GRGR(12)NOTES (1)

Terrance F. Flaherty Lycidas at worldnet.att.net
Mon Oct 18 06:36:33 CDT 1999


NOTES For Part II.GR.249-69

GR.249.21 aromatic heterocyclic polymer: 

any of a class of organic chemical substances that
consist of molecules containing one or more rings
of atoms with at least one atom being an element
other than carbon. The class includes many
compounds of biological importance, such as
nucleic acids and certain vitamins, hormones, and
pigments. Also included are industrially significant
pharmaceuticals, pesticides, herbicides, dyestuffs,
and PLASTICS.  

Many of the naturally occurring heterocycles are
AROMATIC. Many of the aromatic heterocyclic
compounds consist of a heterocycle fused to a
benzene ring. A number of natural and synthetic
pigments, such as indigo and the phthalocyanins, are
derived from fused rings containing pyrrole nuclei,
as is the amino acid tryptophan. A pyrrolidine
derivative, vinyl pyrrolidone, is the basis for
water-soluble polymers that are used as blood
plasma extenders. They are also incorporated into
many cosmetic products, such as, look out Oedipa, hair
sprays. 

>From Weisenburger, "As metaphor, note the idea of
regression, of cycles within cycles, consistent with the
structural aspects of GR itself. 

GR.249.22 IG Farben
 INTERESSENGEMEINSCHAFT FARBENINDUSTRIE
AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT (German: "Syndicate of
Dyestuff-Industry Corporations"), world's largest
chemical concern, or cartel, from its founding in
Germany in 1925 until its dissolution by the Allies
after World War II. The IG (Interessengemeinschaft,
"syndicate" or, literally,
"community of interests"), partly patterned after
earlier U.S. trusts, grew out of a complex merger of
German manufacturers of chemicals,
pharmaceuticals, and dyestuffs (Farben). The
major members were the companies known today
as BASF Aktiengesellschaft, Bayer AG, Hoechst
Aktiengesellschaft, Agfa-Gevaert Group (Agfa
merged with Gevaert, a Belgian company, in 1964),
and Cassella AG (from 1970 a subsidiary of
Hoechst). 

The movement toward association had begun in
1904, with the merger of Hoechst and Cassella--a
merger that immediately prompted a rival merger
by BASF and Bayer, later joined by Agfa. (This
latter group was called the Dreibund, or "Triple
Confederation.") In 1916, at the height of World
War I, the rival groups joined forces and, with the
addition of other firms, formed the
Interessengemeinschaft der Deutschen
Teerfarbenfabriken ("Syndicate of German
Coal-Tar Dye Manufacturers"). This "little IG"
was no more than a loose association: member
companies remained independent, while dividing
production and markets and sharing information. In
1925, after protracted legal and fiscal negotiations,
the "big IG" was formed: assets of all constituent
companies were merged, with all stock being
exchanged for BASF shares; BASF, the holding
company, changed its name to IG Farbenindustrie
AG; headquarters were set up in Frankfurt; and
central management was drawn from the executives
of all constituent companies. (Cassella at first held
out and was not absorbed by IG Farben until
1937.) 

In the course of the late 1920s and
'30s, IG Farben also became international, with
trust arrangements and interests in major European
countries, the United States, and elsewhere. 

During World War II, IG Farben established a
synthetic oil and rubber plant at Auschwitz in order
to take advantage of slave labour; the company also
conducted drug experiments on live inmates. After
the war several company officials were convicted
of war crimes (nine being found guilty of plunder
and spoliation of property in occupied territory and
four being found guilty of imposing slave labour
and inhumane treatment on civilians and prisoners
of war). 

In 1945 IG Farben came under Allied authority; its
industries (along with those of other German firms)
were to be dismantled or dismembered with the
stated intent "to render impossible any future threat
to Germany's neighbours or to world peace." In the
western zones of Germany, however, especially as
the Cold War advanced, this disposition toward
liquidation lessened. Eventually the Western
powers and West Germans agreed to divide IG
Farben into just three independent units: Hoechst,
Bayer, and BASF (the first two being refounded in
1951; BASF in 1952).


GR.249.28 du Pont
French-descended American family whose fortune
was founded on explosive powders and textiles and
who diversified later into other areas of
manufacturing including polymers. 

The company first incorporated in 1899, after
nearly a century as a partnership. In 1907 it became
the target of a U.S. antitrust suit because of its
near-monopoly of the American explosives
industry, and in 1912 DuPont was forced to divest
itself of a major proportion of its gunpowder
business. In 1917 the company began buying an
interest in General Motors Corporation and owned
25 percent of the stock at the end of 1925. In 1962,
after 13 years of antitrust litigation, DuPont was
ordered to divest itself of GM stock. 

In 1904, as a by-product of its manufacture of
explosives, DuPont began producing a special
nitrocellulose for lacquers, leather finishes, and so
on. Nitrocellulose plastics came in 1915; and the
purchase of a number of firms in 1917 brought in
dyestuffs, paints, acids, heavy chemicals, and other
products. DuPont introduced neoprene synthetic
rubber in 1931 and nylon in 1938 and expanded
into such diverse products as plastics,
electrochemicals, and photographic film.

GR.249.29 Carothers 
American chemist who developed nylon ("Fiber #66."), the
first
synthetic polymer fibre to be produced
commercially (in 1938) and one that laid the
foundation of the synthetic-fibre industry. 

At the University of Illinois and later at Harvard
University, Carothers did research and teaching in
organic chemistry. In 1928 he was appointed
director of research in organic chemistry by E.I. du
Pont de Nemours & Company at its laboratory in
Wilmington, Del. He investigated the structure of
substances of high molecular weight and their
formation by polymerization. These fundamental
investigations led to the development of nylon, an
artificial fibre with properties similar and in many
ways superior to such natural fibres as wool,
cotton, and silk, and to neoprene, a synthetic rubber
derived from vinylacetylene. Carothers committed
suicide after a long period of depression.



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