CHEMICAL RESEARCH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22610, 29 June 1935, Page 24

CHEMICAL RESEARCH

♦ INDUSTRIAL IMPORTANCE The Chemical Research Laboratory was established in London ten years ago, and research over a wide field is summarised in the report of the Chemistry Research Board, just published. Much of the work has proved to be of great industrial importance. Several Sims have made arrangements for members of their staffs to be attached to the laboratory to become acquainted with the new methods and technique developed there. References to more than a hundred papers published in scientific and technical journals, describing the work, are given in the report, together with a list of over 30 patents covering the results obtained. The dependence of chemical industry upon coal-tar. makes it essential that the chemist should know all that can possibly be known about this interesting raw material. New methods of carbonising coal have led to the production of tars which differ considerably from those to which industry had become accustomed. By means of a new method of separation, the Chemical Research Laboratory has been able to identify and classify many of the numerous components contained in tars produced by different methods. During the course of this work it was found thav certain tars contained constituents of a phenolic nature, related to the disinfectant carbolic acid, which could be readily separated by distillation. When these are dissolved in caustic soda solution, they have been found to form a very efficient and cheap wettingout agent for use in the textile industry. The material is now being marketed under the name of Shirlacrol. It is stated that samples of Shirlacrol have been supplied to 21 firms, and that uniformly-good reports of this wettingout agent have been received. As the result of the application of high pressure technique to coal-tars, new compounds have been formed, which have been tested for their possible, use in the dye industry. Since 1931 work has. been proceeding at the Chemical Research Laboratory, in co-operation with the British Road Tar Association, on researches for the improvement of the quality and efficiency of road tars. Many interesting result* have been obtained, and all possible factors are being investigated. One interesting fact is that light, in addition to air, may be of great importance in connection with the life of the tar thai is applied to roads.