AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY CALIFORNIA SECTION VOLUME … · October. Final arrangements are being...

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AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY CALIFORNIA SECTION VOLUME LXXI NUMBER 7 SEPTEMBER 2010 CHAIR’S MESSAGE (P. VARTANIAN) PAGE 3 SEPTEMBER MEETING PAGE 4 APRIL WCC MEETING REPORT PAGE 5 VORTEX COMPETITOR PAGE 6 SECTION NOMINATIONS PAGE 6 SECTION VOLUNTEERS PAGE 6 ELK-N-ACS (E. KOTHNY) PAGE 7 A CHEMIST’S CONUNDRUM (W. MOTZER) PAGE 8 CA-GALA (M. WU) PAGE 10 PICTURE FROM THE AWARD MEETING PAGE 11,13 SEPTEMBER CHEMICAL ANNIVERSARIES (L.MAY) PAGE 12 BUSINESS DIRECTORY PAGE 14,15 INDEX OF ADVERTISERS PAGE 15 Table of Contents September Meeting Speaker, Dr. Lynette Cegelski, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Stanford University

Transcript of AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY CALIFORNIA SECTION VOLUME … · October. Final arrangements are being...

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AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY CALIFORNIA SECTIONVOLUME LXXI NUMBER 7 SEPTEMBER 2010

CHAIR’S MESSAGE (P. VARTANIAN) PAGE 3SEPTEMBER MEETING PAGE 4APRIL WCC MEETING REPORT PAGE 5VORTEX COMPETITOR PAGE 6SECTION NOMINATIONS PAGE 6SECTION VOLUNTEERS PAGE 6ELK-N-ACS (E. KOTHNY) PAGE 7A CHEMIST’S CONUNDRUM (W. MOTZER) PAGE 8CA-GALA (M. WU) PAGE 10PICTURE FROM THE AWARD MEETING PAGE 11,13SEPTEMBER CHEMICAL ANNIVERSARIES (L.MAY) PAGE 12BUSINESS DIRECTORY PAGE 14,15INDEX OF ADVERTISERS PAGE 15

Table of Contents

September Meeting Speaker, Dr. Lynette Cegelski, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Stanford University

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SEPTEMBER 2010 2

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3 THE VORTEX

EDITOR:Louis A. Rigali309 4th St. #117, Oakland 94607 510-268 9933

ADVERTISING MANAGER:Vince Gale, MBO ServicesBox 1150 Marshfield MA 02050-1150 781-837- 0424

OFFICE ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT:Julie Mason2950 Merced St. # 225 San Leandro CA 94577 510-351-9922

PRINTER:Quantitiy Postcards

255 4th Street #101 Oakland CA 94607 510-268-9933 Printed in USA on recycled paper

For advertising and subscription information, call the CaliforniaSection Office, 510 351 9922

California Section Web Site: http://www.calacs.org

MAGAZINE OF THE CALIFORNIA SECTION, AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS:Evaldo Kothny

William Motzer

EDITORIAL STAFF:Glenn FullerEvaldo KothnyAlex MadonikPaul Vartanian

THE VORTEX

Volume LXXI September 2010 Number 7

Published monthly except July & August by the California Section, American ChemicalSociety. Opinions expressed by the editors or contributors to THE VORTEX do not necessarilyreflect the official position of the Section. The publisher reserves the right to reject copysubmitted. Subscription included in $13 annual dues payment. Nonmember subscription $15.

Chair’s Message Paul Vartanian

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Chair’s Message Welcome back! I hopeyou have all had a great va-cation season and the sum-mer has been good to you.After passing through theDenver airport about 100

times in the past on business travel, I got toleave it for only the second time to visit Boul-der and hike in Rocky Mountain National Park. This fall we have some exciting things hap-pening in the California Section. The Septem-ber Section meeting will be on September 23,jointly with the Santa Clara Valley Section andfeature Lynette Cegelski of Stanford Univer-sity. Please see the announcement in the thisVortex for the details. Through the efforts of Mark Frishberg andwith the help of Eileen Nottoli, Alex Madonik,Bryan Balazs, and others, we have been fortu-nate to engage Professors Marvin Lang andDon Showalter for their chemical demonstra-tion show during National Chemistry Week inOctober. Final arrangements are being madenow so visit the California Section web siteoccasionally for the details. We hope to havethe show at several sites within the Sectionterritory. The Santa Clara Valley Section will

