The Chemical Age, February 3rd, 19 4 5 - WITH METALLURGICAL SECTIO:
:A ¿o' jlttd fiS tria l ■ a n d 'E a g ia e e rin g <3btóáiM¿ry|
SATURDAY, FEBRUA RY 3, 19 4 5
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T H E C H E M I C A L A G E Fe b r u a r y.3, 1 945
our Chief F u e l W a tch e r is ?
O f course you know the answer to that in your own place, but how much more could you tell the M inistry ab o ut your system for ensuring the utm ost fuel efficiency ?
Only the constant personal vigilance o f directors and m anagers can keep it fully keyed up anywhere. W hat h a v e you to show for it all— anything that will bear com parison with the follow ing?
IN ONE FLOUR M ILL they used to keep a grinder running the whole time, whether there was enough material to keep it work
ing at full capacity or not. Now they accumulate the stocks in bins until they have enough for a full load. By this intermittent working, the electricity con
sumption of this m otor has been halved.
AT A WIRELESS STATION savings of 8 per cent, were made in lighting and 14 percent, in electric heating and power, together with substantial reductions in coke con
sumption. The e results were obtained through the co-operation of factory per
sonnel in switching off unnecessary apparatus, through more careful stoking, and by a greater watchfulness in the matter of room temperatures.
BY NOT LIGHTING FOUNDRY FIRES in the morning and doing all pouring in the afternoon, by operating heat treatment furnaces in batches instead of con
tinuously, and by regular removal of b l a c k o u t , ir o n
f o u n d r i e s h av e saved up to 25 per cent, of their coal and gas.
HO W THESE Th e latest specialized know ledge on a lm ost every n , „ 1 c tim c conceivable TueJ subject is at your finger-tips in the Fuel Efficiency Bulletins — advice and help that CAN HELP ordinarily would have to be heavily fec'd. I f you’ve y o u m islaid y o u r copies, apply, now to the Regional. Office.
-L r d o f the M in istry.
Issued by the M inistry of Fuel and Power
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Fe b r u a r y 3 , 1 9 4 5 T H E C H E M I C A L A G E
m a ration of oil on my way to a bearing. I make all the difference to the way a machine works and to how it lasts . . . . EXISTING MACHINERY MAY HAVE TO LAST A LONG TIME YET!
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The Chemical Age
A Weekly Journal Devoted to Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
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February 3, *945 Aanullo ^ Ä a 3IS'
The Industrial Reversion I
T is already clear th at the reversionfrom w ar to peace production w ill bring w ith it serious problem s. These problem s w ill vary in different industries and their difficulty w ill depend upon how far w ar-tim e production has been dif
ferent from norm al peace production.
T he chem ical industry m ay find th at its problem s are m ore sim ple than those of m any others. M any chem ical w orks have not appreciably changed their products ; a p lan t b u ilt for sulphuric acid produc
tion, for exam ple, cannot be m ade to produce other substances. Those that have changed their m anufactures have done so by putting in new plant which can be used for other purposes if the w ar
tim e product is no longer required in tim es of peace. Probably m ost w ar-tim e chem ical products, except som e explo
sives, are needed at any tim e — though possibly in lesser quantities.
T he change-over w i l l concern the order book rather than the m ethods of m anufacture. Before peace production can get into sw ing, orders m ust be forthcom ing.
It is not to be expected th at there w ill be any lack of orders for a tim e, but some of those orders should be placed be
fore hostilities cease, so th at the gap m ay be as short as pos-
sible and a tem porary period of unem ploym ent avoided. Some firm s are believed to have their order books already w ell filled w ith contracts that w ill only come into effect w hen the G overnm ent perm its the change over.
T he engineering industry, on the other hand, w ill experience m any difficulties.
T he intensive production of guns, aero
planes, bombs, shells, jeeps, and other engines of w ar w ill cease, and w orks organised for w ar production w ill have to be reorganised and probably re
equipped for the arts of peace.
T he re-equipm ent of industry w ill be one of the m ajor problem s th at prac
tically every firm w ill be obliged to undertake. Som e equipm ent is w orn out, som e is out of date, some older p lan t w ill need to be scrapped
and replaced. T he de
cision when .to do this m ay not rest w holly w ith industry. On every side industries are announcing their plans for post-w ar p lan t and capital equipm ent reconstruc
tion. O ne industry after another is call
ing for new plant to the tune of hundreds of m illions of pounds' w orth. T he engineer
ing industries of the w orld cannot possibly cope w ith the flood of orders th at w ill be thrust upon them by these dem ands.
