100 NY Local Section chemists at the 2014 Frontiers of Inorganic andOrganometallic Chemistry Lecture Symposium.

Speakers and NY Local Section chemists enjoy poster presentations at the 2014ION Poster Session. Left: Presenters Gang Li of Columbia University and GuoqiZhang of John Jay College. Right: Presenters Olivia Kool of Long Island Universityand Shejla Pollozi of Sarah Lawrence College.

(Photos courtesy of Kathleen Kristian)


NOMINATING COMMITTEEMEETS IN DECEMBERThe Nominating Committee of the New YorkSection will meet in December to selectcandidates for the 2015 elections.

Positions available are:

Chair-elect for 2016Treasurer for 2016 - 2017Directors-at-Large for 2016Councilors and Alternate Councilors for2016 - 2018

If a member of the New York Section wish-es to run for office or to suggest a memberfor consideration by the NominatingCommittee, please write to the AmericanChemical Society, New York Section, Inc.,St. Johnʼs University, Department ofChemistry, 8000 Utopia Parkway, Jamaica,NY 11439 or send an e-mail to the New YorkSection office at [email protected] November 15. Thank you.

Call for Presentations

LABORATORY ROBOTICSINTEREST GROUP — MIDATLANTIC CHAPTERThe View From the Bench

The Mid Atlantic Chapter of the LaboratoryRobotics Interest Group is seeking presen-tations for their November meeting.Presentations about new and innovativelaboratory technologies are being soughtespecially those involving some aspect ofautomation or robotics. Other topics of inter-est include informatics, nanomaterials, pharmaceutical dosage form testing,autonomous data collection using, andnovel analytical procedures. We expectapproximately 100 persons to attend theNovember meeting and a student posterevent will be held in conjunction with thetechnical program.

Date: Wednesday, November 5, 2014Times: Technical Program 7:30 PMPlace: Holiday Inn

Somerset, NJ

To submit a presentation abstract, pleasecontact Kevin Olsen at Montclair StateUniversity, [email protected]

The chapter web site is: http://my.lrig.org/LRIGChapterMidAtlantic/home/

Call for Nominations2015 LEO HENDRIK BAEKELAND AWARDThe North Jersey Section of the AmericanChemical Society is soliciting nominationsfor the 2015 Leo Hendrik Baekeland Award.The Award consists of a gold medal and a$5,000 honorarium. The Section presentsthe Award biannually to commemorate thetechnical and industrial achievements ofLeo Hendrik Baekeland and to encourageyounger chemists to emulate his example.

The Award is given in recognition of accom-plishments in pure or applied chemistry toan American chemist as characterized bythe initiative, creativeness, leadership, andperseverance of the individual (indicated bypublished or unpublished evidence) andwho will be under the age of 40 as ofJanuary 1, 2015.

Nominations for the Award should include aletter describing the nomineeʼs achieve-ments, a brief biography, and a list of thenomineeʼs more important publications.Successful nomination packets include twoto three recommendation letters supportingthe candidate.

Re-nominations are encouraged, providedthe age requirement is still met.

Please submit materials by December. 31,2014, to:

Dr. Les McQuireACS North Jersey Section Awards Chair17 Crown Drive, Warren NJ 07059

uSPI TO HONOR 2015 INNOVA-TION IN BIOPLASTICS AWARDWINNER AT NPE2015For the first time, SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association and the SPIBioplastics Council will announce thewinner of the Innovation in BioplasticsAward at NPE2015 in Orlando, FL

WASHINGTON — SPI: The PlasticsIndustry Trade Association and the SPIBioplastics Council recently announced thatNPE2015, in addition to being the premierevent of the entire plastics industry, will alsohost, for the first time, the winner of the2015 Innovation in Bioplastics Award.

SPI and its Bioplastics Council have beenreceiving submissions for the 2015Innovation in Bioplastics Award since offi-cially opening the competition earlier inSeptember. Announcing next yearʼs winnerat NPE2015 gives the award an additionallayer of prestige and signifies the importantrole that the bioplastics sector will play in thefuture of the plastics industry as a whole.