also participate in hosting Lang andShowalter at a site in its territory. If youknow any chemistry/science teachers whoare not usually aware of Section activities,I encourage you to let them know of theshow in their vicinity. As laboratory sci-ence is being limited by some schools be-cause of its cost, we want to encourageteachers to use the resources available tohave safe classroom demonstrations whichhelp to make chemistry more interestingfor students. We have had Profs Lang andShowalter present their show in the Sec-tion twice before and it never fails to be anexciting one for all, chemists and non-chem-ists alike. The Section will hold its annual electionin October. Please consider the candidatescarefully and vote for your choices. Alsoon the ballot will be a referendum on arevision of the Section Bylaws. Most ofthe changes are our attempts to keep theBylaws modern and/or in sync with theACS. If you have any questions about thechanges, please contact me at the Sectionoffice e-mail address ([email protected])and we will explain the reasoning the Ex-ecutive Committee had in mind behind thechanges. Please put “Bylaw Question” in

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Lynette Cegelski is an Assistant Professorin the Department of Chemistry at StanfordUniversity. Dr. Cegelski received her PhDin Chemistry from Washington University,St. Louis, where she was trained as a solid-state NMR spectroscopist at the interfaceof chemistry and biology. She switched dis-ciplines and was trained as a postdoctoralfellow in Molecular Microbiology andPathogenesis at Washington UniversitySchool of Medicine where she defined theimportance of bacterial amyloid fibers inbiofilm formation and identified inhibitorsof amyloid and biofilm assembly. Dr. Cegelskiis the recipient of a Burroughs WellcomeFund Career Award at the Scientific Inter-face and began her appointment as AssistantProfessor in the Department of Chemistryat Stanford in 2009. She is blending her ex-pertise in biophysics, microbiology, andchemical biology to make discoveries regard-ing the fundamental chemistry of biologicalsystems that will impact health and the en-vironment and drive the development of newtherapeutics to ameliorate disease.

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Speaker: Dr. Lynette Cegelski, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, StanfordUniversityTitle: “Macromolecular NMR for Drug Discovery”Date: Thursday, September 23rdTime: Networking: 6:30-7:00 PM, Dinner: 7:00 PM, Presentation: 8:00 PM (attend-ing only the presentation is free)Place: Elan Pharmaceutical’s South San Francisco,180 Oyster Point Blvd (at the south-west corner of Oyster Point Blvd and Veterans Blvd, entrance is on the south side)South San FranciscoCost $27 (Penne Pasta with choice of sauces, vegetables, chicken, garlic bread, cookies,sodas & waters, coffee) Dinner is free for students (high school, undergraduate, gradu-ate) and 50% off for unemployed job seekers. The dinner service will be buffet style,and we need an accurate headcount prior to the event in order for the cover, the foodcharges as well as ensure that there is sufficient food for all.Reservations: Please contact Julie Mason at the section office: [email protected] 510-351-9922 Deadline: Wednesday, September 15th

California and Santa Clara Valley JointSection September

Biography: The genomics and proteomics revolutionshave been enormously successful in generat-ing full genome sequences for an increasingnumber of organisms and in predicting anddetermining the structures of a steadily in-creasing number of proteins. In essence, thesedata provide crucial "parts lists" for biologicalsystems. Yet, formidable challenges exist ingenerating complete descriptions of how theparts function and assemble into macromo-lecular complexes and how small-molecule in-hibitors influence and inhibit assembly pro-cesses. My research program integrates chem-istry and biophysics with chemical biology toinvestigate assembly processes in molecularand atomic-level detail to drive the discoveryof new therapeutics. I will highlight the novelstrategies we are developing using examplesof taxol (determining the bio-active conforma-tion of an anti-cancer drug), vancomycin ana-logues (mapping binding of antibiotics in in-tact cells), and bacterial amyloid inhibitors(developing novel anti-amyloid and anti-biofilmagents).

