Editorial:

Greetings fellow Western New York Chemists!  And Congratulations to you for surviving yet another Buffalo winter, thus far.  It always seems like a big accomplishment.  Happy Spring!

Local section activities are gearing up for Spring.  Dr. Bieron is working on some centennial projects and the Schoellkopf committee is planning to meet for the award winner selection process.  The education committee is working on selecting the outstanding science teacher.  Our executive committee has changed, with Dr. Maria Pacheco as chair.  Please see her letter of introduction.  Mr. David Ortz is our new Vice Chair. 

Please send your healing thoughts and wishes to our Assistant Editor, Patty Shelley, who has fallen ill recently.  We wish her a speedy and complete recovery. 

Your editor,
Joanna Christopher
(716) 695-3750

Message from the Chair:

Fellow ACS Members, welcome to what I hope will be an exciting year.  For those of you who do not know me, my name is Maria Pacheco and I have the pleasure of being the chair of this, your local American Chemical Society section.  I received my Ph. D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Puerto Rico and after a post-doctoral position at the University of Notre Dame and a visiting professor position at the University of the Virgin Islands, I started my career at Buffalo State College, where I have been for the past nineteen years. 

This year we celebrate the 100^th anniversary of our section, and we are looking forward to many different activities through the year.  If you haven't been to one of our meetings in a while, please join us! A calendar of meetings and events will be published in our next issue of the Double Bond. 

If you have an idea or suggestion for a great dinner meeting, or if you'd like to volunteer as a speaker, let us know. Interdisciplinary topics that would appeal to a general audience tend to be wonderfully popular, and our schedule is still open.

If you'd like to be more involved in the ACS but don't know where to start, there are plenty of opportunities, from our well-established programs, including The Chemistry Olympiad, our Education Committee, the Schoellkopf Medal Dinner, National Chemistry Week, Senior Chemists, and our dinner meeting program, to programs/committees that are in the planning stages.   If you're interested, please contact me or the chairs of the standing committees.

A heartfelt thanks to all those volunteers who made 2004 a successful year and those who will make 2005 an even better one!

Looking forward to seeing you soon,

Maria Pacheco, Chair
pachecmd@buffalostate.edu
(716) 878-5922

Fun Quote by Isaac Asimov:

 “Since I know the chemical profession best, I devised two questions, for instance, to tell a chemist from a nonchemist. Here they are:

(1)   How do you pronounce UNIONIZED?
(2)   What is a mole?

In response to the first question, the nonchemist is bound to say "YOO-yun-ized," which is the logical pronunciation, and the dictionary pronunciation, too. The chemist, however, would never think of such a thing; he would say without a moment's hesitation: "un- EYE -on-ized."

In response to the second question, the nonchemist is bound to say, "A little furry animal that burrows underground," unless he is a civil engineer who will say, "A breakwater." A chemist, on the other hand, will clear his throat, and say, "Well, it's like this -" and keep talking for hours.

There's my cue. Shall we talk about the chemical version of the little furry animal?"

~~"To Tell a Chemist" Isaac Asimov 1965

The Element of the Month:  Antimony (Sb)

This month I have chosen antimony as the element of interest because I would like to learn more about it myself!  It is of interest in the environmental world as a “UTS (Universal Treatment Standard)” or “UHC (Underlying Hazardous Constituent)” metal and is often analyzed along with the eight RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) metals (Ag (silver), As (arsenic), Ba (barium), Cd (cadmium), Cr (chromium), Hg (mercury), Pb (lead), and Se(selenium)). 

Antimony and many of its compounds are toxic.  Clinically, antimony poisoning is very similar to arsenic poisoning.  In small doses, antimony causes headache, dizziness and depression.  Larger doses cause violent and frequent vomiting, and will lead to death in few days.  Native antimony is nearly indistinguishable from native arsenic. However the garlic odor which is sometimes found on arsenic specimens is not a characteristic of antimony and antimony does not tarnish as quickly or as severely as arsenic.

