There is a phenomena that most people are not familiar with.  It is one that costs shareholders of companies many millions of dollars each year.  This is what I term, “employee induced neutering of the CEO.”  It takes many forms but the basic jest is as follows.  An employee or group of them take actions of some sort that ultimately have a negative outcome on the company’s bottom line without the knowledge or permission of the CEO.  In this regard their actions have not only reduced the revenue of the company but also potentially impact the long term future of the business as a whole. 

In this first of several blog posts on this subject I cover several instances of this behavior at Albemarle.  I decided to do this after Matt I. who works at a publishing company that I subscribe to had mentioned this company (he is free to reproduce this post).  For some reason Matt thought that they were miners when in point of fact they are not (this is simply a recent blunder from my general understanding).  I do not have full knowledge of the history of this company but I do know that they were a spin off of Ethyl Corp. sometime ago and that the latter was a collaborator with the Nazis during WWII (just as was Standard Oil, now Exxon) providing them with antiknock agents required as an additive to the aviation fuel (which Std. Oil provided), without which the Germans planes would have never been effective.

Many years ago a “mentor” of mine told me a story about his interaction with Albemarle.  This person worked with a company that was a distributor of some of Albemarle’s products.  They had served in this capacity for some years and had indeed increased the sale of these materials.  The issue was, according to this person, that Albemarle treated them like crap.  One thing he indicated was they simply were arrogant.  So this distributor had finally had enough of the poor treatment and lined up a new supplier of the same materials and made the decision that when the next meeting was to occur at one of Albemarle’s sites that they would announce their intention to no longer sell products made by Albemarle.  Just prior to the announcement Albemarle gave this salesperson some sort of little award for being so effective at selling these materials and the salesman then informed them that they were no longer going to distribute them anymore and left.  This is an example of employee induced neutering of the CEO as no leader of sound mind would poorly treat someone who was selling their products for them.

Fast forward about four years following this story and I contacted Albemarle as I had chemistry that made use of a product of theirs, methylaluminoxane (MAO).  Specifically the chemistry is one of the most energy efficient methods developed to date for producing polymers such as polyisobutylene and butyl rubber.  For example, I made 90 kg/mol butyl rubber at 0 °C with this chemistry and normally that requires a reaction T of around -100 °C.  I thought that since they were a main producer of MAO that they would have interest in owning the intellectual property that I had developed and so I sent the company a letter.  The reader should note that one form of employee induced neutering of the CEO is to withhold correspondence addressed to the company head.  Somehow this particular form of CEO neutering did not occur and I received a phone call out of the blue from an employee at Albemarle and this is where their CEO got his gonads snipped good. 

The first thing this person said to me, and I believe he was either Indian or from the Middle East originally, was “I don’t know why but I was chosen to call you.”  He then proceeded to ask me where I got my degree from and when I told him he was quite rude and acted as if I was inferior to him.  Then this joker proceeded to inform me that Albemarle planned to make butyl rubber using butyl lithium.  I wanted to laugh but I bit my tongue because this person obviously didn’t even know the difference between anionic or cationic polymerization (butyl lithium being used for the former, butyl rubber being made by the latter) nor did he seem to have any basic polymer science background.  At this stage I more or less let this idiot go on for a while not informing him that although there is a polymerization system for the preparation of isobutene based polymers that makes use of the alkyl lithium compound he referenced that it also required other ingredients and that it would be far more expensive and dangerous than current methodologies. 

At this stage I gave up trying to help Albemarle.  My experience is that it is a company filled with many bad actors that unwittingly (or maybe purposely) damage it through bad decision making and behavior.  This is most likely what triggered an entity with no mining experience to enter the lithium mining space and no doubt it has cost its shareholders quite a bit.  It’s too bad their CEO doesn’t realize he has been neutered…

This article was written over 6 months ago and languished on my desktop until now. 

The following is not to be construed as investment advice and is merely commentary by this author due to recent moves in the stock/bond markets and changes to interest rates as well as the price of gold.  All information provided herein is given on a best of effort basis only and the author does not guarantee that it is 100% correct; however, the bulk of the following is based upon fact and most of it can be verified at other sources.