Abstract:

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April Meeting Report

“Porphyrinic Pigments and Their Use inthe Detection and Treatment of Diseases”

On Saturday, April 24,the Women ChemistsCommittee held a jointmeeting with the ACSCalifornia Section at theTowers ConferenceCenter at San FranciscoState University. Thehighlight of the eventwas a most interesting,lively talk on“Porphyrinic Pigmentsand Their Use in theDetection and Treat-ment of Diseases”, pre-sented by Dr. UschiSimonis, professor atSan Francisco StateUniversity. With 12 million deathsprojected for 2030, can-cer is the leading causeof death worldwide andaffects people at all ages.Due to the systemic tox-icity of traditional thera-pies, new strategies areurgently needed forcombating the disease.Such strategies may befound in photodynamictherapy (PDT). PDT isminimally invasive anduses for its mode of ac-tion a photodrug as the photosensitizer thatis retained longer in malignant tissue than inhealthy tissue. Upon its activation by lightand energy transfer to tissue oxygen, reac-tive oxygen species are formed locally, amongwhich singlet oxygen is a key cytotoxic agentcausing localized destruction of tumor cellsand/or the tumor neovasculature. Althoughregulatory-approved for the treatment of se-lected cancers, PDT remains underutilized

in clinical practice. One of the reasons isrelated to their substantial drawbacks. PDTtriggers cell death by necrosis causing severetissue inflammation or deposits in the skinleading to painful and disfiguring photosen-

sitivity. There re-mains an urgentneed for the devel-opment of im-p r o v e dphotodrugs. After an intro-duction to PDT,Dr. Simonis pre-sented the ap-proach that her re-search laboratoryis committed toprepare betterphotodrugs. Totackle the issues ofinflammation andn e c r o s i s , D r .Simonis designsthe photosensitiz-ers in her lab withthe goal of target-ing the cell’s mito-chondria. The im-portance of havingthe compoundslocalize to the mi-tochondria is dueto the organelle’sability and role ininitiating the pro-grammed celldeath pathwaycalled apoptosis,

which is known to be a clean, organized deathwithout eliciting painful inflammation. Shehopes the production and modificationoftetraphenylporphyrins and pheophor-bides with specific amino acid substituentswill give rise to properties exhibiting greatersolubility, uptake, and increased selectivityin cancer cells. Margareta Sequin and Anna Jung

Dr. Uschi Simonis

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the subject line to help us identify your e-mail. Because a paper printing included withthe ballot would run to more than 10 pages,the complete Bylaws will be on the web sitewith the revisions clearly identified. Congratulations to the following ACS Fel-lows in the California Section. Bryan Balazs

Jean Frechet Enrique Iglesia C. Bradley Moore Daniel Neumark

Attila Pavlath Elaine Yamaguchi

The California Section is soliciting can-didates for terms of office beginning inJanuary, 2011. The election will be heldfor the positions of Chair-elect, Secre-tary, Director, and three Councilors. Ifyou wish be a candidate, please contactEileen Nottoli, Chair of the Nominationsand Elections Committee at [email protected]. State the position forwhich you wish to be a candidate. Can-didates are allowed a 200 word biographi-cal/statement write-up to be submittedto the membership with the election bal-lots. The deadline for responding forthe 2010 ballot is September 20.

California Section Nominations

Paul Vartanian discovered another vortex dur-ing his visit to The Crucible in Oakland. TheSection attorney is checking if there are anyof our rights are being violated.

