SOME NEW KEYS TO COSMETIC CHEMISTRY--1956 245 Squalene was synthesised from synthetic and from natural nerolidol, and was utilised to the same extent as natural squalene for cholesterol synthesis by rat liver cells. TM In passing from squalene to cholesterol, the oxygen added to form the intermediate,, lanosterol, was shown • to come from molecular oxygen, not from water, and the oxidocyclase system, involved was believed to be a metalloenzyme similar to oxidases working upon various aromatic and hydroaromatic compounds. TM The last links are 'being furnished in the series of steps involved in synthesislug cholesterol from acetate, TM and the data obtained may hasten the control of ageing in arteries, connective tissues, etc. Evidence was presented indicating that a defic!ency of vitamin B 6 may influence development of atherosclerosis. m In humkn cartilage, uronic acid was found to decline with age, and hexdsamine to increase in relative concentration, up to maturity.•78 Examin- ation of individual colla'gen fibres and bundles with the phase cor•trast microscope revealed variant fibres with chemical and physical behiviour differing "from that •of collagen, with the proportion of the variant fibres apparently related to age. TM 'Observation of the greatly increased amounts of work needed to br/ng the cbllagen fibres of rats from the stretched inelaitic state to the contracted elastic state, as compared with fibres from young rats, led to the conclfision that forces between the collagen molecules change with age of animal. •8ø• A study of' cross-linking mechanism in polymers such as polyethylene has yielded some basic data which may be applicable to similar processes which possibly are involved in the changes of connect'lye tissue fibres with age. TM The conjugated lipides of connective tissue were reported to increvise with age in the rat. •ø•' In human skin succinic dehydrogenase concentration was found to be lower in older than in younger persons. •øa ANALYTICAL METHODS Improved• analytical methods have continued to make the cosmetic chenfists' work more accurate. and effective. An improved method for deterruination of h•drocarbons in cold creams is based on adsorption of other nonvolatile materials on alumina. •ø4 The mass spectrometer was found to be valuable in relating composition of paraffins to melting point and penetrability, but not to tensile strength.. •* The separation of mixtures of fatty acids by chromatographic columns has improved,-and the saturated fatty acids from C-6 to C-22 have been quantitatively separated b.y this method. • Since the use of gas-liquid partition chromatography was first reported TM in•1952, it has made possible a tremendously more effective detailed •nalysis of complex mixtures. Sebum has been shown to contain at least 31 fatty acids, *• andsthree branched four-and five-carbon acids have for the first time been shown to be compon- ents of animal depot fat. TM The method has proven extremely valuable in

246 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS the analysis of essential oils and other mixtures of odorants, "9 and in the examination of aerosol ingredients and products." 0 A gas analyser measur- ing sound velocity in gases may find application as the detector unit in the gas chromatograph. TM By ion-exchange chromatography, commercial adenosine triphosphate was found to contain 8 per cent tetraphosphate and a small amount of pentaphosphate. •2 •/[ISCELLANEOUS Biochemistry has progressed far since the time, only 20 or 30 years ago, when "some biologists were still insistent that comparison of the living cell with any physicochemical system was sheer impertinence. ""3 Szent- Gyorgyi points out that some biological phenomena may belong to the domain of "quantum biology," and suggests that three new factors may have to be introduced into biological thought: water structures, the electro- magnetic field, and triplets or some other unusual form of excitation made possible by water structures. TM The importance of water structures is connected with the likelihood that cells contain very little random water, but do contain ice, or more exactly water which has acquired an ordered structure around surfaces. Thus water forms cubic lattices around non- polar substances? 5 Electropolar groups on surfaces may also induce order in the adjacent water. TM The biochemical use of radioactive tracers may be expanded by Wflz- bach's report that a wide variety of organic compounds can be labelled (more or less at random) by warming them for a few days with tritium in sealed tubes.•97 THE PACE OF PROGRESS As is apparent from the above selective review, 1958 was a year of extremely rapid progres• in the life sciences. The rate of progress is likely to continue to accelerate at least for the duration of the current period of prosperity. The government grants which sustain about 60 per cent of the research in this country TM continue to be available. Of the Federal grants for unclassified research in the life sciences, at least 143 subjects in the report •*• for fiscal 1954 were judged to be of interest to the cosmetic chemist. TM For fiscal 1955, 223 subjects were considered of interest. TM In the important fields of enzyme mechanisms and protein structure, 03 projects were listed in 1955 against 88 in 1954. Federal backing of research and development, which totalled $2.•1 billion in fiscal 1955 and $2.4 billion in 1•5•, is expected to reach $2.7 billion in fiscal 1957. TM The Federal budget for fiscal 1958 calls for $:i.4 billion for research. •ø* There appears to be a general impression that U.S. management, both industrial and govern- mental, has favoured applied over basic research it is therefore encouraging