A past acquaintance of mine adhered to the belief that the bulk majority of people’s retirement funds were based on the individual investing in the stock market.  I tried to point out the fallacy of his statement telling him that this was a recent phenomenon that occurred with advent of the 401k and IRA but it fell on deaf ears.  He didn’t seem to recognize that at one time prior to this period that many people in the US had actual retirement funds that were managed and funded by the company that they worked for, and that these funds paid the retiree a percentage of their top income once they retired.  The idea of a pension was a foreign concept to this person.

In particular I can remember the 1980s and one of several examples of pensions stands out.  It involved a kid named Jimmy whose father worked for the local steel plant, Armco.  I recall going over to Jimmy’s house a week or two prior to Christmas.  Although their house was a little smaller than the one I grew up in the living room was flooded with presents.  I’m talking about 100 presents of various sizes for two children.  This was approximately five times more than the number of presents per child that were normally at my house.  I was astounded and I asked Jimmy what his dad did, how did they get this many gifts?  Jimmy preceded to tell me that his dad worked for the steel plant and that his dad would receive a very good pension when he retired.  Indeed, his dad was raking in the bucks for nothing more than a manual labor job.

For those who don’t know, that wonderful company IBM, the one that helped that Nazis keep track of their prisoners in the death camps was the locus for change in the world of retirement.  IBM decided that pensions were simply too much of a drag on the company and it was around 1984 when they shifted towards the 401k plan for their employees with many other companies soon following suit.  For those who don’t recall this more or less coincided with the beginning of the end of really good jobs for Joe and Suzie lunchbox and the degradation in wages and job quality gained full steam once the Clinton-era began (as did the sucking sound of industry leaving, thanks Mr. Perot you were spot on as they say).

Likewise this person held the fallacy that the stock market was driven solely by fundamentals and that it always led to positive gains.  I don’t have space to tackle the former point (just look at all the various bailouts as a start) but for those who don’t recognize it only 22 of the past 40 years has the stock market really meet the latter criterion during recent times.  During the period of about 1984 to 2007 there was approximately a 90% price appreciation for the standard equity and bond portfolio of (60:40).  Home values also increased dramatically as well (ca. 70%) during this time frame.  It was a period where people could more or less invest blindly in market basket funds (e.g., mutual funds) and be guaranteed a return that exceeded inflation, and in many cases by then some.  What helped fuel much of this was the artificially low interest rates that were imposed. As the reader can see I haven’t documented this work.  You can do your own due diligence and see if the information that I provide here is indeed correct or not and should it be the latter then you can submit to me corrections as need be.  I want to conclude that the person whom I refer to as a former acquaintance decided to buy gold at around $1,600/oz a few years ago in part due to my constant harping about the price being way below the true value.  If this person held his position he would have definitely benefited from my commentary.  On the other hand, if he abandoned his position all I can say is tough luck, you have officially missed the gold train.

This article was written approximately six months ago and I have been too busy to post anything on my blog.  Many new developments are in progress that have yet to be announced.  Announcements will be made not long from now as I get caught up on my to do list.

Some years back I found myself driving a know-it-all professor and his student to another college.  I decided that the most intelligent conversation could be had with the student and so I began to ask him a series of questions to see how awake he was.  One thing I said at the time was that gold is cheap right now and it is most likely going to go to well over $2,000/oz?¹  He said that he knew this and that it would be a good idea to own gold.  I then proceeded to ask if he knew that his home country was going to be used as a proxy by the US in a war against China?  He acknowledged this.  Then I told him that the US would be at war with both Russia and China in the not too distant future.  Again, he said that it was most likely to occur.  At that point the overly schooled imbecile riding in the back chimed in, “Oh, that will never happen.”²

At one time I had interest in working in conjunction with companies like BASF and Exxon-Mobil,³ primarily because they are producers of polymers made by the method of polymerization that I specialize in (i.e., cationic polymerization).  For the latter company I made numerous attempts over fifteen years to interest them in green polymerization methods.  My thoughts were that the individuals who I was familiarized with (primarily from literature) had integrity and high moral fiber.  Unfortunately, I was incorrect and my conclusion is that they are mere wage slaves with no allegiance to anything except a paycheck.  So please disregard any previous mention of such people by this author that portrays them in a positive light and realize that even I am prone to misjudgments of character.