Past winners of the Innovation in BioplasticsAward include Avantium, which won the firstaward in 2013 for its development of poly-ethylene furanoate (PEF), a packagingmaterial with superior barrier qualities thatoffered new opportunities to beverage mak-ers. Teknor Apex won the 2014 Award forthe development of Terraloy® PLA com-pounds that exhibit both high-impact andheat-resistant properties. Entries to the con-test are judged on innovation, sustainabilitymeasures as well as marketplace impact.

Companies can submit multiple entries fordifferent bioplastics materials, products orprocesses, provided that they complete andsubmit a separate entry form for each inno-vation they submit. The award applicationcan be found on the SPI BioplasticsCouncilʼs website and entries will be accept-ed until November 14, 2014.

Learn more about the Bioplastics Council athttp://www.bioplasticscouncil.org/ .Award program inquiries should be directedto Tania Farries, manager, regulatory andtechnical affairs at SPI, [email protected].

Call for VolunteersMARM 2016The New York Section will be hosting MARM2016, June 9-12, 2016 at the College ofMount Saint Vincent, Riverdale, NY 10471.The section will be celebrating its 125thAnniversary during its event. The themehas yet to be determined. The GeneralChairs for this meeting are Dr. PamelaKerrigan and Dr. Daniel Amarante from theCollege of Mount Saint Vincent's Division ofNatural Sciences. To volunteer in planningand/or for further information, please contactthem at the following emails:

[email protected]

[email protected]

OthersEAS SHORT COURSESShort Courses for ProfessionalDevelopment

Check out the preliminary list of EAS 2014short courses. EAS half-day, one-day andtwo-day short courses emphasize a widerange of topics and include:

Interactive Discussions

Case Studies for Illustration

Practical and Problem Solving Tips

For complete information, go to http://easinc.org/wordpress/?page_id=4810902Please register by October 20.




OTHERS

(continued from page 21)

NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE OFTECHNOLOGYOtto H. York, Department of Chemical,Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering — Graduate Seminar Series— Fall 2014

November 3“Utilizing Twin Screw ExtrusionTechnologies to Enable ValuablePharmaceutical Products”Dr. Chad D. BrownPrincipal ScientistMerck Research Laboratories.

November 10“Catalytic Emission Control Technologiesfor Diesel Vehicles”Dr. Yuejin LiBASF.

OPEN TO PUBLIC

Times: Refreshments @2:30PMSeminars @2:45PM

Place: NJITRoom 210, Kupfrian Hall

Seminar Coordinator: Professor RomanVoronov, 973 642-4762,[email protected]

Press Releases

CHEMICAL HERITAGE FOUNDATIONThe Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF)has achieved global success with its firstdigital game. ChemCrafter, an app for theiPad, has been downloaded by more than360,000 gamers in 126 countries in just fivemonths.

“We could not be more pleased, or moresurprised,” said Shelley Wilks Geehr, direc-tor of CHFʼs Roy Eddleman Institute. “Wedesigned ChemCrafter to make the experi-ence of the 20th-century chemistry setaccessible to 21st-century kids. We wouldhave been delighted with a tenth as manydownloads as we have had so far. Our cur-rent and continuing success is beyond allexpectations.”

CHF boasts the largest public collection ofchemistry sets in the world. And in CHFʼsarchives are hundreds of oral histories of

leading scientists who grew up in the mid-20th century. Many of them credit their child-hood chemistry set with sparking their inter-est in science. With ChemCrafter, CHFhoped to make the experience of the chem-istry set widely available in the 21st century.

The top country by far is Russia with181,000 downloads. Russian users also cre-ated instructional videos for other users,which are available on YouTube. Five othercountries have more than 10,000 down-loads, led by Thailand with 35,000; Chinawith 31,000; the United States with 25,000;Ukraine with 12,000; and Malaysia with11,000. Sixteen other countries have morethan a thousand downloads: eight countriesin Asia and six in Europe plus Canada andSaudi Arabia. The top 22 countries havemore than 320,000 downloads. With 40,000other downloads in 104 countries,ChemCrafter has a truly global base ofusers.

“We wish we knew why ChemCrafter is pop-ular where it is popular,” Geehr said. “Ourbest guess is that countries that have astrong science education program for stu-dents ages 10 to 16 who have limited dis-posable income are the best places for afree science app. But there could be manyother factors at work.”

