Science

U.S.. Soviets exchange catalysis know-how Outgrowth of scientific

exchange agreement,

Princeton conference

focused on fundamental

topics, applications

"The age of academic tourism is over," says Dr. John Turkevich, professor of chemistry at Princeton University. The occasion of his remark was the first U.S. meeting of scientists involved in the Joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. Symposium on Chemical Catalysis. Turkevich was the Princeton host for the international get-together late last month at the suburban New Jersey campus.

What Turkevich is talking about is the waning of the "cocktail circuit" type of scientific exchange that he believes has form but lacks substance. Participants in the symposium by and large seemed to agree that the program was generally excellent and offered something of substance for just about everyone interested in catalysis and its manifestations.

The Princeton meeting was an out­growth of agreements for scientific and technological exchange between former President Richard M. Nixon and Soviet Communist Party Secretary Leonid Brezhnev in 1972. The first symposium was held in Novosibirsk in the Soviet Union last year. U.S. participation in the catalysis program is funded by the National Science Foundation.

Coordinating the exchange program are Dr. John D. Baldeschwieler of Cali­fornia Institute of Technology and academician G. K. Boreskov, director of the Institute of Catalysis in Novosi­birsk and a member of the Soviet Acad­emy of Sciences. Project administrator is Dr. Richard L. Kenyon, director of public, professional, and international communication for the American Chem­ical Society.

At the symposium, fundamental topics such as redox chemistry of or-ganometallic compounds, homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts, and reactor modeling were explored. Particular at­tention was placed on nitrogen fixation using catalysts, a field in which Soviet scientists have achieved international recognition. Direct fixation of at­mospheric nitrogen could be an impor­tant step forward for agriculture, pro­viding a virtually inexhaustible supply of nitrogen for crop growing.

Catalysis will be an important focus in several other areas, according to Baldeschwieler. The energy crisis, he explains, "has brought catalysis into the spotlight." This would include better ways of refining petroleum prod­ucts using catalysts, as well as auto­motive applications such as nitrogen oxide decomposition for car exhaust systems. Nitrogen oxide decomposition theoretically is possible but no one has done it yet. Efforts thus far by the auto industry have centered on developing nitrogen oxide-reducing catalysts for exhaust systems.

Another application talked about at

Boreskov: discussed problems

Baldeschwieler: energy is one key area

the Princeton conference was produc­tion of food for lengthy space flights— something that both the U.S. and the Soviet Union, no doubt, are keenly in­terested in. Dr. Vladislav A. Seleznev of the Institute of Chemical Physics, U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, and Dr. Alvin H. Weiss of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts discussed their joint efforts in catalyzing carbo­hydrate reactions, a possible means of producing food on long space flights by "recycling" human waste products.

Amid all this scientific give and take, a general air of optimism prevailed over the future of catalysis projects and perhaps cooperative programs in other disciplines. Says academician Boreskov, "[the meeting] allows us to discuss many important problems with our American colleagues, and to solve a number of organizational problems in the field of Soviet-American cooperation in chemi­cal catalysis." Moreover, Boreskov points out that the Novosibirsk meeting was "not as complete as this [meeting]." Last year at Novosibirsk, only about six Soviet scientists were able to participate compared with 11 at Princeton. But one U.S. catalysis researcher noted that "several people American scientists were anxiously expecting didn't make it."

However, a number of U.S. industrial researchers did make the meeting. The list includes some from such industry heavyweights as General Motors, Gen­eral Electric, Gulf Oil, Phillips Pe­troleum, Texaco, Union Carbide, Allied Chemical, and Celanese. All these firms, predictably, have an interest in catalysis, and according to Dr. Vladimir Haensel, vice president of science and technology for Universal Oil Products, "there was something for everyone."

Industry interest in the catalysis pro­gram led one observer to suggest that perhaps more industry people might be included in the future. University sci­entists have dominated the program so far, but researchers from industry have participated also. For example, Dr. Kathleen C. Taylor of General Motors Research Laboratories in Warren, Mich., was in the Soviet Union last year for three months as part of the program.

Some of the catalysis research being carried out by Soviet-U.S. teams is still preliminary. Progress reports given at the Princeton conference indi­cate that there still is more to be done. Additional results may be available when the researchers meet next year in the Soviet Union, likely in Kiev. •

22 C&EN July 7, 1975