Within the past year I approached Exxon-Mobil and informed one of the chief scientists that I had made some very significant breakthroughs, not only in the area of cationic polymerization but also in the synthesis of a potentially very valuable, new set of activators for single site catalysts used in coordination polymerization.  I informed this person that not only did the chemistry in both cases dramatically reduce the pollution that Exxon-Mobil generates using their existing systems (e.g., CO₂, toxic metal waste streams) but that my chemistry would give them a monopoly on a new series of acids and in all instances was cheaper to utilize.  The response was (paraphrased), “we are busy working on chemistry geared to decarbonization and don’t have time to take a look at your results.”  I was flabbergasted to say the least, these clowns who have never spent a single day working in the green polymer field were now all of sudden going to do green chemistry?  Immediately I told myself that the most likely outcome (ca. 99%) for them is failure.⁴

Recently, Nomi Prins put out a video where she claimed that many of the big oil companies in the US were now focusing on lithium based ventures.  I have to be very careful in my commentary here due to the value of the knowledge I have so reader please bear with me.  The ignorance and downright stupidity that I have seen displayed by chemists at BASF, Exxon-Mobil, and Chevron (to mention a few) is beyond belief.  These people cost their employers millions of dollars every single year but the good thing is that the CEOs that run these companies are too dumb to realize this fact.⁵  They say a fish rots from the head down and if you happen to be stock holder in any of the aforementioned companies I can guarantee you that their heads are incompetent, maybe even criminally so if laws stipulate that they maximize shareholder returns.  Likewise, Prins’ comment that “congress” was helping push this along surely didn’t bode well for the success of such an undertaking given their long history of incompetence and failures.

It would seem that the US and Europe are filled with clones of the know-it-all professor who I discuss in the opening of this commentary while developing and/or resource-rich countries are like the student.  It is hard for me to believe that companies that have zero experience mining are going to somehow produce lithium competitively compared to established producers.  I also do not think that they will make many if any significant leaps in cleaning up their existing chemistry without the technology being outsourced.⁶ 

What I do suspect is that these efforts will fall flat on their face for the most part just like the policies of those who run the countries that house the bulk of their factories.  Meanwhile, do not be surprised if industry in BRICS+ member countries grows to fill the void created by dying western big oil and chemical companies.  What most people in the west do not appreciate is that you simply cannot turn on a dime when it comes to making changes of the type being discussed here.  Just to open a mine alone generally takes no less than twenty years and for a country that has at best a “C” infrastructure it is doubtful that needed upgrades to electrify everything will occur before its debt load exceeds 50 trillion USD and a total collapse occurs.

Before I conclude I don’t want the reader to misunderstand this author.  The bulk majority of his scientific career has focused on green chemistry and he has literally risked his life to make advances in this area.  Additionally, this author has invested a great deal of his meager savings towards such research.  As such, he may be the only polymer scientist to use his own money towards the endeavor of making changes to chemistry that are beneficial to the planet as a whole.  At this juncture I prefer the approach attributed to G.K. Chesterson, “Don’t be so open-minded that your brains fall out.”⁷  In conclusion, the most probable outcome is countries that continue to rely on oil into the near future and also make transitions to alternative energy sources at the proper stage in their development will dominate the world stage while those who rushed to make such changes without proper thinking/planning will flounder in a state of perpetual decay.

Footnotes:

1. At the time gold was around $1,000/oz.
2. The window to buy gold is closing in this author’s opinion and war has already started.
3. This was before I learned of their long entrenched history with the Nazis which made me realize that the bulk of negative PR they have obtained over the years is well-deserved.  I have much more to say about these topics in the future.  Sage advice on dealing with such situations can be found in the book entitled “Special Treatment” by Alan Abrams where the father of Werner Goldberg tells him “If somebody doesn’t want you, don’t run after them.”
4. Note, Dr. R.P. Quirk told me many years ago (this author’s paraphrasing), “To never say never as things you thought were impossible chemistry-wise could eventually be done in some instances.”  I would say the possibility of failure for them will be 99.9%.
5. This doesn’t just apply to the scientists that work at these companies but includes those who work in other non-scientific positions.
6. About ten years ago Exxon-Mobil put out one of their usual BS propaganda adverts telling the general public about how they made advances to their butyl rubber process that lowered energy consumption.  What they didn’t mention is that the chemistry had been developed by Std. Oil in the late 1930s by Kraus and that they had simply never employed it.  Furthermore, it is doubtful that to this very date that they modified the chemistry developed by Sparks and Thomas which came soon after Kraus in the 1940s.  It reminds this author of the Ministry song, Lies, Lies, Lies..
7. It would appear that the true origin of this statement is up for debate.