As funding becomes available, CHF hopesto add an Android version of ChemCrafterand to begin development of ChemCrafter 2.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation providedmajor funding for ChemCrafter, with addi-tional support from Roy Eddleman. The appwas developed by Blue Cadet Interactive.

SALERT 14-17: CONSIDERATIONSFOR STORING FLAMMABLE ANDCOMBUSTIBLE LIQUIDRecently, the storage of combustible andflammable liquids in industrial occupancieshas gained increased attention. This is dueto a number of large fires caused or compli-cated by the storage of flammable and com-bustible liquids in inappropriate packagingtypes.

Among the most reliable and safest storagecontainers for all classes of flammable andcombustible liquids are “relieving-style” steeldrums. Relieving-style steel drums areequipped with plastic plugs. When fire-exposed, these fittings can melt, allowingthe pressure within the drum to vent in a

safer manner. The Industrial Steel DrumInstitute (ISDI) has led the way in ensuringthat this container type provides exceptionalprotection against fires and other hazards.In fact, extensive fire testing at theSouthwest Research Institute in SanAntonio, Texas has shown that, when pro-tected by an adequate fire sprinkler system,relieving-style 55-gallon steel drums aremuch safer than other, less fire-resistantpackaging when filled with flammable liq-uids, reducing risks especially for firstresponders.

Additionally, steel drums retain their struc-tural integrity when exposed to flame, mak-ing packaging failure unlikely and reducingthe risk of a large volume chemical spill.

The National Fire Protection Association(NFPA) has been especially vigilant in set-ting out guidelines regarding the proper stor-age of combustible and flammable liquids.Its code, NFPA 30, details the types of con-tainers suitable for storing these liquids andthe rules that must be followed for those thatare used. When choosing the appropriatepackaging, it is important to follow NFPA 30and select a product that will provide protec-tion from a catastrophe.

In an educational effort, NFPA recentlyreleased a press kit describing the properuse of intermediate bulk containers (IBCs)for storage of combustible and flammableliquids. This important NFPA release wasfollowed by an article in Sprinkler Age mag-azine. Links to both resources can be foundbelow.

Links for More Information

Read a recent article in Sprinkler Age mag-azine, written by Mike Snyder of DowCorning Corporation and David Nugent ofGlobal Risk Consultants, on the risks asso-ciated with unlisted composite IBCs.

Download the NFPA's tool kit on IBC firerisk.

Read ISDIʼs Alert 14-08 for more informa-tion about choosing the most appropriatepacking type for your product.

-NEW POLYURETHANE SPRAYELASTOMER INCREASES DURA-BILITY FOR INFRASTRUCTUREPROTECTIONDowʼs VORASTAR™ 7000 PolyurethaneSpray Elastomer System

Infrastructure owners can now extend thelife of steel tanks, pipeline and chemicalholding tanks enabling lower total cost ofownership using VORASTAR™ 7000 poly -urethane spray elastomer system. Thisnovel product from Dow Polyurethanes isdesigned to help enhance moisture andchemical resistant properties with outstand-ing hydrophobicity and stability in harshchemical environments.

VORASTAR 7000 polyurethane spray elas-tomer system is a high performance, two-component polyurea hybrid coating materi-al. The polyurethane spray elastomer sys-tem for coating applications is especiallydesigned for use in surface protection ofporous concrete containment structures andsteel exposed to advanced chemical attack.

The low viscosity of VORASTAR 7000 facil-itates processing and allows applicators toachieve a smooth high gloss finish and fastreturn to service.

For more information, please visitwww.dow.com/polyurethane/markets/vorastar.htm.


Professional/Product Directory

ANALYTICALChemir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Micron Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 New Jersey Institute of Technology . . . 24NuMega Resonance Labs. . . . . . . . . . . 24 Quantex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Robertson Microlit Labs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Tyger Scientific Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Vacuubrand, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

EQUIPMENTEastern Scientific Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

GENERALACS-NY/NoJ Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 ACS-NY/NoJ Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 ACS-NY/NoJ Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

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NOVEMBER 2014 SEPTEMBER-2006 · NOVEMBER 2014 Vol. 95 • No. 9 ISSN0019-6924 RECYCLE THIS PAPER...

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