On Other Pages
Notes and Comments ... 117 Progress in Drugs, Fine Chemi
cals, and Biological Products in 1944, III ... ... ... 119 Parliamentary Topics ... 124
Me t a l l u r g ic a l Se c t io n
Indian Aluminium ... 125 An American Metallurgical Survey 120 Aluminium Alloys ... 128
Brazilian Metals 128
Personal Notes ...129 Moulding Clay ... 129 General News from Week to W eek 130 Forthcoming Events ... 131 Commercial Intelligence ... 132 Company News ... 132 New Companies Begistered ... 132 Stocks and Shares ... 132 British Chemical Prices ... 134
115
T H E C H E M I C A L A G E Fe b r u a r y 3, 1 945 M oreover, it would be foolish in the
extreme to allow a period of frantic re
construction to be crowded into three or four years, and to be followed by a long period of trade depression. D uring the last w ar, for exam ple, the coke-oven industry of this country was la rg e ly re
built, with the result that, from 1920 to 1932, scarcely a plant was ordered.
T h is time, the modernisation of the coke ovens and of the iron and steel works was la rg e ly completed before the out
break of w ar ; the w ar w ill end with these plants sadly in need of iep airs and m ain
tenance and perhaps even of complete renewal. On a ll sides there w ill be a clam ant demand for new equipment.
Some regulation is c lea rly necessary, and it would seem that each industry m ight be called upon to do its own regulation.
The Governm ent m ight allocate steel and other m aterials by industries and leave a system of priorities to be worked out by each T rad e Association concerned.
M eanwhile, the B oard o f T rad e is com pleting its plans and is setting up a regional organisation which is “ to supervise the change-over to peace-time production and bring about what redis
tribution of industry is now, or m ay be in the future, within its control.”
T w e lve regional controllers have been appointed in this country, and one in Northern Ireland. T h is regional organi
sation is to be on a permanent footing, and it does not seem lik e ly that the bureaucrats w ill ligh tly relinquish the control they have so rigorou sly exercised in the years that are past. N ot easily did Sinbad release the grip o f the Old Man of the Sea. T h e President of the Board of T rad e has recently outlined his plans for this new organisation. Its first function is innocuous and even use
ful. T h e regional offices w ill maintain a survey o f industrial conditions, they w ill report current facts and they w ill be centres of local inform ation to the B oard of T rad e and to industrialists. In addi
tion to this they w ill h ave four main functions. T h e first is the reconversion of industry to peace production. It is expected that the problem s o f engineer
in g w ill occupy most o f the energies of the regional offices under this head. No doubt there w ill be problem s to be solved that w ill require the assistance of the Governm ent, and provided that assist
ance is given in the righ t spirit much good m ay result. It is necessary that the special difficulties of industry should be appreciated and should be treated sym pathetically.
T h e second function w ill be the de
requisitioning of factory and storage space and the allocation of surplus Governm ent factories to industry. T h is is, of course, a Governm ent problem , and must be handled by the Government. It is understood that the Government do not propose to sell factories outright, but to lease them to selected firms. There are about 1000 of these factories to be leased to private enterprise, and in select
in g the lessees, the B oard of T rad e pro
poses to take into account its own view s on industrial location. M oreover, in settling the order of release of factories taken over for w a r work or storage, there « is to be control over the developm ent of production in conjunction with the con
trol of m aterials and labour. Ju s t how long this sort of control is to be m ain
tained we should like to know. The B oard of Trad e seems to desire that it shall be permanent. T h is is borne out by the last two functions of the regional controllers. These are (1) the distribu
tion of industry, with special regard to the new developm ent areas, and (2) the déconcentration of civilian industry and the release of m aterials and labour.
Mr. D alton has stated that the duties of these regional controllers w ill be to m aintain a continuous survey of the industrial prospects of their regions so that future industrial changes sh all not take the Governm ent by surprise. The w ar situation m akes it necessary that controls should be maintained for the present. T h e Governm ent can help in
dustry by g iv in g assistance where it is needed, but le av in g p rivate enterprise alone to get on with the job where assistance is not required. Grandm otherly
“ control ” is the last thing we want.
The nation is fra n k ly suspicious o f ap
parent attempts by Governm ent depart
ments to perpetuate war-tim e controls.
T he expressed intentions o f the new organisation could be helpful^ and on the contrary they could lead to the perpetua
tion of undesirable control. T h e nation and industry' w ill watch developm ents critically.
Fe b r u a r y 3, 1 94 5 T H E C H E M I C A L A G E
NOTES AND
Silesia
A
M O NG the changes th at are being w rought in front of our eyes on the m ap of E urope, the entry of the victorious Red A rm y into the Silesian industrial region is of the utm ost im portance. To the average person in this country, Silesia, tucked aw ay in a forgotten corner of th at troublesom e border
land betw een C entral and E astern E urope, has m eant very little. T he industrial areas in W estern E urope have alw ays com m anded g reater attention, and it is not generally realised th at the first coal m ine on the C ontinent w as sunk in U pper Silesia in the m iddle of the 1 8th century, th at the first steam engine for pum ping w ater w as installed in a m ine there, and th at there coke was first used in blast furnaces for the pro
duction of iron. It w as ow ing to the m ore rap id developm ent of W estern E urope in the w ake of the B ritish Indus
trial R evolution th at the R uhr, advan
tageously situated from the point-of view of m arkets and transport, gained su
prem acy. U p to 1 9 1 4, Silesia, situated at the junction of three E m pires, had an unequal developm ent. T he D om brova coal basin w ith K atow ice as centre w as of little interest to the R ussia of the T sars. T he p art belonging to the old Reich w as known for its zinc and lead, output, w hile the A ustrian p art, the O lsa region, w ith M oravskd O strava, T eschen and K arw in, w ith its extensive deposits of high-grade coal, becam e the chief industrial area of the D ual M onarchy.