Disclaimer: The author is not a financial advisor, etc.  The following brief discourse is simply the author’s thoughts and experiences after following the precious metals markets since 2008.  All readers must use their own discretion when making investments and they alone are responsible for the outcome of their own actions.

This is the first non-chemistry related blog post that I have written in a long time; however, it is very prescient in context to the present time.  In 2008 I was driving along the Lee Highway to northern VA.  For some time I had been hearing various commercials on the radio regarding buying gold.  More or less I paid little heed to them.  Truth be told I always loved silver, mainly because of its appearance but also because I was exposed to its compounds as a young chemist.  I also liked gold, especially the alloys that contain Cu commonly seen in jewelry from India.  Still I didn’t have any desire to buy either one although I was open to the idea.  I think my being open to the idea was the result of an epiphany I had in 2005 when another chemist said something to the effect, “well, what about building seven?”  It took the blinders off my eyes because I, like the bulk of the American populous, was completely ignorant of the real world to the point that I didn’t even know simple facts. 

During this drive to the DC area despite having heard these commercials before a thought came into my mind and it told me to sell my mutual funds.  It also recommended I buy gold and silver.  This all transpired shortly before the 2008 crash and when I returned home I took a chance, something that didn’t seem to make any sense, and I followed the instructions I received.  Maybe only one month later the markets collapsed and I had averted a serious loss and I’m grateful to God for the advanced warning and advice.

Since then I have recommended that people consider the safe-haven that such metals offer.  Most who I have espoused this to have ignored the advice.  These are the very same people who I warned back in 2011 and onward that serious conflict would arise between the US, Russia, and China.  Now given the current environment, both geopolitical and also the financial sector (e.g., inflation, bubbles, free money), I can’t help but think that those very same people are now regretting the fact that they ignored my advice.

Over a period of almost 15 years I have learned quite a bit about this topic.  I am not going to discuss all of its intricacies in this posting but I will say that in my opinion everyone should have some physical gold and silver on hand at all times.  Should the reader have a desire to purchase metals I do have a recommendation of where to go and you can message me through the contact form (make sure to include your name and email address) and I will point you to a company that so far has been the absolute best to deal with out of a total of five that I have dealt with over the years.  I’m also willing to provide names of a few others that I have also had good experiences with as well.  Since I’m not paid to advertise for any of them I will not name them here.  I highly recommend the reader do their own digging to learn more about this sector because there is a lot of information freely available on the internet.

Previously it was mentioned on this website and on www.pyramidpolymers.com that iodine and potentially HI (amongst other initiators) appear to be capable of inducing the living polymerization of a variety of monomers.  Upon review of some data more evidence of the potential for the first truly living aqueous cationic polymerization have emerged (Table 1).  When polymerization has little chain transfer both the apparent and theoretical number average molecular weights (Table 1, entry 2) show little discrepancy.  Doubling of the reaction time leads to a doubling in polymer yield (Table 1, entry 5); however, the apparent molecular weight is lower than the theoretical.  These results indicate that the number of active species are preserved throughout polymerization even after very long reaction times (i.e., days) albeit there is some chain transfer that occurs.  As we mentioned earlier, a number of approaches can be used to help suppress the impact that such side reactions have and thus give rise to well-defined polymers.

As announced on www.pyramidpolymers.com, Dr. Lewis discussed a number of new research findings that he made at the 6^th International Conference on Catalysis and Chemical Engineering.  He also chaired the session he spoke in.  The production of highly reactive polyisobutenes (HRPIBs) with an exo-olefinic end group content of 97% as made with the first truly recyclable initiator system was touched upon.  High recovery of spent Lewis acid (up to 100%) is a common trait and solventless polymerization can be employed at room temperature with good molecular weights and yields.  Unlike traditional Lewis acids (e.g., BF₃), the one used by Lewis are not hazardous and do not require specialized equipment to handle them. 

