chemical bond - stlacsseminars start at 3:30 pm in room 204 macelwane hall, except as noted....
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Chemical
Bond
Volume 54Number 2
February, 2003
St. Louis Section, American Chemical Society
Can Springbe Far Behind?
Page 2 Chemical BOND
Officers 2003
Here is an abbreviated list of sec-tion officers and major committeechairs for 2003. If you are inter-ested in getting involved in the ac-tivities of the section, get in touchwith any of the officers, or a spe-cific committee chair if you have aspecific activity you are interestedin. More detailed information onmembers active in the section canbe found on our website,www.umsl.edu/~acs.
ChairLeah O’BrienSIU–Edwardsvillevoice: 618-650-3562email: [email protected]
Immediate past-chairLisa BalbesBalbes Consultantsvoice: 314-966-5298email: [email protected]
Chair-electBijan Khazaivoice: 314-497-8629email: [email protected]
SecretaryKeith Stinevoice: 314-516-5346email: [email protected]
TreasurerBruce Rittsvoice (O): 314-290-4744
(H): 314-961-7589email: [email protected] [email protected]
DirectorsHal HarrisUniversity of Missouri–St Louisvoice: 314-516-5344email: [email protected]
Alexa SerfisSaint Louis University
voice: 314-977-2842email: [email protected]
Bill DoubUS FDAvoice: 314-539-3816email: [email protected]
Samir El-AntablyCamela Medicalvoice: 314-664-5522 or 5532email: [email protected]
Eric RessnerSigma Chemical Companyvoice: 314-286-6600 x2199email: [email protected]
Sue DudekPharmaciavoice: 314-694-2464 or 314-694-9821Home: 314-576-1485email: [email protected]
Awards CommitteeAlexa SerfisSaint Louis Universityvoice: 314-977-2842email: [email protected]
Education CommitteeJeffrey CorneliusPrincipia CollegePhone: 618-374-5296email: [email protected]
Professional Activities CmteVal D’SouzaUniversity of Missouri–St Louisvoice: 314-516-5324email: [email protected]
Program CommitteeShelley D. MinteerSaint Louis Universityvoice: 314-977-3624email: [email protected]
Publicity/Public Relations CmteSteve Kinsleyvoice: 314-965-5782email: [email protected]
February, 2003 Page 3
Chemical BondVolume 54 No. 2 February, 2003
The Chemical Bond is published in January through May and September through Decem-
ber by the St. Louis Section–American Chemical Society. It is mailed free of charge to members
of the section at their address on file at ACS National Headquarters. Changes of address for
members will be made automatically upon notification to National ACS Headquarters; send
old and new address with zip codes to ACS Subscription Service Department, 1155 16th St.
N.W., Washington, DC 20036 or visit chemistry.org, log in, and go to Update my Profile. Allow
eight weeks for change to take effect.
The domestic subscription rate for non-members/affiliates is $8.00 per year. Subscription
orders and changes of address for non-members/affiliates should be mailed to Editorial Pro-
duction Office, 125 West Argonne Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63122 or e-mailed to the Editor.
Editor Eric Ressner 314-962-6415 (H)314-286-6600 x2199 (O)[email protected]
Advertising Manager Sue Saum [email protected]
Business Manager Donna Friedman [email protected]
Staff Writer John Bornmann [email protected]
World Wide Web http://www.umsl.edu/~acs
Webmaven Lisa Balbes [email protected]
Correspondence, letters to the Editor, etc., should be sent toSt. Louis Section–American Chemical Society
125 West Argonne Drive, St. Louis, MO 63122
Copyright 8 2003 American Chemical Society and the St. Louis Section–ACS
Inth
isis
sue 2 Officers and Committee Chairs, 2003 (get in touch)
4 Meetings and Seminars
6 Letters, Words & More: Small Threats
9 Bond Briefs
10 Budget in words and pictures
Page 4 Chemical BOND
Board of DirectorsSt. Louis Section–ACS Board of
Directors meets the second Thurs-day of each month, usually at theAlumni Center, UM–St Louis.Meetings are open to all members,and all are encouraged to attend.Elected officers and chairs of majorcommittees have the right to vote;others in attendance have voicebut no vote.
If you want to attend for dinner,please contact Lean O’Brien([email protected] or 618-650-3562) atleast a week prior to the meetingdate. The usual cost of the dinner is$15. Members wishing to becomeactive in section activities are wel-comed for their first dinner asguests of the section.
Date: February 13Social hour: 5:30 pmDinner: 6:30 pmBusiness meeting: 7:15 pm
Future meetings: Mar 13, Apr 10
Saint Louis University
Seminars start at 3:30 pm in Room204 Macelwane Hall, except asnoted. Refreshments follow. Formore information, contact PaulJelliss, [email protected].