Exposure to antimony occurs in the workplace or from skin contact with soil at hazardous waste sites.  Breathing high levels of antimony for a long time can irritate the eyes and lungs, and can cause problems with the lungs, heart, and stomach.  This chemical has been found in at least 403 of 1,416 National Priorities List sites identified by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Antimony:  from the Greek anti plus monos - "a metal not found alone".  The Latin “stibium” is the origin of the chemical symbol, Sb.  Antimony was recognized in compounds by the ancients and was known as a metal at the beginning of the 17th century and possibly much earlier.

The natural sulfide of antimony, stibnite, was known and used in Biblical times as medicine and as a cosmetic.  Stibinite is still used in some devloping countries as medicine.  Antimony has been used for the treatment of schistosomiasis.  Antimony attaches itself to sulfur atoms in certain enzymes which are used both by the parasite and human host. Small doses can kill the parasite without causing damage to the patient.

The relationship between antimony's modern name and its symbol is complex; the Coptic name for the cosmetic powder antimony sulfide was borrowed by the Greeks, which was in turn borrowed by Latin, resulting in stibium, mark, because stibnite was once used as mascara. The chemical pioneer Jacob Berzelius used an abbreviation of this name for antimony in his writings, and his usage became the standard symbol.

Nicolas Lémery, a French chemist, was the first person to scientifically study antimony and its compounds. He published his findings in 1707. Antimony makes up about 0.00002% of the earth's crust.

Vital Statistics:

Natural Forms:

The natural sulfide of antimony was known and used in Biblical times as medicine and as a cosmetic.  The ancient Egyptians used antimony, in the form of stibnite, for black eye make-up.

In nature antimony is found in stibnite (Sb₂S₃) and in valentinite (Sb₂O₃) as well as ullmanite (NiSbS).

Valentinite is a high lustered, often fibrous oxide mineral.  It forms sprays of crystals that are usually matted to the host rock in radiating clusters.  Its adamantine (gem-like) to pearly luster serves to add a nice quality to this uncommon antimony mineral.  It is white, yellow, reddish, or gray in color.  It is found in France and is named after the German chemist and alchemist, Basilius Valentinus (1394?).  Notable natural deposits of antimony compounds are found in Chihuahua , Mexico ; Wolfe Co., Quebec , Canada and Kern Co., California , USA .

Valentinite is dimorphous with the mineral senarmontite.  Both minerals have the exact same chemistry, but they have different structures.  Senarmontite is isometric and valentinite is orthorhombic.  It is similar to the situation between diamond and graphite.  Valentinite is associated with senarmontite as well as stibnite.  Actually this association is no surprise since both senarmontite and valentinite are oxidation products of the antimony sulfide.

Elemental Form:

Antimony in its elemental form is a silvery bluish white or lustrous grey, brittle crystalline semi-metallic solid that exhibits poor electrical and heat conductivity properties.   Commercial forms of antimony are generally ingots, broken pieces, granules, and cast cake.  Other forms are powder, shot, and single crystals.

Antimony has numerous radioactive isotopes.  Antimony and some of its alloys expand on cooling, which is unusual.

A metalloid, antimony has four allotropic forms. The stable form of antimony is a blue-white metal. Yellow and black antimony are unstable non-metals. Used in flame-proofing, paints, ceramics, enamels, a wide variety of alloys, and rubber.

Abundance:

Estimates of the abundance of antimony in the Earth's crust, often in hydrothermal veins, range from 0.2 to 0.5 parts per million.  Antimony is chalcophile, occurring with sulfur and the heavy metals, lead, copper, and silver.  Over a hundred minerals of antimony are found in nature.  Stibnite (Sb₂S₃) is the predominant ore mineral of antimony.

Uses:

The most widely used antimony compound is antimony trioxide, used as a flame retardant.

The "Chinese needle" form of antimony trisulfide produces white glittery stars in fireworks. The "dark pyro" form increases the sensitivity of flash powder and sharpens the "report" or loud boom sound effect. Antimony trisulfide should be handled with extreme care because it is toxic and very sensitive to shock or static electricity.

Very pure antimony is used to make certain types of semiconductor devices, such as diodes and infrared detectors.