Another topic that was covered is a unique processing method that allows for the solubilization of metal halides in aliphatic solvents.  Such solutions are highly effective in inducing the polymerization of olefins and further more are capable of controlled activity that allow their usage in neat monomer as well as at reaction temperatures as high as 50 °C.  The aqueous polymerization of alkenes using superacids generated in situ was also touched upon.  A potential replacement for MAO as developed by Lewis was mentioned in addition to a recapping of the results on the production of isobutene based polymers using heterogeneous initiators based on aluminoxanes.*

*A public disclosure of the unique activity of MAO supported on boric acid was made where it was suggested that such materials should be explored for use in coordination polymerization if they haven’t already been studied.

2022 should be an interesting year.  It is looking like printing of a series of books written by Dr. Lewis will begin before it concludes.  The main title is “Cationic Polymerizations Resource: Non-living Polymerization of Olefins.”  The work will be divided into a minimum of three volumes with an approximated page count of around 1,500 pages and 4,000 references.

IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND CATIONIC POLYMERIZATION GET THESE BOOKS

One of the frustrating things about this field is that no book presents it in a manner such that any chemist can walk away with a good understanding of the topic.  This work differs greatly in that anyone with a basic understanding of chemistry can master the field after reading it.  You don’t have to have a polymer science degree or even a Ph.D. in chemistry to understand the material contained in these books.  At the same time this book series contains such a wealth of information that even those who have practiced this technique for many years can learn something new.  Updates on the generation of gallery proofs, final proofing, printing, etc. will be provided as things progress.

A little over five years ago, Dr. S.P. Lewis undertook a series of projects aimed at the green production of polymers by the cationic polymerization of olefins.  Lewis reduced to practice greater than twenty different polymerization systems, including four that operate in aqueous media.  The total number of aqueous cationic polymerization systems invented by Dr. Lewis are six in total (thus far).¹  One such invention is briefly discussed below.  This system is unique compared to other aqueous polymerizations invented by Lewis in that it appears to have the potential to operate in a living manner.²

Elemental iodine was discovered to have the ability to induce the polymerization of olefins in water.  The two main olefins explored thus far (Table 1) are p-methoxystyrene (PMOS) and N-vinylcarbazole (NVC).  Indications are that other olefins (e.g., vinyl ethers) may be susceptible to polymerization under similar conditions.  The addition of salts to the aqueous phase appears to prolong polymerization.  Such salts can be a source of common ions (e.g., KI, [Bu₄N]⁺I^–) if desired.  Polymerizations conducted in the presence of iodide salts maintain a purple/red color whereas those carried out in the present of chloride have more of an orange-yellow coloration (Figure 1).  Color is also dependent on the identity of the solvent (Figure 2).  The exact mechanism of these polymerizations has not been deduced; however, one that entails a cationic intermediate seems plausible given the increase in yield and molecular weight (MW) as the solvent polarity is raised.  Likewise, experiments show the standard inverse relationship between reaction T and MW.

Ring opening polymerization of heterocyclic monomers may also be feasible with similar initiator systems.  A cursory experiment using styrene oxide seemed to indicate that epoxides might be susceptible to polymerization under these conditions and there is a possibility that other heterocycles (e.g., cyclic siloxanes, aziridines, oxazolines) could show activity.  A partial list of such monomers is covered by Kubisa.³

Other possible initiators include HI and carbocation synthons whereas there is the potential for use of zinc and tin halides as coinitiators.  Many techniques as devised by the Higashimura group for living polymerization under anhydrous conditions (and others) should be explored in aqueous media.³  Thus, living aqueous cationic polymerization might be feasible using HI + I₂ as an initiator system.

More information on these polymerization systems will be disclosed in the future on this website and at www.pyramidpolymers.com.

Footnotes

Footnote 1. The mechanism of one of these systems has not been definitively proven to be cationic.

Footnote 2. Only preliminary experimentation has been conducted on this system and at this moment it cannot be said for certainty that the system can be made living.

Footnote 3. Cationic Polymerizations; Matyjaszewski, K., Ed.; Marcel Dekker, Inc.: New York,1996; pp 1-768.