Germany’s Eastern Arsenal
W
H E N the A llied bom ber offensive got into its stride in 1 9 4 1, the N azis began to look to Silesia, w hich had been developed further in the inter-w ar years, as an altern ativ e to the W estern industrial regions. “ G reater U pper S ilesia,”
extending over 8000 square m iles, w ith a population of about 4^ m illion, was form ed w ith the idea of prom oting a vigorous exploitation of the area, w hich also served as a reception area for engineering concerns evacuated from the W est. D etails about recent develop
m ents are sca rc e; coal output, am ount-
COMMENTS
ing to 63 m illion tons a year before the w ar, probably reached the ioo-m illion m ark in 19 4 4. Indeed, E u rope’s largest reserves of coal are in these parts. A pow erful oil-from -coal industry w as built up, w ith an output of at least a m illion tons of finished products per annum - M any hydrogenation units are under
stood to be situated underground, literally in the coal pits. Closely con
nected w ith this industry is, of course, a coal-based chem ical industry. In addi
tion, large supplies of lim estone m ade possible the production of 20 per cent, of G erm any’s total cem ent- output.
H eavv chem icals, including fertilisers, w ere also produced. In 19 3 8, Silesia accounted for 1 0 per cent, of the w orld’s zinc output, concentrated n ear B euthen, and it is assum ed th at 1 0 - 15 per cent, of the R eich’s requirem ents of steel and other m etallic m inerals w ere lately sup
plied by this area. If we add to this im pressive record the fact th at Silesia w as self-sufficient in food, w e becom e aw are of the terrific effect its loss m ust have on G erm any’s w ar potential, as w ell as of its im portance in th e-fu tu re industrialisation of E urope.
The Future of Research
A
T R IB U T E to B ritish scientists was paid by M r. A ttlee, who w as the chief guest at a luncheon of the P a rliam entary and Scientific Com m ittee at the Savoy H otel, London, on T h u rsd ay last week. T he B ritish scientist, he said, had added to his reputation as an abstract scientist by proving th at he w as second to none in the application of science to th e practical problem s of w ar. A fter the w ar, he believed, the G overnm ent and the scientist w ould, p lay their p arts, but industry as a w hole m ust becom e m ore
“ research-m inded.” L arge businesses m ust w elcom e co-operation; sm all busi
nesses m ust group them selves together.
It w as, m oreover, not sufficient to ask for m oney to be spent on research by the G overnm ent. T he prim e essential w as the provision of first-class scientists, both in the research departm ents of the G overnm ent and in the key positions in industry itself. Sir E rn est Sim on, chairm an of M anchester U niversity,
I i 8 T H E C H E M I C A L A G E Fe b r u a r y 3 , 1 9 4 5
asked for better facilities at the univer
sities, notably in laboratory equipm ent.
It was essential, he said, that increased finances should be available in order to plan ahead effectively. H e m ade the point also th at w hereas, betw een the w ars, firm s in new industries had de
veloped scientific research w ith great success, m ost of the older industries and those operating in sm all units had m ade little or no progress. T his, we consider, is a rath er sw eeping statem ent, but it undoubtedly contains a g rain of trujh.
To counteract it, how ever, there has been a g reat developm ent in research am ong m ost of the older industries since the w ar started, and we see no reason w hy this adm irable im pulse should not continue to be felt after the w ar. W ith the G overn
m ent adopting a favourable attitude to those w illing to expend their energies in research, as M r. A ttlee’s w ords seem to indicate, we do not feel we are too optim istic w hen we suggest th at there is the possibility of a reasonably rosy future for industrial research in B ritain. T he m en are there, at any r a te ; the stress of w ar has proved their w orth. Industry can surely not be so shortsighted as not to em ploy their skill.
Industrial Health
T
H E creation of a com prehensive industrial health service as an essential p art of the N ational H ealth Service is being strongly urged by a special com m ittee on social and preventive m edicine form ed by the Royal College of Physicians. Increase in industrial efficiency m ust rem ain an idle dream if the w orkers cannot attain a high stan
dard of health. Bold p lanning w ithout regard to traditional arrangem ents, and the extension and strengthening of legislation covering industrial under
takings of all sizes are advocated. T he anom aly w hereby the factory inspectorate is u nder the control of the H om e Office should speedily give w ay to a unified and universal system . It is a true but distressing fact th at the m edical service in industry is at present confined to rath er less than one-fourth of the w orkers in this country. U nits with few er than 3 50 w orkers, em ploying, in
19 3 9, over 50 per cent, of the total w orkers, are deprived of such a service.