Friday, Feb 7Alexei Demchenko
University of Missouri–St LouisNew Methods and Strategies
for the Synthesis of Ambiguous1,2-cis-Glycosides
Tuesday, Feb 24Tom Bitterwolf
University of IdahoChemistry and Photochemistry
of Iron Sulfur Tetrahedranes
University of Missouri–St Louis
Refreshments at 3:45; seminars at4 pm in 451 Benton Hall. For fur-ther information, contact ProfKeith Stine, 314-516-5346,[email protected]
Monday, Feb 3Dr. Michael Greenlief
University of Missouri–ColumbiaAttachment of Organic Molecules
at Semiconductor Interfaces
Monday, Feb 10Dr. Amy Walker
Washington UniversityControlling metallic contactsto self-assembled monolayers
and molecular electronic devices
Monday, Feb 17Dr Thomas A. Holme
Univ of Wisconsin–MilwaukeeComputer Use And Chemistry Stu-
dent Learning
Monday, Feb 24Dr Thomas E. Bitterwolf
University of IdahoChemistry and Photochemistry
of Iron Sulfur Tetrahedranes
Washington UniversitySeminars are in McMillen 311 at4 pm unless otherwise noted. Cof-fee is available 20 minutes prior tothe talk, and refreshments follow.
POLYMER STANDARDS FOR GPC/SECMOLECULAR WEIGHT ANALYSISGPC/SEC COLUMN REPACKING
American Polymer Standards Corporation
8680 Tyler Boulevard, Mentor, OH 44060
Phone: 440-255-2211 Fax: 440-255-8397
February, 2003 Page 5
For information, contact Thomas PVaid, [email protected]
Thursday, Jan 30Prof. James M. Mayer
University of WashingtonHydrogen atom transfer reactions
involving metal complexes:From organic radical chemistry
to Marcus theory
Tuesday, Feb 11Prof. Katherine L. Seley
Georgia Institute of TechnologyTBA
Thursday, Feb 13Prof. Peter C.M. van Zijl
Johns Hopkins UniversityMedical School
TBA
Tuesday, Feb. 18Marcus Lecture
Prof. Gregory C. FuMassachusetts Inst of Technology
TBA
Thursday, Feb 20Prof. James R. Norris, Jr
University of ChicagoDetermining Redox Heterogeneity
of Molecular Wires
Monday, Feb. 24CBI Seminar (reception following)
Prof. Marvin H. CaruthersUniveristy of Colorado–Boulder
TBA
Thursday, Feb. 27Madeleine Jacobs
Editor-in-chief, C&E NewsThe Challenges of Editing the
Newsmagazine of the Chemical World
Computational ChemistryDiscussion Group
Meetings are held at Tripos, Inc.,1699 S. Hanley Road. Refreshmentsat 4:30, seminar at 5 pm. For moreinformation, or if you would like tospeak at a future meeting, contactPhilippa Wolohan, 314-647-8837x3201, [email protected] orMitchell Polley x3358, [email protected]
Biotechnology DiscussionGroup
The organizers of the Biotech Dis-cussion Group have thrown in thetowel after two start-up meetingsearly in 2002 with very low atten-dance. Seems a shame for a regionthat boasts so many biotech re-search centers. If anyone wishes totry to resuscitate the group, contactDr. Cindy Dupureur at 516-4392 [email protected].
Page 6 Chemical BOND
Small threatsby Jack Bornmann
Recently I read about some re-search in which hypnosis was usedalong with regular anesthesia dur-ing dental procedures. When hyp-nosis was used, the dental patientneeded less anesthesia. This is acase of trance in dental medication.
We humans are lucky. We are theonly species, or one of the few, thatcan live to an old age and simplydie without being eaten. For othercreatures, the rule of the jungle ap-plies: those who are weak becauseof sickness, injury or old age aretaken down by a predator and con-sumed.
Consider the King of the Jungle,the male lion. If he is lucky
enough, he takes over a pride of fe-male lions. In return for his sexualfavors the lionesses provide himwith food. The females are thehunters and when they make a kill,he comes roaring up and they stepback to allow him to feed first.When he is finished, then they eat.After several years of driving awayany male intruders, he loses a bat-tle and he is driven away instead.But he has gotten fat and lazy andcannot hunt on his own. No pridewill take him in and no group ofyoung males wants him around.The once proud and mighty lionweakens and is taken down by apredator such as a hyena.
If we humans survive to old agewe start with a cane, go to a walker,then to a wheel chair, and finally tobed. When we slip away into obliv-ion, predators do not eat us.
We do not need to be concernedabout the big predators. It is the lit-tle ones that should worry us. Lit-
Page 8 Chemical BOND
tle one-celled creatures can do usin by attacking from within. Oneflesh-eating bacterium seems to beable to dissolve the cell wallswithin our flesh and feast on thecytoplasm that spills out.
These little bacteria are becom-ing more and more fearsome. Themedicines we once used to poisonthem now often have no effect.The pneumococcus bacteria havedeveloped a resistance to almost allantibiotics. Remember those kindlyold physicians in the movies whomade house calls and sat up allnight with the very sick patient?They came down the next morningto say, “The crisis has passed. Shewill recover.” Her body success-fully fought off the bacterial attack.In the near future when antibioticsno longer work, we may go back tosimply sitting and waiting for thebody’s natural defense mechanismto bring about the cure (or not).