The California Section is looking for volun-teers interested in both leadership and sup-port roles. Our Section is active with pro-grams to advance chemical education and ca-reers. The Section has several elected offic-ers, including a Chair, Secretary, Treasurer,Directors, and Councilors. Councilors attendthe Council meeting at the spring and fallnational ACS meetings and participate onvarious committees such as Project Seed,Education, Environmental Improvement, andSafety. Officers are elected by Section mem-bers in the fall. We also have a number of committees asshown on our website. The Awards Com-mittee heads up searches of deserving candi-dates for national ACS awards. There areseveral Educational subcommittees such asthe Chemistry Olympiad and ChemistryTeachers. Government Affairs interacts withour California and federal legislators. TheProgram Committee identifies speakers forour Section meetings as well as organizesother meetings. The Minority Affairs andWomen Chemists Committees have activeprograms in career development. Please call any of our officers or committeechairs listed on our website (www.calacs.org)for more information on activities to matchyour interests. Please also call our office at(510) 351-9922 for information on attendingany of the Executive Committee meetings orif you are interested in running for a Sectionoffice.

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ELK-N-ACS Evaldo Kothny

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Carl Auer, The In-novator Austrian chemist CarlAuer (1858-1929) was astudent under the guid-ance or Robert Bunsen(1811-1899), the greatest

chemist at that time. Bunsen, mostly knownfor the burner (1855) which was named afterhim but which was invented by Michael Fara-day (1791-1867), was the mentor for Auer’smost notable discoveries. Bunsen andKirchhoff invented the spectroscope in 1859which allowed a series of new applicationsand discoveries. Auer’s fame started after heimproved gas lighting in 1885, which led himto receive the nobility title of Freiherr vonWelsbach, which means “Baron (of thecastle) of Welsbach” located in the provinceof Carinthia in Austria. Thus this improveddevice received the name of “Welsbachmantle”. Initially, a wad or fabric of ramie(later on of rayon) which was impregnatedwith zirconium nitrate and dried would burnaway at the first ignition exposing a delicatestructure of the oxide, which would emit abrillant light from a gas flame. Replacing Thfor Zr improved the conversion of light fromheat. Thorium had been previously discov-ered in 1828 by Berzelius. After a enduringexperimentation, Auer improved the conver-sion of heat to light by activating the tho-rium oxide with 0.9% cerium oxide whichmaximized the light output and changed theemissivity from yellowish to greenish due tothe spectral characteristic of Ce. Monazite,a mineral found in river sand, was ideallysuited for the fabrication of the mantles, be-cause it both contained thorium, cerium andother rare elements. These mantles are stillbeing used in areas without electricity or forcamping. Carl Auer was also involved with the rareelement separation which is alike that of theradioactive elements. It all started with heavysand separated from ordinary river sand.Most people has heard of black sand leftover after gold panning, so the inquiring mind

of the chemists wondered about its compo-sition. The production of titanium, zirconium andhafnium from black sands accumulated inestuaries was described in the April 2007Vortex. Some black sands also contain con-siderable amounts of Monazite, a heavy phos-phate of rare elements and thorium. Just be-fore WW1, 3000 tons of Monazite fromblack sands were processed to yield 150 tonsof thorium nitrate. The content of thorium inMonazite is usually 3 to 5%. Upon observation of Monazite in 1794,Gadolin, a Finnish chemist, concluded that itcontains a new element which he called “Yt-trium earth”. Intrigued by curiosity, Berzelius(1779-1848) studied this mineral in 1803together with Klaproth (1743-1817). WhileBerzelius discovered Thorium in 1828, bothfound another element which they called“Cerium earth”. A student of Berzelius,Mosander (1797-1858), who becameprofesssor of chemistry and mineralogy in1832 in the Caroline Medical Institute inStockholm took the task of purifying thesetwo “earths” (the name of “earths” was usedto distinguish stable oxides from metals). In1839 and in 1843 Mosander was able to splitthem into 6 “earths”: Cerium,, Lanthanum,Yttrium, Erbium, Terbium and Didymium. Mosander was first interested in the Ce-rium earths. Shortly after separating the Ce-rium earths in 1839, he split them into Ce-rium proper and Lanthanum. Didymium wasreported as a new element. The second task for Mosander in 1843 wasthe investigation of the components of the“Yttrium earths” described by Gadolin in1794. He found that it contained several ele-ments of similar chemical behavior. Thus heseparated them into Yttrium, Erbium, Ter-bium and Didymium. Intrigued by Didy-mium, Lecoq de Boisbodram, recognized Sa-marium as a component in 1879, whereasMarignac separated Gadolinium in 1880. Thepreviously found Samarium fraction wasimpure and contained Europium as an ad-mixture, an element discovered by Demarcayin 1896. Erbium was found to be a compli-cated fraction. After a laborious work by