Finding the Right Job
O
N the psychological side of industrial health, we are even w orse off.
A ccording • to Sir E dw ard ’ M ellanby, secretary of the M edical Research Coun
cil, there seem s to be a good deal of inertia and even antagonism in this country, w hen the psychologist is trying to fit people into the rig h t jobs. H e m ade a m ost significant declaration on this subject at a private conference on health research in industry, w hich was held last Septem ber, the proceedings of w hich have ju st been m ade public. At this conference he insisted on the stupidity of considering that m ost people are m en
tally and physically capable of doing any kind of job. 'T o continue on those lines, he says, m eans condem ning m any m en and wom en to destitution, ju st be
cause they are unfit for som e particular job. As a result, enactm ents w ould have to be fram ed to cater for the low est com m on denom inator of hum an capacity, at the expense of industrial efficiency.
And, that, as S ir E dw ard justly claim s, we cannot afford. T he use of new m ethods, including intelligence and occupational tests, is required to fit people into right jobs from the begin
ning, thus avoiding “ blind alley s.” W e gladly support these proposals, for we believe th at the holding of conferences and the p rinting of reports—how ever good they m ay be— are not sufficient, but th at adequate publicity, through all the m edia available, is needed in order to
“ create dem and,” instead of perp etu at
ing inertia.
A good market for paraffin wax exist« in the State of S. Paulo, Brazil, and, in view of needs of war-born industries, the demand is expected to increase. Average annual con
sumption of paraffin wax in the State approaches 550 metric tons, of which about 25 per cent, goes to match manufac
turers and 20 per cent, to manufacturers of waterproofed textile products. The candle- making industry is now using stearin as a substitute in most cases. Manufacturers of floor wax have also found domestic ingredi
ents to replace paraffin • the most usual of these is camauba.
Fe b r u a r y 3 , 1 9 4 5 T HE C H E M I C A L A G E 1 1 9
Progress in Drugs, Fine Chemicals and Biological Products in 1944—III
by G. COLMAN GREEN, B .Sc., F.R .I.C ., A.M .I.Chem .E.
(Continued from Th e Ch e m ic a l Age, January 2 7, 19 4 5, p. 10 2)
I
NCREASING attention is being directed to bacteriological applications of synthetic detergents and wetting agents. Chemicals of this class fall into one of two groups according as they are effective through a cation or an anion. The basic feature is their ability to orientate at the interface, and this surface activity confers upon them their first property as wetting . agents, enabling them to assist in the physical removal of micro-organisms from the surface which they contaminate. A second property conferred upon them by their sur
face activity is the ability to damage the membrane at the protoplasmic surface of the micro-organism, thus interfering with the control of selective diffusion into and out of the cell, which leads ultim ately to death.
Turkey red or sulphonated castor oil was the first substance to compete with soap as the universal wetting agent at the turn of the century. Following Reychlor’s work in 1916 the sulphonic acids of the fatty acids were developed, and later the sul- phated fatty alcohols and the correspond
ing esters and amides. The detergent action of ordinary soaps is due to the structure of the anions. This is also the case with sodium cetyl and sodium lauryl sulphates, these anionie detergents being bactericidally effective mainly against gram- negative organisms. During 1944 there have been made available in this country higher secondary alkyl sulphates derived from “ cracked ” petroleum crudes frac
tions containing long-chain olefines. The mixture is fractionated and a cut is taken corresponding with a carbon content of C10 to Cls per molecule. This cut is sul- phated, neutralised, and purified.
Cationic Detergents
The cationic detergents (in which the long-ehain hydrophobic group is situated in the cation) are generally more effective germicidically, being active against both gram-positive and gram-negative organisms.
The individuals of this group chiefly in use are quaternary ammonium halides, the sim
plest being cetyltrimethyl ammonium brom
ide (CTAB) which is available under brand names. Domagk, whose name is closely associated with sulphonamide chemo
therapy, introduced a variant in alkyT benzvldimethyl ammonium chloride in 1935
—R .'C6H S.CH2.(C H,) 2 NCI—in which R is a mixture of radicals derived from coconut oil (Zephirol or Zephiran). This latter
class of substance has been made available under brand names also, and it and its variants have been reported upon favour
ably as skin and wound disinfectants. They may be prepared by reacting the higher alkyl-substituted diinethylamines with a- halogen-substituted benzyl compounds (this Journal, 1944, 51, 399).
/C1I.
R.X (CH,) 2 + R'CH2C1- R ' X — C IIj.R
\ c i f . .Cl Williams el al. (Lancet, 1944, 6303) have continued their investigations of CTAB as a wound cleanser, and report favourably on its routine use for this purpose.
It has been stated that the most potent compound discovered in one comprehensive investigation in this class of compound is p - d£ - i s o butylphenoxyethoxyethylbenzyldi- methvl ammonium chloride.
p-di-isobutyl.C.H.O. CH ,.CH „0. CH2 C1R.