In the 1930s and ‘40s there wasan infectious agent which ranthrough the filters that catch bacte-ria. Injection of the filtrate into amouse produced the infection. Itwasn’t until we had electron mi-croscopes that we finally saw theinvisible critter, a virus. The viruswas different from a bacterial cell.They both have genetic material(nucleic acid), but the virus lacks acell membrane and the organelles
necessary to carry on the basicfunctions of life, metabolism andreproduction. It is just DNA orRNA bundled in a protein coat.
Just recently a new infectiousagent has been discovered, a prion.It seems to be simply protein withno cytoplasm or nuclear (DNA)material. Prions are the causativeagents in mad cow disease, scrapiein sheep, and Creutzfeld-Jacob dis-ease in humans.
The infecting germs, viruses andprions are frequently species-specific, and modifications mustbe made to infect another species.Recently I read about a virus thatattacks a specific bacterium andonly that bacterium. We may be onthe verge of a brand new type ofantibiotic. Suppose we developed avirus that attacks the drug-resistant pneumococcus. The spe-cies-specific virus would attackonly the pneumococcus and notthe human host.
If we are successful at that level,we might try to find a species-specific prion that will attack a cer-tain virus. For example, we mightkill the AIDS virus using a specialprion.
We have managed to protecthuman kind from the big preda-tors. The future may bring protec-tion from the teeny-tiny predatorsas well.
February, 2003 Page 9
Plan ahead—way aheadIt’s not too soon to clear your
calendars for the upcoming eventsin and around Chemical ProgressWeek. A full schedule of events willappear in next month’s Bond, buthere are two early announcementsto pencil in.
Plan to attendthe 7th AnnualWomen ChemistsLuncheon, onSunday, April 13,12 noon at the St
Louis Science Center.The speaker will be Madeleine
Jacobs, editor-in-chief of Chemical &Engineering News. Her talk will beentitled Lessons Learned from a Life-time of Communicating Chemistry.
Reservations requested byApril 10 to:
Leah O’Brienphone 618-650-3562email [email protected]
The cost is $12. All are welcome.Recognition
Night festivitieson March 29 willhonor new50-year members
and mark the presentation of theDistinguished Service Award toDonna Friedman. Lisa Balbes willbe recognized for her service aschair last year and will give thePast Chair’s address.
Always an affair to remember ...this year again at Glen Echo Coun-try Club, 3401 Lucas and HuntRoad. For reservations, contact:
Samir El-AntablyP.O. Box 50168St Louis MO 63105314-644-5522
Make your reservations beforeMarch 27. Mail check for $20 perperson, payable to St Louis Sec-tion–ACS.
The undergrad-uate researchsymposium willbe held on Satur-day, April 26th,
1:00-4:00 pm, in McDonnellDouglas Hall, Saint Louis Univer-sity campus. Parking will be avail-able at the Olive-Compton garage.For more details or directions, con-tact:
Alexa [email protected]
ToY Announced
The winner of the St Louis HighSchool Chemistry Teacher of theYear was announced at the Januaryboard meeting. She is JeanetteHencken of Webster Groves HighSchool. Ms Hencken automaticallybecomes eligible for regional ToY.
Congratulations to the winnerand to all the chemistry students atWebster Groves High.
Page 10 Chemical BOND
Budget grabs spotlight at board meetingThe section budget was the tra-
ditional hot topic at the Januaryboard meeting. Treasurer BruceRitts presented a summary of theend-of-year financial picture andthen led the discussion of the pro-posed 2003 budget.
The 2002 picture showed almostexactly balanced income and ex-penses (actually a 3.43% deficit), afar brighter picture than the bud-geted numbers, which showedspending more than twice reve-nue.
This is the usual situation (com-pare 2002 budget vs. actual num-bers). Activities are budgeted andnot completed or completed underbudget. Some of the largest lineitems, involving officer and coun-cilor travel, are often reduced byemployers’ funding of attendanceat national meetings. But the funds
must be budgeted for proposed ac-tivities and travel nevertheless.
The proposed budget for 2003 issimilar, though the Steering Com-mittee has tried to rein in some ofthe obviously inflated items. In theprocess, they managed to trim al-most $4,000 from the prior yearproposal.
There was again discussionabout the irresponsibility of “plan-ning” to spend twice what we takein, but the majority in attendancepragmatically accepted that this isthe way our section works. Ulti-mately, the total budget waspassed unanimously.
In the interest of space, expenseitems shown below and at right arerolled up to to committee level. En-dowed award accounts (St LouisAward, Midwest Award, andMarcus Award) are not included.
February, 2003 Page 11
2002
Budget
2002
Actual
2003
Budget
Income
Affiliate duesDividendsNew member commissionsMember duesNational allotment
50300100
10,50012,669
867975
10,63212,629
5075
10010,50012,903
Total income 23,619 23,501 23,628
Expenses
OfficersOther (board mtg, councilors)AwardsEducationProfessional activitiesProgramPublicity and public relationsSpecial events
11,7506,0003,6406,3001,6258,3504,1605,700
4,4653,6292,8543,336
7162,5822,5554,169
11,7506,0003,6605,5001,3756,9003,2505,400
Total expenses 47,525 24,306 43,835
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