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A Chemist’s Co-nundrum:The Problems andChemistry ofEmerging Con-taminants (Part 2) Bill Motzer

In Part 1 (June 2010 Vortex), I discussedthe definition of an emerging chemical con-taminant (ECC) and also the history and char-acteristics of older ECCs. But what reallydetermines if a chemical or class of chemicalsshould be designated as ECCs? The follow-ing list is a general outline, not necessarilyoccurring in any order, but with events gen-erally beginning with item 1: (1) Academic interest and research, includ-ing grant proposals and submissions, pre-sentations at conferences and symposia andpublications in peer reviewed journals. Gen-erally for an ECC, research is conducted on achemical’s environmental transport media inair, soil or water, which includes solubility,soil distribution coefficients, extractability,i.e. into octanol, Henry’s Law constant, anddegradation half life. A substance’s potentialimpact to these media may be defined. (2) Analytical methodologies as establishedby the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), theU.S. Environmental Protection Agency(USEPA), and the American Society of Test-ing and Materials (ASTM). In addition,sample collection protocols are established. (3) Development of useful remedial tech-nologies, particularly for recalcitrant chemi-cals and development of forensic chemicalfingerprinting methods and/or age dating tech-niques. (4) Widespread dissemination of informa-tion and/or misinformation about chemicalproperties, etc. by public media such as news-papers, magazines, TV and movies, and en-vironmental groups with subsequent legisla-tive demands. (5) Significant interest by the legal commu-nity with subsequent litigation. (6) Regulatory investigations including epi-demiologic and health-based risk assessmentstudies. In California these may be con-

ducted by the Department of Toxic Sub-stances Control (DTSC) Office of Environ-mental Health Hazard Assessments(OEHHA). Establishment of drinking waterNLs, PHGs, and MCLs by CDPH andUSEPANEW ECCS There are many new ECCs. Those of cur-rent interest to environmental chemists andregulatory agencies include bisphenol A(BPA) (used in polycarbonates), perfluori-nated chemicals (e.g., perfluorooctane sul-fonate and perfluorooctanoic acid; used inTeflon production),pharmaceuticals,andnanomaterials. The latter two are discussedin more detail below. Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Prod-ucts (PPCPs) are a large class of mostly or-ganic chemicals. Many PPCPs have been des-ignated as ECCs because they are disposedor discharged to the environment on a con-tinual basis from domestic and industrial sew-age including septic systems, landfills, agri-cultural runoff, and wet weather runoff.Therefore, they have the potential of im-pacting (even at low concentrations in theng/L range) surface and groundwater sup-plies. There are three general recognizedclasses: (1) Pharmaceuticals: chemicals formulatedinto drugs for treatment of diseases (cure/mitigation) including chemopreventatives:i.e., chemicals that reduce chances of diseaseor slow its onset (e.g., tamoxifen for breastcancer), or those that enhance health or struc-tural functioning of the human body (e.g.,steroids and hormones). They also includediagnostic agents (e.g., X-ray contrast mediasuch as gallium-67 citrate and osmium tetrox-ide), illicit and recreational drugs (e.g., heroin,cocaine, cannabis, methamphetamines), andveterinary drugs. (2) Protective Care Products include cos-metics (e.g., hairsprays), fragrances (e.g.,musks), soaps, detergents, insect repellants(e.g., DEET), sun-screen agents, skin anti-aging preparations, and disinfectants [e.g.,triclosan or 5-chloro-2-(2,4-dichloro-phenoxy)phenol]. (3) Nutriceuticals are bioactive chemicals