+ / CH ’ 1 - N—CH2C,H , .Cl.
\CH, J
This substance, under the brand name
“ Hyamine 1622,” has been almost entirely absorbed by the U.S. Navy as a disinfec
tant and germicide.
Another introduction in this group is
“ Phemeride ” or p-terf-octylphenyldi- ethoxybenzyldimetliyl ammonium chloride which, it is reported, is bactericidal to Staphylococcus aureus in broth in 10 min.
at a dilution of 1 : 20,000. It is readily soluble in both water and alcohol, and its bactericidal range is within a dilution which does not inhibit leucocytes. Hand ll.ancet, 1944) points out that Schulman has shown that surface-tension-lowering substances penetrate and disperse lipoprotein me no- layers, a function which can be related with their lytic activity towards red blood corpuscles, unicellular animals, and bac
teria. As expected, on this basis, “ Phem- eride ” is not only bactericidal but is hsemolytic at higher concentrations, a dilu
tion of 1 : 1000 causing lysis in one hour.
The use of these synthetic detergents as wetting agents in the textile and launder
ing industries was established before Domagk recognised their disinfectant pro
perties. An interesting application in this use has been described by Courtney H ar
wood and other members of the staff of the British Launderers’ Research Association (Lancet, 1944). It is of great importance
1 2 0 T HE C H E M I C A L A G E Fe b r u a r y 3 , 1 9 4 3
that dust should be kept at a minimum to prevent cross-infection in hospitals. Dust arising from bedclothes contributes greatly to cross-infection and evidence in favour of reducing this to a minimum by oiling both floor and bedclothes has been rapidly accumulating since 1940. The authors have developed a precise technique in which technical white oil was absorbed by the textile to which application was desired to any required degree. Wool was treated with an emulsion stabilised with “ Fixanol C” (cetyl pyridinium bromide), a cation active emulsifier, while cotton goods, after treatm ent with this emulsion, were further treated with a negatively charged emulsion using “ Teepol.” An im portant feature rendering the process economical was that, under the conditions specified, the oil was completely absorbed from the emulsion and there was consequently no loss.
W right et al. have demonstrated that, in a particular test, bedclothes were a reser
voir of a streptococcus causing cross-infee- tiou in a measles ward. Oiling the bed
clothes by the technique referred to reduced the streptococcus count at the time of bed- making from 100-150 per 50 cu. ft. of air to nil, while cross-infection by the epidemic strain was reduced from 7 3 .3 per cent, in the control ward to 18.6 per cent, in the “ oiled ” ward.
The Effect of Soaps on Phenols Trim and Alexander (Nature, 1944) have explored the effects of soaps and synthetic detergents on the biological activity of phenols. They correlated the anthelmintic action of hexyl resorcinol in the presence of sodium cholate, sodium oleate, and CTAB with the interfacial tensions of these sub
stances measured against an inert mineral oil. They found that the maximum rate of penetration of a given concentration of hexyl resorcinol into the test A cam corre
sponded with a minimum interfacial ten
sion. Beyond this maximum value raicellar aggregation set in and the phenol, being present in fixed amount, distributed itself between the micelles and any other inter
face present. Increasing the concentration of the surface-active agent merely increased the number of micelles until ultimately, in effect, all the phenol was held by the micelles. At this point the difference be
tween the interfacial tensions of the test solution and the soap solution was negli
gible and, at this point also, the biological activity of the solution of hexyl resorcinol, plus soap solution, as measured by pene
tration into Acaris, was negligible. The authors observe that this picture of com
petition between biological interface and mieellar interface should be generally valid, not only for all types of phenol, but also for other biologically im portant com
pounds when present in soap solutions. The
authors favour the view that the phenol penetrates the cell membrane by normal diffusional processes, the effect of the phenol/soap, complex—the existence of which they consider to be demonstrated by the fact that the minimum interfacial ten
sion of the hexyl resorcinol/soap complex is markedly lower than that of either com
ponent—being to increase the effective con
centration of the phenol at the biological interface.
These experiments were based on the anthelmintic action of hexyl resorcinol and while, no doubt, the suggestion of general validity may be correct, it has to be re
membered that CTAB is not in the condi
tions of their test, active (i.e., it is not an anthelmintic). On the other hand, CTAB is bactericidal of itself. Hand (vide supra) has pointed out that synthetic detergents are often synergistic for other antiseptics.
This may well be due to the fact that the complex possibly formed between the anti
septic and the surface-active detergent- disinfectant at the biological interface is in greater concentration than that at which either component would bo in the absence of the other. It may well be that this mechanism of complex formation and effect is an essential feature of all drug syner-.
gisms.