The most important use of antimony metal is as a hardener in lead for storage batteries.  The metal also finds applications in solders and other alloys.  Antimony trioxide is the most important of the antimony compounds and is primarily used in flame-retardant formulations.  These flame-retardant applications include such markets as children's clothing, toys, aircraft and automobile seat covers.

Antimony is increasingly being used in the semiconductor industry in the production of diodes, infrared detectors, and Hall-effect devices. As an alloy, this semi-metal greatly increases lead's hardness and mechanical strength. The most important use of antimony metal is as a hardener in lead for storage batteries. Other uses;

• Batteries,
• antifriction alloys,
• type metal,
• small arms and tracer bullets,
• cable sheathing
• matches
• medicines

Antimony compounds in the form of oxides, sulfides, sodium antimonate, and antimony trichloride are used in the making of flame-proofing compounds, ceramic enamels, glass, paints, and pottery. Antimony trioxide is the most important of the antimony compounds and is primarily used in flame-retardant formulations. These flame-retardant applications include such markets as children's clothing, toys, aircraft and automobile seat covers. Also, antimony sulfide is one of the ingredients to the modern match.

Antimony's use is first documented by the ancient Egyptians. They loved the beautiful colors of compounds like the bright orange antimony sulfide, especially for cosmetic purposes. But even in that period, antimony was taken as medicine for different fevers and skin irritations, as old papyri show. And medicine stayed one of the main fields for antimony application (besides alchemy). In the 13th century, Roger Bacon described several of its properties, and in the 17th century, Theodor Kerckring wrote the first monograph of a chemical element about antimony. In addition, antimony is part of the canon of homeopathy and has been widely applied in the past few centuries.

References:

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/80th/antimony.html
http://www.radiochemistry.org/periodictable/elements/51.html
http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/antimony/
http://environmentalchemistry.com/yogi/periodic/Sb.html#Names
http://www.webelements.com/webelements/elements/text/Sb/key.html
http://webmineral.com/data/Valentinite.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimony
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/contaminants/dw_contamfs/antimony.html
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts23.html
http://www.chemsoc.org/viselements/pages/antimony.html
http://www.iaoia.org/FAQ.shtml#Q6

"The principle of science, the definition, almost, is the following:
The test of all knowledge is experiment.
Experiment is the sole judge of scientific "truth."
- Richard P. Feynman, American Nobel prize winning physicist, teacher, and musician -

Call for Nominations

The Committee on Minority Affairs is soliciting nominations for the Stanley C. Israel Regional Award for Advancing Diversity in the Chemical Sciences.

Nominees for this award may come from any professional setting: academia, industry, government or other independent facility. ACS local sections and divisions also are eligible for nomination. The awardees will have increased the participation and leadership of persons from diverse and underrepresented minority groups, persons with disabilities, and women through mentoring, hiring, promotion and/or other activities that lead to greater inclusiveness within the chemical sciences.

These awards are for each of the Regional Meetings taking place in the calendar year. For information please contact Stephanie R. Allen, ACS Department of Diversity Programs, (800) 227-5558, ext. 6262.

Call for 2005 OCA Nominations

The Overcoming Challenges Award ( OCA ) acknowledges the efforts of women and undergraduates who have overcome economic, personal, and/or academic hardships in pursuit of an education in the chemical sciences. The award consists of a plaque, a $250 honorarium, and $1,000 for travel expenses to the fall ACS National Meeting where the award is presented. Award candidates must be women matriculating as an undergraduate chemical science major/minor in a two-year program or at a four-year school not granting a doctoral degree in chemical-related disciplines. Nominations are due May 1, 2005 , and should be sent to: Women Chemists Committee, American Chemical Society, 1155 16th Street, N.W. , Washington , DC 20036 . For additional information, contact the WCC at wcc@acs.org or visit http://membership.acs.org/W/WCC.