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©Alex Madinik

©Alex Madonik

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contained in nutritional supplements. PPCP production is worldwide in quanti-ties ranging from kilograms to thousands ofmetric tons per year for some individual prod-ucts. In the environment, some compoundsare very persistent and recalcitrant (e.g.,carbamazepine and primadone). Others willreadily biodegrade (e.g., the sulfonamide an-tibiotics), while a few degrade by photoly-sis (e.g., gemfibrozil), and some have poten-tial ecological impacts (e.g., steroids and hor-mones). PPCPs recently added as possibleECCs include acidic PPCPs (e.g., bezafibrate,clofibric acid, and naproxen), antiviral agents(e.g., acyclovir, nevirapine, and oseltamivir),and antidepressants such as Prozac. Currentresearch is also focusing on environmentaldegradation products and metabolites be-cause some of these may be more dangerousthan the original PPCP.Nanomaterials Manufactured nanomaterials (MNMs) area relatively new class of chemical com-pounds, and engineered materials or metalswith particle sizes in the 1-100 nanometer(nm) range (1 x 10-9 m to 100 x 10-9 m). Incomparison, a human hair is 80,000 nm indiameter, a red blood cell is about 7,000 nmwide, DNA about 2 nm to12 nm in width,and a water molecule is approximately 0.3nm across. This “nanoworld” now includesseveral different substance classes, includ-ing: (1) Carbon-based materials and structuressuch as C60 fullerene, which can be formedinto carbon nanotubes. (2) Metal-based substances such asnanogold, nanosilver, and nanometal oxidessuch as titanium oxide. These also includecolloids and quantum dots, which are packedsemiconductor crystals whose optical prop-erties can change with size; they also havethe ability to absorb light and re-emit it indifferent colors depending on thenanocrystal’s size. (3) Dendrimers are polymers constructedfrom branched units. A dendrimer’s surfacehas numerous chain ends that can be designedto perform specific chemical functions. Also,dendrimers generally are spheres into which

other molecules or atoms can be placed. Thismakes them useful for drug or perfume de-livery. (4) Bio-inorganic composites, such astitanum with attached DNA strands. Thesecan be used to treat disease. Several classes of MNMs are now globallymanufactured in hundreds to thousands ofmetric tons per year. These include MNMsfor structural applications (ceramics, cata-lysts, films and coatings, and compositemetals), skin care products (metal oxides),information and communication technolo-gies (nanoelectronic and optoelectronic ma-terials, organic light emitters, andnanophosphors), biotechnology (drug deliv-ery, diagnostic markers, and biosensors) andenvironmental technologies (nanofiltrationand membranes). MNM are unique becausein some ways, they tend to behave as newchemical substances. Two main factors dis-tinguish MNMs from ordinary materials: (1) They have relatively larger surface ar-eas when compared to the same mass ofmaterial produced in larger form. For ex-ample, a 1.0 cm3 cube has a surface area of 6cm2. This same cube separated into 1.0 mmcubes now has a surface area of 60 cm2; butif further divided into 1.0 nm cubes, the to-tal surface area becomes 60 x 106 cm2. Thismay cause a relatively inert large-scale sub-stance to become more chemically reactivein nanoscale form. Size reduction may alsoaffect the material’s strength. (2) For some MNMs — particularly atthe lower end of the scale — quantum ef-fects can begin dominating the substances,affecting their optical, electrical, and mag-netic behavior. Once released into the environment,nanoparticles may also quickly change intolarger particles by agglomeration processes.It is not known what the actual effects wouldbe, but some researchers have hypothesizedthat MNM releases reaching groundwatercould plug porous media rendering the aqui-fer useless for groundwater withdrawal. Research and investigations on MNM de-tection and analysis, toxicity, environmentaltransport and fate remains in the initial