Preparations of “ Dettol ” type remain the skin disinfectant par excellence. Ritchie and Hamer (J.S .C .I. Trans., 1944) have described a method for the estimation of unchlorinated phenols in chlorinated xylenol mixtures which are the basis of this type of antiseptic. The method depends upon distillation in vacuo under standard conditions and the taking of a cut which separates free xylenols, plus some of the monochloro compounds, from the balance of the chloro derivatives. The free xylenols are determined by difference after estim at
ing the chlorine content of the cut. Salle and Guest (Proc. Soc. Exper. Path, and Med., 1944) have found an enhancement of germicidal activity of phenol disinfectants if appropriate metallic salts are added to produce oxidation-reduction systems. The maximum effect is sensitive to the presence of very definite proportions of the compon
ents of the system. Zendek et al. (Bio- client. ./., 1943) describe the colorimetric estimation of ehlorophenols in the blood by use of a modified H illon’s reagent.
Specific Against Pus
Berry has made a further addition to the list of bacteriostatic or bactericidal agents which exert a selective action towards par
ticular organisms. The pus organism, Ps.
pyocyaneus, is particularly resistant to
wards penicillin, the sulphonamides, the quaternary ammonium compounds, the aminoacridines, and chloroxylenol. The elimination of this organism is particularly
Fe b r u a r y 3 , 1 9 4 5 T H E C H E M I C A L A G E
desirable where skin-grafting is to take place. Berry has found that, in addition to general bactericidal properties, ethylene- glycol monophenyl ether—C0H5O.C2H4OH (or “ phenoxetol ” from its alternative description as /3-phenoxyethylaleohol)—is specific against Ps. pyocyaneus. It is non
toxic and non-irritant to tissues in the con
centrations recommended. Its bacterio
static activity in dilutions lower than those required bactericidally render it a valuable adjunct in admixture with penicillin, sul- phonamide, and acridine derivatives.
Phenoxetol is a slightly viscous liquid, soluble in water to the extent of 2.5 per cent, by volume at 20°C., the solution having a pH of 0.4 to 6.5.
Am inoacrldines
The development of the aminoacridine group of antiseptics was briefly outlined by the author last year. Since then l’oate (Lancet, 1944) lias summarised their ad
vantages and disadvantages. Among the former are : activity in presence of serum proteins, very low order of systemic toxicity, non-interference with phagocytosis, com- patability with sulphonainides; among the latter are : staining of tissues and textiles, instability of solutions in light, tissue irritation (unless the solution is suitably buffered), absorbability by cotton dressings, necrotic effect 011 tissues when used in powder form. Poate considers the use of aeriflavine (the commercial mixture of pro
flavine and its methyl chloride) should be discontinued in the light of modern know
ledge. It should be replaced by proflavine (2: 8-diaminoacridine sulphate) which, ac
cording to the recommendation of Albert and Gledliill (Lancet, 1943; 1944), should first be adjusted to pH 6.0 by the addition of sodium bicarbonate. At the same time for particular types of wounds Poate has found 5-aminoaeridine (which is virtually non-staining) satisfactory if applied direct to the wound in powder form when mixed with sulphonamides. Russell and Beck (B .M .J., 1944), however, object to the use of proflavine, powder in admixture with sulphonamide on histological grounds and prefer the use of proflavine solutions
(1 : 1000).
5-Aminoacridine has been the subject of pharmaceutical studies by Falk and Thomas. Ungar and Robinson (J. Phar
macol. and R iper. Therap., 1944), describe a 1 : 1000 solution of 5-aminoacridine in a combined isotonic saline and borate buffer.
They point out that the phosphate buffer of the Pharmacopoeia is incompatible on account of the insolubility of 5-aminoacri
dine phosphate.
Albert et al. (J.C .S., 1943) have com
pared the distribution coefficients (oil/
water) and the tension at the air/w ater interface with antiseptic properties in the
aminoacridine series. They conclude that oleophilic and surface-active properties are undesirable for development of bactericidal efficiency. These same authors (Lancet, 1944) have examined the equilibrium between aminoacridines in solution and the amount absorbed by dressings in contact with these solutions. The adsorption com
plex formed with proflavine and other aminoacridines was found to be of so labile a nature that whether immersed in water or serum the aminoacridine-impregnated gauze acted as a depot for the antiseptic.
Antim alarlals
It has been estimated that between 2 and 3 million people die annually as a result of contracting m alaria and nearly half these deaths occur in India. The economic loss to the British Empire alone caused by this disease has been assessed at £50 to £60 million per annum. I11 the present w'ar the m alaria casualties in the Sicilian cam paign.
exceeded the total of all those casualties which wore a direct consequence of the fighting, w hile. at one period of the New Guinea campaign 80 per cent, of the Allied troops had succumbed to this disease. The scope offered to chemistry and chemotherapy in this field is, therefore, vast.
Quinine preparations have been available since the 17th century for prophylaxis and cure. Many attem pts have been made dur
ing the last half-century to synthesise the drug, and the final achievement was an
nounced by Woodward and Doering in 1944 (J.A .C .S.). The route from the S-piperi- dinomethyl derivative of 7-hydroxy-iso- quinoline, the starting m aterial, to d-quino- toxine from which quinine is prepared by closure of the quinuclidine ring has been described in considerable detail elsewhere (Chem. Eng. News., 1944, 22, 730; Pharm..
