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CARBON DIOXIDE is nontoxic, nonflammable, and essentially free for the taking. Those attributes make it sound like CO 2 could be a great feedstock for making commodity chemicals, fuels, and materials—and it already is playing that role for a few applications. But there are a few catches. One is that CO 2 is very stable, which means it takes extra effort to activate the molecule so it will react. Another reality check is that so much of the unwanted greenhouse gas is escaping into the atmosphere as a consequence of burning fossil fuels that even shunting millions of tons of it each year into making chemicals won't have much of a bearing on the gas's global warming threat. So what's one to do with CO 2 ? C&EN asked that question of a number of chemists and chemical engineers. These investigators were unanimous on the scope of the CO 2 problem. They understand that technology to capture ...

RUMORS OF MASS COMMODITIZATION IN THE SPECIALTY chemical industry are much exaggerated, according to research managers at leading specialties companies. Indeed, a kind of research and development renaissance has moved across the sector in recent years, they say shedding light on new strategies for managing specialty portfolios. While more and more R&D dollars are going to develop brand-new products for fast-growing markets such as electronics, traditional markets like coatings, adhesives, and detergents continue to provide opportunities and are, in many cases, still the primary fields of endeavor in R&D. But for any product development effort to succeed, researchers need to glean pristine market intelligence. New tools to gauge customer needs are emerging, as are metrics for measuring the impact of research efforts. Monolithic R&D infrastructures are splitting up as companies launch discrete research groups that still share information with each other. Companies are rationalizing their R&D and finding str...

TO RESTORE public trust and confidence in the U.S.’s food and drug supply, the Food & Drug Administration plans to strengthen its regulatory science and to take a lead in harmonizing international regulations for food and drug safety. But with a limited budget, the agency needs creative ways to bridge the gap between the resources it has and what it needs to stay on top of the latest science. As a first step, FDA has begun collaborating more than it has in the past with other federal agencies. It is also undertaking comprehensive reviews of its centers to see where improvements can be made and to help set priorities. At an Aug. 16 meeting, FDA’s science board, a group of external experts who advise the agency on emerging science, discussed FDA’s current challenges, as well as initiatives the agency is undertaking to bolster its science and credibility. The board provided several recommendations for improving FDA’s ...