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CA-GALA Legislative Visits atState Capitol in Sacramento Marinda Wu, Government AffairsCommittee Chair, California Section CA-GALA stands for the ACS’s Califor-nia Government and Legislative Affairs Com-mittee that was formed to provide “leader-ship and a unified voice for ACS memberswithin the state of California regarding sci-ence, technology, engineering and mathemat-ics (STEM) education.” CA-GALA has ACSmembers interested in government affairsfrom our Section but also Sections from SantaClara Valley, Orange County, Sacramento,San Diego, San Gorgonio, and The SouthernCalifornia Section. Natalie McClure of theSanta Clara Valley Section has chaired CA-GALA these past couple of years with helpand support from ACS staff, James Brownand Kathryn Verona. Recently ACS staff James Brown accom-panied Natalie McClure, Bonnie Charpentierfrom the Santa Clara Valley Section and meto visit some legislator at our State Capitol.This was our first Legislative Summit withintroductory meetings at our State Capitolfor CA-GALA organized by ACS staff. Pre-viously there have been some interactionswith our state legislators through LAN (Leg-islative Action Network), CA-GALA letters,and staff work with partners such as CSTA(California Science Teachers Association).Sacramento Section member, Jan Hayes hastestified on behalf of CA-GALA a numberof times in Sacramento regarding STEM is-sues. We had three objectives with this firstround of organized meetings with variousstate legislators: 1) We wanted to introduceACS and CA-GALA since we are still con-sidered very new players in Sacramento; 2)We wanted to discuss the STEM LegislativeTask Force Resolution (ACR 88) and theACS role in developing and advancing it; 3)We want to find out what the legislators thinkand need regarding STEM issues and learnhow ACS might be of most help to them. We spent June 29 meeting at the offices ofthe following state legislators: Senator MarkDeSaulnier, Assemblyman Jerry Hill, As-semblyman Tom Torlakson, Senator Mark

Wyland, Assemblywoman Mary Hasyashi,and Senator Leland Yee. We met mostly withtheir staff but did get to meet and take photoswith Assemblyman Tom Torlakson who wassponsoring the STEM Legislative Task ForceResolution (ACR 88). Our meetings with allthese legislative offices were well timed sinceACR 88 was coming before the Senate forapproval later that week. In fact, it had al-ready passed the House and was approvedby the Senate a few days after our visits. Theenactment of this legislation recognizes the“central role that STEM education plays inproviding California students with the skillsthey need to succeed.” Our three basic objectives described abovewere accomplished. We also had lunch withthe Executive Director of CSTA (CaliforniaScience Teachers Association) and discussedhow we can partner and work together. CA-GALA is building coalitions with pro-fessional education organizations and otherallies to work towards enactment of compre-hensive STEM education legislation. This willensure that STEM subjects are educationalpriorities and reflect the real value of thesesubjects to the future of California’s students.See www.acs.org/policy for more information.

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stages. Such investigations and research byacademia and industry are currently under-way with annual growth at exponential rates.(A Google search using the key words “re-search and “nanomaterials” returned 210,000hits.) Additionally, although the reportingmedia have not significantly focused atten-tion to MNMs, regulatory agencies are be-coming quite concerned recently installingweb sites entirely devoted to nanomaterialsand nanotechnologies (e.g., see DTSC’s website at: http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/TechnologyD e v e l o p m e n t / N a n o t e c h n o l o g y /nanoport.cfm and USEPA’s web site at: http://www.epa.gov/oppt/nano/. In Part 3, I will discuss some additionalECCs that are now being researched and maybe just reaching regulatory agency consider-ation.

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2101 ACS recipients of the 50 year Member Awards Shao Yuan, William Nicholson, Norman Jensen, John Hannah, and William Foshee

2101 ACS recipients of the 60 year Member AwardsRobert Lindblom, David Nethaway, Bacon Ke, Y. Gust Hendrickson, Charles Greene, andGlenn Fuller.

