ORGANIC CHEMICAL INDUSTRY — STINE 183 



which, because of its toughness, beauty, and optical properties, is 

 finding application for a variety of purposes. 



Verily our modern plastics industry is a child of the organic 

 chemical industry, and the same holds equally true in other fields 

 of manufacture — medicinals and dyestuffs in particular. 



Still other organic chemicals, synthesized to meet definite specifi- 

 cations, as it were, have likewise promoted the development of new 

 industries. The "Freon" fluorinated hydrocarbons are an excellent 

 illustration of such "built-to-specification" products. Because 

 "Freon" is not only an excellent refrigerant, but also nonpoisonous, 

 nonexplosive, and nonflammable, it has given great impetus to the 

 air-conditioning industry, and is widely used today in the air-con- 

 ditioning units of theaters, hotels, office buildings, trains, and a 

 rapidly increasing number of homes. 



STIMULATION OF OLD INDUSTRIES 



Products of the organic chemical industry have not only aided 

 in the development of new industries, but also contributed greatly to 

 many of our older industries, such as the manufacture of rubber 

 goods, textiles, paper, automobiles, refrigerators, petroleum prod- 

 ucts, perfumes and flavors, and explosives. 



Of interest in a number of different manufacturing operations are 

 the synthetic alcohols, organic acids, esters, ethers, halogenated 

 hydrocarbons, ketones, urea and substituted ureas, and many other 

 types of aliphatic compounds which in recent years have become com- 

 mercially available. These materials find wide industrial applica- 

 tion, serving as solvents, plasticizers, blending agents, waxes, 

 antifreezes, raw materials for the manufacture of commercial dyna- 

 mites, degreasing solvents, dewaxing agents, extraction media, and 

 solvents for purification by recrystallization. The listing of only a 

 few developments of this type must serve to suggest the whole fas- 

 cinating picture of organic chemical synthesis in aliphatic chemis- 

 try— a field which is still in the very earliest stages of its development. 

 Of outstanding importance in the manufacture of rubber goods are 

 the new and improved organic accelerators, antioxidants, sun-check- 

 ing inhibitors, and agents which nullify the destructive influence of 

 slight traces of copper. The fact that today's automobile tires give 

 some 25,000 miles of service in comparison with 5,000 miles only a 

 few years ago is due in no small degree to the use of such organic 

 rubber chemicals. 



Synthetic rubberlike materials developed within the past few years 

 have likewise been accorded a hearty welcome by fabricators of rub- 

 ber goods. Although these "chemical rubbers" are different in com- 

 position from natural rubber, the physical properties of certain of 



