Olyset^® net is composed of a resin-based fiber that incorporates a synthetic pyrethroid called permethrin to form a mosquito net for malaria vector control. The most important characteristic of Olyset^® net is a dynamic release behavior for the permethrin in the fiber. Though a washing removes part of the permethrin from the surface of the net, the permethrin migrates from the inside of the fibers to the surface and maintains its efficacy against mosquitoes. In addition, since the fiber itself is tough, the efficacy of an Olyset^® net lasts and the net itself can be kept for at least 5 years in Africa.
(by Takaaki ITO,Takeshi OKUNO )

Polyethylene (PE) is one of the commodity plastics that is widely used in films, foams, containers, pipe and so on. Polyethylene that is manufactured by the metallocene catalyst system (m-PE) and has a narrow molecular structural distribution has been penetrating the market mainly because of its high mechanical strength. On the other hand, this m-PE generally exhibits poor processability, so R&D has recently been focused on the development of m-PE with good processability. Sumitomo Chemical has succeeded in the development of a new type Easy Processing Polyethylene (EPPE) that exhibits a good balance of processability and toughness. The main features of EPPE are easy processability similar to that of the high pressure-low density polyethylene (HP-LDPE) and considerably high mechanical strength. These features are mainly the result of its unique molecular structure based on long chain blanching. EPPE can be processed at low temperatures or under high output conditions because EPPE has a low kneading torque and high melt tension. In this review, we will introduce the viscoelastic features of EPPE and some applications such as high quality film, energy saving processing and high productivity based on its easy processability.
(by Kenzo CHIKANARI,Tatsuhiro NAGAMATSU )

Clothianidin is a novel neonicotinoid insecticide with thiazol ring which has been developed and commercialized by Sumitomo Chemical Takeda Agro Company, Ltd. The characteristics of neonicotinoids include a good systemic action and high activities against sucking insect pests such as hemiptera and thysanoptera. Clothianidin is effective even against diptera, coleoptera and lepidoptera pests and can be applied by a wide variety of treating methods. This report describes development details, biological activities, safety and synthetic methods of clothianidin.
(by Hideki UNEME,Masato KONOBE,Atsuo AKAYAMA,Tokunori YOKOTA,Koji MIZUTA )

Newly developed methods for facility management like RBI (Risk Based Inspection) and FFS (Fitness For Service) have recently been adopted in industrial chemical plants for the purpose of enhancing safe, stable operation and extending their operational lives. These new methods introduced in this paper include an inspection method for stress corrosion cracks, an inspection method for parts with elevated temperatures during operation, an inspection method for reactor tubes under the baffle plates of carbon steel reactors, and diagnostic technology for ball bearings developed through collaboration between academia and industry on research. Non-destructive inspection technologies, which are very applicable to the protection of rotating machines from contamination by foreign objects are also introduced in this paper.
(by Hisakazu MORI,Hidehiko SUETSUGU )

In recent years, advanced regulations concerning restrictions on the use of hazardous substances have been enforced in the EU, as environmental pollution control acts. Subsequent to the ELV for automobiles, restrictions on the use of hazardous substances are being examined for the field of electric and electronic equipment, where both WEEE and RoHS directives have been enacted. In the ELV, the use of four heavy metals (Cadmium, Lead, Mercury, Chromium) has been restricted. The use of the same heavy metals as in the ELV, as well as two additional flame retardants (Polybrominated biphenyl, Polybrominated diphenyl ether) has been restricted in RoHS. Under these circumstances, the control of certain hazardous substances in products takes on great importance. This paper describes the use of various analytical equipment in screening analysis by XRF and precision analysis for Cd, Pb, Hg, Cr, Br.
(by Hiromu OGASAWARA,Kei TANAKA,Shuichiro MANABE )

There had always been a strong demand for the development of new PO-only process. The conventional processes-chlorohydrin PO-only process and organic hydroperoxide process that generates huge amount of co-products-have been causing headaches for the PO manufactures due to the generation of environmentally unfriendly wastes, and to the dependence of product price on the fluctuating market of co-products. Owing to the development of high performance Titanium epoxidation catalyst by our researchers, we have succeeded in establishing the novel PO-only manufacturing process where cumene acts as the oxygen carrier. The new PO Cumene process is considered as one of the ”Green processes ” since it gives higher yields than the conventionals with only small amount of by-products produced.
(by Junpei TSUJI,Jun YAMAMOTO,Masaru ISHINO,Noriaki OKU )