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12SEPTEMBER 2010

September Historical Events InChemistry Leopold May September 1, 1873, B. Smith Hopkins, whowas a researcher on rare earths, was born. September 3-5, 1860, One hundred and fiftyyears ago during these dates, the KarlsruheCongress, 1860, the first international meet-ing of chemists was held in Karlsruhe, Ger-many. September 6, 1870, Frederick G. Donnan, aresearcher in theory of membrane equilibria(Donnan Equilibrium), was born. He also didresearch in chemical kinetics. September 9, 1858, One hundred andtwenty-five years ago in 1885, Carl Auer vonWelsbach, discovered neodymium (Nd, 60and praseodymium (Pr, 59). He was a re-searcher on rare earths, discovered lutetiumwith Georges Urbain (Lu, 71) in 1907, andinvented incandescent mantle (WelsbachMantle or Auerlicht). He was born on thisdate. September 12, 1897, Seventy-five yearsago in 1835, Irène Joliot-Curie and her hus-band, Fredéric Joliot-Curie, were awarded theNobel Prize in Chemistry in recognition oftheir synthesis of new radioactive elements.She was born on this date. September 13, 1886, Robert Robinson, aresearcher in plant pigments, alkaloids andphenanthrene derivatives, was born on thisdate. He was awarded the Nobel Prize inChemistry. in 1947 for his investigations onplant products of biological importance, es-pecially the alkaloids. September 16, 1853, One hundred yearsago in 1910, Albrecht Kossel, a researcher inchemistry of cells and proteins was awardedthe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicinein recognition of the contributions to ourknowledge of cell chemistry made throughhis work on proteins, including the nucleicsubstances. He was born on this date. September 17, 1677, Stephen Hales, bornof this date, studied the role of air and waterin the maintenance of both plant and animallife, developed the pneumatic trough, and dis-covered that ‘air’ is released in decomposi-tion of plant and animal substances.

September 23, 1915, John Sheehan, whosynthesized penicillin-V in 1957, was born. September 24, 1898, Howard Walter Florey,born on this date, did research on lysozymeand antibiotics. In 1945, he shared the NobelPrize in Physiology or Medicine withAlexander Fleming and Ernst B. Chain forthe discovery of penicillin and its curativeeffect in various infectious diseases. September 26, 1754, Joseph-Louis Proustarticulated the Law of Definite Proportionsand was born on this date. September 29, 1920, Peter D. Mitchell, re-searcher on chemiosmotic reactions and re-action systems, was born on this date. In1978, he received the Nobel Prize in Chemis-try for chemiosmotic theory and its contri-bution to the understanding of biological en-ergy transfer.

(Continued from page 9)Marignac in 1878 and by Nilson in 1879,two more elements were discovered in Er-bium, namely Ytterbium and Scandium. Theleft over Erbium was still impure. Cleve (alsoSoret and Delafontaine) in 1879 found that itcontained Holmium and Thulium, and Lecoqde Bouisbodram in 1886 added Dysprosiumto this list. Not totally satisfied with theseresults, Auer investigated the residues in 1885and separated Didymium into Neodymiumand Praseodymium. The Ytterbium fractionfound by Marignac in 1878 was studied fur-ther by Urbain in 1905. Independently with-out any relationship to Urbain, also Auerworked on this substance in 1907. Both sci-entists discovered that the impurity con-sisted of Cassiopeium, later renamed Lute-tium. The effort for disclosing the compositionof the 15 rare elements took a little over onecentury by about one dozen mineralogists,chemists, academicians and engineers. Besides Monazite, rare elements are alsocontained in Bastnaesite (a fluocarbonate re-lated to carbonatites, alkaline pegmatites andultramafic volcanics), Xenotime, Samarskite,Thorite and a few others. (To be continued)

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THE VORTEX13

2010 Petersen Award Recipient, Lee Latimer and his wife Bonnie Charpentier

Recipients of the California Section Hight School Teacher’s AwardJenelle Ball, (Chico High School), Lee Boyles, (Petaluma High School), CharlesGreene,Randy Miller, and Cheyenne Ball

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14SEPTEMBER 2010

BUSINESS DIRECTORY

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THE VORTEX

BUSINESS DIRECTORY

INDEX OF ADVERTISERSRecruitment 15ACS Vortex 6 &15Bay Bioanalytical Lab. Inc 2EMD 2Huffman Labs 15MassVac 2New Era Enterprises, Inc 15NuMega Resonance Labs 15Robertson Microlit 14Vacuubrand 14

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