Document 3O04Jk16Zba3pxvq7oGovBkO

'*--** * ** w technology A * P r~~.\ f In a fire, wo^^^fejibiout HO than about CO The hydrogM^^toide that forms when polyvinyl chloride proHHKpirn tends to adsorb onto nearby surfaces, anctlmorin&y not travel like other combus tion products. Teats at San Antonio's Southwest Re search Institute (SwRI) show that other gases, such as carbon "monoxide, remain stable and are likely to travel in a burning building. Fire experts say this transport phenomenon caused many of the deaths in the MGM Grand hotel fire in Las Vegas a few years ago. SwRI researchers have found that the rate of HC1 decay depends on air circulation, humidity and the amount of surface area present They have devel oped a mathematical model that predicts how much HC1 will decay in a fire and how much will remain. ChemUnk takes the sting out of heavy metals An aqueous solution of antimony pentoxide suppress es the dehydrogenation activity typically promoted by traces of nickel in a fluid catalytic cracking unit, says ChemUnk (Newtown Square, Pa.), a subsidiary of Atlantic Richfield. The company is promoting the ad ditive as a way to permit refiners to tolerate higher contaminant metals in the feedstock. A new process takes on heavy oH East Germany's Petrolchemisches Kombinat (PCK) is the first client for a plant using the high-conversion soaker-cracking (HSC) process developed by Mitsui Coke and Toyo Engineering. To be built at Schwedt by December 1988, the plant will help PCK to raise gasoline and diesel fuel production by thermally cracking 740,000 metric tons/year of residue from a 30,000-bbl/day visbreaking complex. Residue origi nating in a visbreaker will be processed by both the new HSC plant and PCK's own hydrogenation-desul furization plant ery to the U.S.S.R's Metallqrgiimport. The bulk of the contract went to Italy's foundation specialist Casa Grande (Pordenone); roughly $500,000 went to pump maker Varisco (Verona). Neither company would confirm that the equipment was targeted for Chernobyl. The 3-m-thick wall would be a mixture of cement and bentonite with a density of 4 tons/cu m. Apparently the wall will insure against contamination of the groundwater and the nearby Dnieper River. Two companies team up to market HGH To commercialize genetically engineered human growth hormone (HGH), Bio-Technology General (New York City) has joined with American Critical Care, a unit of Baxter Travenol Laboratories that has been purchased by Du Pont Clinical studies of HGH, produced by Bio-Technology General, are now under way, with a new drug application projected for next year. American Critical Care will have exclusive mar keting rights to HGH in the U. S. and will be responsi ble for running clinical trials. Bio-Technology General will produce HGH, as well as receive licensing fees and royalties from HGH sales. The company's HGH is said to be identical to the human hormone, which is used to treat dwarfism. A DMA probe for the detection of Campylobacter A rapid diagnostic test for detecting Campylobacter bacteria in stools has been introduced by Integrated Genetics (Framingham, Mass.). The new Gene-Trak assay--a nonisotopic, DNA-probe-based test--will be marketed to clinical laboratories. It's said to detect the presence' of Campylobacter--a major cause of severe gastrointestinal infections--in stool samples in less than 16 hours, compared with 72-96 hours by culturing, the present test. Annual market potential in the U. S. could be at least $25 million. Syntax markets a blood pressure drug In the U. K. Syntex (Palo AMcj^Galif.) will introduce in the U. K. this Septembej^fpwjjfae nicardipine for treating angi na and high^M^pressure. Syntex now markets nicardipine iiVjyujTiailr for treating angina and hy pertension, and m Spain for treating cerebrovascular insufficiency. In the U. S., Syntex has submitted an application to market nicardipine for angina and ex pects to file for its use for hypertension this year. Speculation about a wall around Chernobyl The U.S.S.R. is believed to be sinking a wall 100 m deep along a 4-km perimeter at the Chernobyl nucle ar plant. Basis for speculation is a $23 million equip ment contract signed by two Italian firms for deliv A protein engineering system from Japan Five Japanese companies led by Sumitomo Chemical and NEC Corp. have developed a biochemical expert system called BIOCES for protein engineering and pharmaceuticals and agricultural chemicals design. The system, which sells for $125,000, incorporates drug receptor theory. It operates on a $625,000 ACOS general-purpose computer, and is designed to create or modify existing proteins and investigate drug re ceptor relations. Color graphics terminals can pro duce three-dimensional models of proteins from their single-dimension structures. The other companies that helped develop the system are Sumitomo Phar maceuticals, Kissei Pharmaceutical and its software subsidiary, Kissei Comtec Co. SO Chemical Week/July 23. 1966 CTL026376