With increasing development of electronic equipments in the highly information-oriented society, the lithography has been making significant advancement. As a result, photoresists that play a critical role in lithography are required high-performance functions to control the feature size, line width roughness (LWR) and defects. We have been developing ArF photoresists since 1996, and led to commercialize the ArF photoresist, PAR-101 in 1997. As critical dimensions get smaller, much effort has been continued to create innovative materials and to optimize photolithography process conditions. The series of ArF Sumiresist^® is evolving to fill all sorts of demands in the ArF photoresist market.
(by Ichiki TAKEMOTO,Kunishige EDAMATSU )

Technolloy^® is an acrylic resin (PMMA) film with extremely smooth, hard, and highly glossy surfaces. Because of these characteristics, Technolloy^® film is widely used for automobile interior and household electrical appliance parts, often as an alternative to organic solvent paints. In addition, this film is suitable for use as a substrate film for coating; its potential for use in optical film applications is extremely promising. In this paper, we review some basic performance characteristics of our Technolloy^® film, and provide some examples of its application.
(by Shinsuke OCHIAI,Yousuke TSUKUDA,Koji KOYAMA )

Sumilizer^®GP, which has a unique structure with both a phenolic antioxidant moiety and a phosphoric antioxidant moiety in a single molecule, can efficiently prevent degradation of thermoplastic resins during processing. In this review, the possibility of new applications for thermoplastic resins is introduced, as well as stabilization of thermoplastic resins, such as polyolefin resins, polystyrene resins and so on, is introduced during processing.
(by Kenji KIMURA,Hideaki AWA,Naoki INUI )

A new synthesis and decoloring process of polyamide fine powder has been developed. The polyamide fine powder manufactured by this process have a spherical shape and purely white color, and the distribution of the particle size (5 to 10 μm in diameter) is narrow. The powder is mainly used for cosmetics. We granted the license of this technology to SH Chemical Co., Ltd. (Korea), and the company started to manufacture the powder. The other types of polyamide powder have been also studied. One example is a spherical particle with 20 to 100 μm in diameter. The new polyamide product will be commercialized for industrial use.
(by Masachika HIRANO,Takeshi YAMASAKI,Hiroshi IMAI )

A new computational fluid dynamics model was developed for application to compressible bubbly flows with chemisorption by taking into account the dependence of phase densities on components. Then, a numerical method for solving the model was developed. The proposed method was verified through a sample calculation, i.e., (1) a simulation of a bubbly flow in a uniformly heated column of 10 m in height, (2) a bubbly flow with CO2 absorption in NaOH solution and (3) a chemisorption in a bubble column. As a result, it was confirmed that the proposed method gave good prediction for the effects of pressure, temperature and chemical components on phase densities and for the time evaluations of chemical components and gas holdup.
(by Naoki SHIMADA,Tatsuya OZAKI,Tetsuya SUZUTA )

Bioconcentration of organic chemicals in fish is considered to be one of the most important factors determining the fate of chemicals in aquatic environment, and thus, the exposure levels to human and environmental organisms. Under the Chemical Substances Control Law of Japan, bioconcentration testing is, therefore, one of the principal requisites for the registration of a new chemical of which the intended volume is beyond the specified criterion. On the other hand, in order to reduce the burden of laboratory testing and also to provide early warning for possible hazard of a chemical, bioconcentration predictions by utilizing such a descriptor as 1-octanol/water partition coefficient can be partly applicable to the registration purpose under the law. This report presents an overall picture of applicable methods for the prediction especially that based on restricted permeability of molecules, which we have contributed partly to the introduction of a new criterion through the national survey project funded by METI.
(by Shunji NAKAI,Kotaro TAKANO,Shoji SAITO )

Time dependent density functional theory has been applied to the study of optical responses in the conjugated polymers such as poly(9,9-dialkyl-fluorene) and dielectric responses in semiconductors such as C, Ge, Si, and AlGaAs. In this study, real-space and real-time calculation techniques are used for the electronic states instead of the conventional basis-expansion techniques. Our method seems more efficient since a relatively small number of meshes is required for obtaining results with reasonable accuracy, which depends on an adjustable parameter, the total number of time steps. The methods and the calculations of optical and dielectric properties will be described in detail.
(by Yasunari ZEMPO,Masaya ISHIDA,Nobuhiko AKINO )