J., 1944, 153, 12; this Journal, 1944, 50, 555).
The synthesis appears to be complex and costly enough to rule out the possibility of industrial application in view of post-war natural quinine production and in the face of present large-scale produc
tion of more readily accessible synthetic antimalarials.
Quinine
Even without the set-back to natural quinine production caused by the war it is hardly likely that plantations would have been "able to meet the increasing world de
mand for antim alarial agents. Bearing this in mind and also the increased sense of
1 2 2 T HE C H E M I C A L A G E Fe b r u a r y 3 , 1 9 4 5
international responsibility induced by the war, not less in m atters of public health than in other spheres, a vast effort to bring the malaria menace under control is likely to develop which will create a great demand for the synthetic antim alarials. Pam aquin and mepaerine are, at present, the chief among these agents and have evolved from the pattern of the antiplasmodial dyestuffs, mainly methylene blue. An outline of the m anufacture by Sherndal (Client. Eng. News,
1943) was referred to last year, since then particulars of the route for mepaerine (6- e h l o r o - 2 - methoxy-9- (S-diethylamin-or-a- methylbutylnmino)-acridine) have become available in the literature. It is obtained by condensing 0 : 9-dichloro-2-methoxy- acridine with 2-amino-5-diethylaminopen- tane. The former product is obtained by condensing 2 : 4-diehlorobenzoie acid with /»-anisidine, with subsequent ring closure to yield the substituted acridine. The latter product is obtained from ethylene chloro- hydrin and diethylamine as starting m ate
rials. These are condensed to /3-diethyl- aminoethauol and, through the correspond
ing chloro derivative, 5-diethylaminopen- tan-2-one is obtained, the carbonyl group of which is finally substituted by an amino group. The size of the demand for this product may be assessed from the fact that for prophylactic purposes only four tablets per person per week are required, each tablet containing 0 .1 gram mepaerine hydrochloride. The British production is stated to amount to many hundreds of pounds per day.
The Future of Mepaerine In July, 1944 (Lancet, 1944, 6325), reso
lutions were adopted by the U .S. Board of Co-ordination of M alarial Studies and Drug Prophylaxis and the Therapy Committees of the Medical Research Council. It is stressed that mepaerine is no more toxic than quinine and is in certain respects more reliable; but neither quinine nor mepaerine can prevent relapses in vivax malaria, it is stated that mepaerine is not an inferior substitute for quinine and will probably continue to hold its own after the war.
Silverman and Evans (J. Biol. Chem., 1944) have found mepaerine to be bacteriostatic towards B. coli. The naturally occurring amines, spermine and spermidine, are effective antagonists and it is suggested that mepaerine interferes with their metabolism.
As in the ease of other drugs of relatively complex structure a search has been made for simpler chemotherapeutic analogues of mepaerine. Gilman and Spatz (J.A.C .S., 1944) have attem pted to correlate constitu
tion with antim alarial action by synthesis
ing quinoline derivatives patterned as
“ open m odels” of mepaerine. They found substantial antim alarial activity in fi
nite thoxy-2- (3'-chloroplienyl)-4-[ (a-methyl-S- uiethylaminobutyl)-amino]-quinosine and in the -4'-chlorophenyl isomer. These com
pounds have a ehlorophenyl group in place of the fused chlorobenzene ring in mepa- crine. The presence of chlorine was found not to be an essential condition for activity.
NH .CH (C H jU C H ^. N (C 2Hs\
“ * ¡ § 1
Mepaerine
. CH (CH3).(C H ^. N (C jH g^
“ Open Model ”
Prophylactic and curative methods alone will be found insufficient for stamping out malaria, and the view has been constantly expressed that the bringing under control of the insect vector will be a more profitable ljne of approach to the problem. There have recently been developed a number of insect repellents and a most potent insecti
cide, the availability of which to the forces operating in the Far East is the highest importance. Among the insect repellents in use dimethyl phthalate has wide applica
tion. There are also being used by the armed forces preparations based on çyclo- hexyl eaproate, dibutyl-i-malate, diethyl- dl-malate, benzyl lactate, tetrahydrofur- furyl lactate, and the ethers of dietliylene glycol. A number of mixtures have been recently patented and there may be men
tioned, by way of example, U .S.P.
2,293,255, which claims a mixture of ethyleneglvcol dibenzyl ether and diethylene- glycol butyl benzyl ether or dietliylene- glyeol monobutyl ether. Another of these repellents, which structurally is in another class, is the butyl ester of 2-carboxy-5-di- hydro-6-dimethyl-y-pyrone, for which great effectiveness is claimed. This latter sub
stance acts insecticidally by paralysing the sensory nerves of' the insects’ feet while, in addition, it has the unusual and signifi
cant property of being an excellent solvent for rotenone.