Update on Spring/Summer ACS Regional Meetings

Middle Atlantic Regional Meeting May 22 – 25

The North Jersey Local Section is hosting one of the most ambitious regional meetings to date at the Rutgers Busch Campus, Piscataway , NJ . The opening day of MARM is for educators from K-12 and college level. There will also be community activities with chemical demonstrations for the public.

Monday through Wednesday is heavily scheduled with extensive programming by well-known chemists in pharmaceutical, medicinal, industrial and academic research. Dieter Seebach ( ETH ) will deliver a keynote talk on - and - Peptides: Syntheses, Structures, and Biomedical Potential.

There will be extensive programming tailored to the interests of undergraduates and graduates, and several days of workshops on career and employment opportunities. Visit their website at www.marmacs.org for details on a meeting that is a must to attend in 2005.

Chemists are Trekking to the Northwest (Regional Meeting) Territory

The Alaska Local Section plays host to this year’s Northwest Regional Meeting (NORM) June 15- 18 in Fairbanks, Alaska—and what a meeting it promises to be! There will be joint programming with the Small Chemical Businesses Conference, symposia on the latest technology to address terrorism, and homeland security.

ACS President William Carroll will give a plenary address on second careers teaching high school chemistry. Dr. Oliver Sacks, neurologist and well-known author (Awakenings, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat) will speak June 16. For attendees who can stay a day or two after the meeting, NORM is offering a trip to the Arctic Circle during the Summer Solstice. Abstracts and registration are open. Visit their website at www.NORM-SCHB-2005.org for details.

The Northeast Regional Meeting Set for Mid-July

The Northeast Regional Meeting (NERM), hosted by the Western Connecticut Local Section takes place July 14 – 17 at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield , Connecticut —only 50 miles from New York City . Both abstracts and advance registration are open online and may be reached via their website at http://www.nerm2005.org.

Some symposia topics include biochemistry, computational, environmental, inorganic, and physical chemistry. Other topics include chemical consulting, cosmetic chemistry, and flavors and fragrances. A strong educational component is planned with a Dr. Babu George Memorial Chemical Education Symposium, a look at applications-based teaching and project-based learning, and teaching as a second career.

ACS Women Chemists Committee Travel Awards- Year 2006

The Eli Lilly & Company is sponsoring a program to provide funding for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral women chemists to travel to scientific meetings in 2006 to present the results of their research. Grants may be applied only for registration, travel, and accommodations, and are restricted to travel to meetings within the United States . Grant funds are limited, but there are some funds set aside for undergraduates. Only U. S. citizens and permanent residents are eligible. Applications should be limited to one per research group. Awards will be given with preference to the following order: (1) any applicant who will be making her first presentation (regardless of format) at a national or major meeting, (2) graduate or postdoctoral applicants who have not presented at a national or major meeting since leaving undergraduate school. Women who have received a prior award under this program are ineligible.

The deadline dates for receipt of applications are as follows:

• September 15, 2005 – Meetings between January 1 and June 30, 2006
• February 1, 2006 – Meetings between July 1 and December 31, 2006

For detailed information about this award and how to apply visit the Women Chemists Web site at http://membership.acs.org/W/WCC/ or contact the WCC office at wcc@acs.org

Attention Local Section Younger Chemists!

Submit your Local Section Younger Chemist activities for publication on the National Younger Chemists Committee ( YCC ) website and/or in the YCC Newsletter. YCC would like to recognize and publicize local section younger chemist events…including yours!

To see your local section’s younger chemist event featured, please submit a short summary (a paragraph or two), at least one photo, and the name / email of a representative that can be contacted for additional details (if needed).

Events will be featured on a rotating basis in the Local Action section of the YCC website (www.chemistry.org/ycc) and unique/outstanding events will be chosen for publication in the YCC newsletter, which is distributed to all ACS members under 35 bi-annually.