The tips below and many more are covered in greater detail in my book Cationic Polymerization Resource: Volume 1, Non-living Polymerizations of Olefins.  That work is finally nearing completion and once in print I will post a blog article about it.  Please note, many of these recommendations also apply to other segments of chemistry (e.g., analytical).

Having a Clean Work Environment

Cleanliness is probably one of the most overlooked factors that success or failure may hinge on in context to synthetic chemistry.  The following should be clean:

1. All work surfaces {e.g., benchtop, chemical hood (walls, apron), metal scaffolding, and stirrer hotplates}.  This can be accomplished using a variety of methods like scrubbing with an abrasive pad and spray cleaner, solvents, etc.  Care must be taken if solvents are to be used as they can potentially damage the surface being cleaned in addition to causing bodily harm to the operator.  Unfortunately some residues will only be removed by using certain solvents as they are impervious to less aggressive cleaning solutions commonly used in the household.  If left unclean these surfaces can become sources of contamination even if they are not in direct contact with the system being studied as contaminates can enter by falling into it.  Furthermore, if you happen to have a spill and must recover the spilled material a clean work surface will reduce the likelihood of the reagent in question from being irreparably contaminated.  Sacrificial coverings can be used in certain instances (e.g., aluminum foil, freezer paper); however, most have poor chemical resistance and are not recommended.
2. Glassware and all items that come into contact with reagents.  This author recommends the use of base and acid cleaning baths for glassware, metal spatulas, and other items that are resistant to this method of cleaning whenever possible.  Additional rinsing with deionized water is a good step when very minor contaminates might pose a problem.  Sometimes more aggressive cleaning solutions such as aqua regia or piranha solution might be required.  All of these methods present a risk to the chemist in that the solutions can easily cause bodily harm and thus they must be handled with proper technique and appropriate personal protective equipment.  Additionally, glass base baths can damage to certain items (e.g., glass filtration frits, NMR tubes, etc.) if they are immersed in the bath for prolonged periods of time.
3. Syringes, needles, rubber turn over septa, PTFE stopcocks, and other delicate items.  Some items should only be cleaned with soap and water and/or with solvents.  They can be grouped into small glass or plastic containers fitted with a secure lid and soaked if desired.  This author has found that simply forcing a stream of solvent through and/or over the item in question typically will remove the bulk of chemical residue.  Careful use of ultrasonic cleaning baths provide another option.  This author does not have extensive experience using ultrasonic cleaning baths as many of the labs he worked in as a graduate student did not possess this item.  It would seem feasible that certain items needing to be cleaned could be placed within a small bottle or vial containing solvent, the container then being sealed, and finally immersed into the water bath of the ultrasonic cleaner.  Care should be exercised since pressure could build within the containing holding the solvent and cause it to rupture.
4. Nonconsumable items with metal surfaces (e.g., spatulas) can be polished with mild abrasive pads/rags.  This generally will remove any oxides or residues that solvents cannot remove.  In certain instances the use of such abrasives are useful for cleaning porcelain and glass apparatuses but care must be taken to choose an abrasive that will not mar the surface of the item being cleaned.

Polymers based on p-hydroxystyrene (PHOS) are useful in electronics applications; however, the direct polymerization of this monomer by the cationic technique can be challenging.¹  Our research group has discovered that heteropolyacids (HPAs) can effect the cationic polymerization of other olefins (e.g., p-methoxystyrene (PMOS)) to afford high MW polymers in water.  Phosphotungstic acid is one such acid which is preferred; however, other HPAs (e.g., 12-molybdophosphoric acid) can also be used.  The heteropolyacid solution is infinitely recyclable as it retains its activity indefinitely.  Using this methodology should allow for the production of poly(p-hydroxystyrene) as well as the production of copolymers containing this monomer.  An example of this approach is embodied in Scheme 1.

Scheme 1. Aqueous polymerization of p-hydroxystyrene and other olefins as induced by heteropolyacids.

References

(1) Satoh, H.; Kamigaito, M.; Sawamoto, M. Direct Synthesis of Amphiphilic Random and Block Copolymers of p-Hydroxystyrene and p-Methoxystyrene via Living Cationic Polymerization with BF₃OEt₂/ROH Systems Macromolecules 2000, 33,5830-5835.