suading Congress to change direction. National Economic Council Director Laura D'Andrea Tyson, White House Science Adviser John H. Gibbons, Na­tional Aeronautics & Space Administra­tion Director Daniel S. Goldin, and other officials emphasized the stakes.

"The new action in Congress on sci­ence and technology is a litany of U.S. retreat in the contest for global leader­ship among the industrial nations," Gib­bons stressed. "These direct attacks are driven by a political theology that to me is truly mystifying, in that it seems to contradict 50 years of experience."

All speakers were careful not to use the word "lobby," but their intent was clear. For example, Deputy Secretary of Energy William H. White said, "I find it highly offensive that what [DOE is] do­ing for national security is being called [in Congress] 'corporate welfare/ Those of you who want to work on this prob­lem—on these bills that are in confer­ence . . . well. . . I'm not saying."

The message was this: House action is over and the focus now is the Senate, but the battle is not lost. Clinton will veto any unacceptable appropriations bills. Key senators need to know what tech­nology leaders think. And new House Republicans should be shown how the cuts will hurt their districts. Then, when conference panels resolve differences be­tween House and Senate bills, they will save Clinton's technology policy.

"I thought [the meeting] was a real call to arms," says Kathleen N. (Taffy) Kingscott of IBM's Washington, D.C., office, who heads a group of about 150 companies called the Technology Part­nership Coalition that will meet this week to work out strategies for action. "What has to be done is for people in those organizations to take to heart the messages that were being delivered and send them back to Congress."

Gibbons says, "The next 30 to 45 days are going to be absolutely critical." Adds Jonathan B. Sallet, head of strategic plan­ning at the Commerce Department, "We will get the message out in a variety of ways. We're just beginning."

The meeting was billed as private and was officially closed to the press. But C&EN was able to attend simply by requesting clearance through the White House Office of Public Liaison. Several lobbyists who publish newslet­ters, and thus ostensibly function as journalists, also were invited.

Wil Lepkozvski

Butadiene epoxidation yields host of products Eastman Chemical Co. has developed a new route to several important families of commodity and fine chemicals. Based on butadiene oxidation, the tech­nology seems sure to make Eastman the low-cost manufacturer for many products.

The route begins with oxidation of butadiene by air with a silver-based catalyst to yield the key intermediate 3,4-epoxy-l-butene (EpB). This gives Eastman what the industry calls a "chemical tree" that branches out to many compound classes from a single raw material.

Eastman will build a 3 million-lb-per-year EpB unit at its Longview, Tex­as, plant. "A wide variety of fine and specialty chemicals, as well as com­modities like 1,4-butanediol and tetra-hydrofuran (THF), can be manufac­tured with good economics using our EpB process technology," says Jerry D.

Oxidation of butadiene leads to tree of chemical products

Butadiene

3,4-Epoxy-1-butene

Heat

O 2,5-Dihydrofuran

( ! ) Tetrahydrofuran

"OH 3-Butene-1,2-diol

. 0 ,

2,3-Dihydrofuran

H20 Heat

OH > - C H O

1,4-Butanediol Cyclopropanecarboxaldehyde

\ Acid, carbinol, carbinylamine,

amides, esters, nitrile

Holmes, vice president for research and development.

Thermal rearrangement of EpB pro­duces 2,5-dihydrofuran, which can be reduced to THF. In addition to its im­portant use as a solvent, THF can be hydrolyzed to 1,4-butanediol or poly­merized to polytetramethylene glycol (PTMG). Butanediol is a monomer for polytetramethylene terephthalate, an engineering thermoplastic. Both butane­diol and PTMG are monomers for poly-urethane coatings and elastomers.

Holmes says the economics are such that a new butanediol-THF plant could undercut a new plant using tradition­al technology; however, the butane­diol-THF plant could perhaps not compete with an old plant that is paid for. In any event, Holmes says Eastman will use the new Longview unit both as a marketing research tool and to produce such high-value products as cyclopropanes.

Besides hydrogenation, the 2,5-dihy­drofuran also undergoes acid-catalyzed rearrangement to 2,3-dihydrofuran— which is important in its own right as a

starting material for nu­merous heterocyclic com­pounds, and which can be converted by heat to cyclo­propanecarboxaldehyde.

This aldehyde is a jump-ing-off point to the corre­sponding acid, acid chlo­ride, nitrile, carbinylamines, esters, and amides. Cyclo-propylamine is accessible by Hoffmann rearrange­ment of the amide. Cyclo-propyl compounds are im­portant intermediates for pyrethrin-type insecticides and quinolone-type anti­bacterial drugs.

EpB also is hydrolyzable to 3-butene-l,2-diol. East­man esterifies this chiral diol and uses a lipase en­zyme to cleave the (R)-ester stereoselective^ to the (R)-diol for separation from the (S)-ester. In addi­tion to the (R)-diol, the company offers its 1-p-toluenesulfonate monoester and cyclic carbonate. Deriv­atives of the (S)-diol are available from saponifica­tion of its ester.

Stephen Stinson

AUGUST 21,1995 C&EN 7