Please send submissions to Kathy Glasgow or Maureen Kane at ycc@acs.org

CAS Databases Reflect Research Growth in 2004

Chemical Abstracts Service ( CAS ) bibliographic databases were enhanced with an unprecedented quantity of new scientific information during 2004, and were enriched with records for a wealth of information beyond the traditional chemical content associated with Chemical Abstracts (CA).  CA and CAplus databases grew to a total of more than 24 million document records as CAS scientists added a record-breaking 855,000 abstracts during 2004. During the same period, the CAS Registry file reached a total of nearly 25 million organic and inorganic substance records with the addition of 1.8 million records for the year, 9% more than the previous year and another record-breaking total. Substance records provided by CAS analysts are access points to a wealth of literature not necessarily identified by the activity of free web services that rely on automated “crawlers.”

CAS analysis indicates that increased research and patent activity worldwide accounts for the accelerated rate of publication, as mirrored in CAS databases.

As in previous years, new substance records entering the CAS Registry database in 2004 were derived from CAS analysis of both journal articles and patents. However, the share of substances contributed by patents grew to 60% for the year. These more than 1 million substances were delineated by CAS scientists based on their analysis of the patent documents.

Our analysis of publicly available research clearly indicates that patents are the premiere source of new substance information,” said CAS Vice President, Editorial Operations, Dr. Matthew J. Toussant. “This trend cuts across national boundaries and industries, and is also evident in the research activity of universities.”

During 2004, CAS enriched its database content in several ways:

• CAS began adding ECLA and F-Term patent classification codes; thus, CAS files now offer all four major patent classification codes: IPC, NCL, ECLA, and F-Term;
• Additional patents of scientific interest beyond chemistry and not originally covered in CA are now being added, and will amount to thousands of new records.
• More countries have been added to CAS patent coverage; the latest added are Greece , Moldova , and Turkey . CAS now provides patent information from 50 national and international patent-issuing authorities;
• Citations in CAS databases now amount to more than 120 million, including citations that appeared in both journal articles and patents;
• More than 18,000 reactions were added to the CASREACT database to provide more comprehensive coverage of biotransformation enzymatically catalyzed organic reactions; these reactions were reported in some 4,000 documents published since 1971.
• CAS ’s company name thesaurus grew to 25,000 families of names.

Recent publications represented in CAS databases are complemented by millions of older documents back to 1900, digitized by CAS for its Scientific Century project.

For more information, contact CAS at 614-447-3731 or visit the web site at www.cas.org

Officers and Staff:

Chair
Maria Pacheco
Buffalo State
(716)878-5922
pachecmd@buffalostate.edu

Chair-Elect
David Ortz
5248 Armor Rd.
Orchard Park , NY 14127
ortzd@wvnsco.com

Secretary
Mary O’Sullivan
Canisius College
(716)88-2352
osulliv1@canisius.edu

Treasurer
Andrew Poss
Honeywell
(716)27-6268
andrew.poss@honeywell.com

Councilor
Peter Schaber
Canisius College
(716)88-2351
schaber@canisius.edu

Councilor
David Nalewajek
Honeywell
(716)827-6303
david.nalewajek@honeywell.com

Double Bond Staff:

Editor and Publisher
Business Manager
Joanna Christopher
West Valley
Nuclear Services
joanna.christopher@wvnsco.com

Schoellkopf Award
David Nalewajek
Honeywell
david.nalewajek@honeywell.com

Education Committee
Ron Spohn
Praxair
(716)879-2251
ronald_spohn@praxair.com

Chemistry Olympiad
Mariusz  Kozik
Canisius College
(716)888-2337
kozik@canisius.edu

National Chemistry Week
David Nalewajek
Honeywell
david.nalewajek@honeywell.com

Senior Chemists
Joseph Bieron
Canisius College
(716)888-2357
bieron@canisius.edu

Member @ Large South
Bill Sullivan
Praxair, Inc.
(716)879-7794
william_sullivan@praxair.com

Member @ Large South
OPEN

Member @ Large North
Randy Leising
Wilson Greatbatch LTD
(716)759-5362
rleising@greatbatch.com

Member @ Large North
Jason F. Khayat
PerfectFit Glove Co.
(716) 668-2000 X 272
KHAYAT02JF@AOL.COM

Assistant Editor
Patty Shelley
Canisius College
(716)888-2341
FAX (716)888-3112
shelleyp@canisius.edu

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