In the last war attem pts were made to control typhus by direct attack on the insect vector by means of sterilisation and fumi
gation techniques, and both these methods have been used between the two wars in civilian practice. Among the agents avail
able, hydrogen cyanide has had wide appli
cation but has obvious dangers and lim ita
tions. More recently methyl bromide, methylallyl chloride, trichloracetonitrile,
Fe b r u a r y 3 , 1 9 4 5 T HE C H E M I C A L A G E 1 2 3
diphenylumjne, bisethylxanthogen, and organic thiocyanates have been used. Such substances suffer various disadvantages in use—skin irritation and odour are com
monly occurring objections—but these have been outweighed by their advantages to the extent that preparations based on some of them have had large-scale applications in various parts of the world.
Spectacular results have been obtained during 1944 with a new synthetic insecti
cide — a : a-bis(parachlorphenyl)-/? : (3 : [3- trichlorethane (or diehlordiphenyltriclilor- ethane and hence “ DDT ” )—in the direct control of insect vectors. I11 the malaria field of application control is achieved by spraying an emulsion over infected water wherein the adult insect may be emerging from the larval stnge, or by spraying the air of a neighbourhood in which, say, mili
tary operations are impending. The insec
ticide is only effective against the adult mosquito. The most impressive use of DDT to date has, however, been in the control of typhus, the immemorial scourge of armies. The combination of suitable vaccination techniques with the use of DDT should enable this disease to be brought under complete control. The classic instance of its application was the treatm ent of 73,000 people a day in Naples
—1,300,000 were treated in all—leading to the complete control of a potentially dan
gerous outbreak of typhus.
Dichlordiphenyltrichlorethane, which was first prepared by P. Zeidler in 1874, is now being made in this country, but no particu
lars regarding manufacture have been pub
lished. The Americans have revealed that in the batch process Zeidler’s original method is substan
tially used. This
/ \ r i method requires
L.L\ X _ y ^ the chorination of alcohol to chloral
C l — C — C l which is condensed in oleum with
C l monochlorbenzene.
There is a continu
ous process de
veloped by Brothman (Chem. Met. Eng., 1944) by which DDT may be produced at a net cost of S0.30 per lb., which, it is con
sidered, should enable DDT to be marketed at §0.50 per lb. after the war. This com
pares with a reported cost of 80.85—$1.60 per lb. for the batch -process, a cost which is expected to drop to within the range of
§0.50-$0.75 per lb. after the war. Raw materials contribute 75 per cent, of -this net cost, while steam, water, electricity, and labour contribute 8 per cent., with overheads representing 17 per cent. The capital investment required for a Brothman continuous process producing 200,000 lb. a month is estimated at - §2 11,0 0 0 (say
£42,000), of which processing equipment
for the chloral unit is represented by
§27,000 (12.8 per cent.) and that for the DDT units by §28,000 (13.2 per cent.). The W ar Production Board is said to be aiming at an output of 950 to 1000 tons a month during 1945.
The insecticidal properties of DDT were discovered by the Swiss firm of J. R. Geigy in 1936-37 and its use in suitable form has been protected by that firm in B.P. 547,871 and 547,874 (1939). Pilot plants were established in this country and in U.S.A.
in May, 1943, and bulk production began a little later. DDT may be used in the form of suspension, in admixture with an inert dust, or in emulsion after solution in an appropriate solvent.
W est and Campbell (Ind. Chem., 1944;
this Journal, 1944, 51, 245) have reviewed the available preparations and properties of DDT. The spraying of walls and ceilings is certain death to flies and the effect per
sists up to three months when a J per cent, suspension of DDT is used. However, DDT has not the “ knock-down ” effect of pyrethrum and it has been suggested that preparations will be developed after the war for this purpose, combining DDT with pyrethrum or thiocyanate. It is believed that DDT will have extensive applications in veterinary practice and in the control of horticultural and agricultural pests (see J. Econ. Ent., 1944, 37, 125). The mode of action of this insecticidal agent is that it causes injury to the whole nervous system of the insect through contact with the sensory organs at the tips of the tarsi (i.e., the “ feet ” ), leading to paralysis and death after a preliminary period of excitation. It may also act as a stomach poison leading to paralysis of the nerves of the digestive tract and of the mandibles.
Scabies Control
The control of scabies has come much to the fore in this country following the war
time dispersal of population. Gordon and Unsworth, in 1943, compared the effect in vitro of benzyl benzoate—the most favoured substance for destruction of the causative mite, Sarcoptes scabiei var.
hominis, since it was first introduced for this purpose in 1940—with tetraethyl thi- uram monosulphide. Bradshaw (Lancet, 1944) has now reported on the clinical ex
amination of this substance in suitable emulsion. He concludes that, with 9 per cent, cures effected over a period of three days at a clinic devoted entirely to the treatment of scabies, tetraethyl thiuram mouosulphid.e is the best sarcopticide.
A second (revised) addition of The Vita
mins (Pharmaceutical Press, London, 1944) affords a useful survey of the subject. F. A.
Robinson has contributed an im portant summary of some recently characterised
