The Catalyst Review (April 2017) - 5

COMMERCIAL NEWS
Rennovia Enters Piloting Stage of its Bio-Based 1,6-Hexanediol Process...
Rennovia Inc. has entered the piloting stage of its bio-based 1,6-hexanediol (1,6-HDO) process. The company is accelerating the
commercialization of bio-based 1,6-HDO (a key monomer for high value polyurethane products) and bio-based HMD (hexamethylene
diamine, a nylon-6,6 monomer)-both used in automotive applications. Rennovia's novel production process employs its proprietary
catalyst technology and is projected to provide 1,6-HDO with drop-in performance properties. This bio-based product is anticipated
to have greatly reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) and environmental impacts versus petroleum-based 1,6-HDO. In addition,
Rennovia's 1,6-HDO is a platform intermediate to several commodity chemicals with more than $20 billion market value, including
hexamethylenediamine (HMD), adipic acid, and caprolactam. The completion of key piloting activities and the development of a 1,6HDO commercial design package are anticipated by the end of this year. Rennovia is in active discussions with a number of potential
strategic partners to support the commercialization of 1,6-HDO and downstream products. Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM),
a current investor in the company, has expressed strong interest in supporting Rennovia's commercialization of these products
through feedstock supply and co-investment value chain partnering. Source: Green Car Congress, 3/27/2017.

Industry Perspectives continued from page 1

Among the scientific databases are some specialized chemical databases, such as PubChem and SciFinder. PubChem, an opensource database managed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), can be used to search for and retrieve chemical compounds,
patents, bioactivities, bioassays, and targets. Compounds can be searched by keyword, structure, and molecular formula.
PubChem generates and displays Laboratory Chemical Safety Summaries (LCSS), based on information from multiple sources.
SciFinder is a service of Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), one of the world's largest chemical and scientific databases. SciFinder
was launched in 1995 and has added citing references for articles since then. A chemical substance can be searched in several
ways, including its chemical name. Results can be sorted to find the most-cited articles in a given field or topic. A new improved
version, SciFindern, is scheduled to be launched in Spring 2017.
As databases expand exponentially, searching them efficiently and thoroughly becomes critical, especially for patent-related
searching. Popular general-purpose search engines such as Google are not optimal; more specialized, focused search engines
such as Google Books, Google Patents, and Google Scholar are better. Reaxys Xcelerate from Elsevier (https://www.elsevier.com/
solutions/reaxys) enables searching for substances, reactions, and properties (a single substance can have up to 300 properties).
Advanced searching methods for topics, structures, and reactions are available.
There are hundreds of technical databases, each with its own search tools and content formats, with some overlap of content-
making searching difficult and time-consuming. Federated search services like www.WorldWideScience.org enable searching
multiple databases simultaneously, eliminating duplicates, and then compiling the results in one list.
Reference management software products enable users to create and manage personalized bibliographic databases. They
include EndNote and RefWorks, among others. Users can search them and transfer selected content into and out of them,
facilitating collaboration and publication.
In conclusion, chemical information resources are expanding, increasingly in digital formats and with open access. Specialized
databases and search tools enable rapid, efficient, low-cost access to these resources. Publishers, libraries, professional societies,
software companies, bloggers, and many academic and nonprofit institutions are participating and contributing.

References
C&EN (2015). "How the Internet Changed Chemistry." Chem. & Eng. News; 93(32); 10-34. http://internet.cenmag.org/.
Rapple C. (2011). "The Role of the Critical Review Article in Alleviating Information Overload." Annual Reviews.

www.annualreviews.org/userimages/ContentEditor/1300384004941/Annual_Reviews_WhitePaper_Web_2011.pdf.
About the Author
Dr. Sorab R. Vatcha is a consultant and author in catalysis, chemicals, energy, and environmentally sustainable
("green") products and technologies. His career in consulting, industry, and academia spans four decades. He
has contributed to The Catalyst Review and the Catalytic Advances Program (CAP) of TCG/TCGR. He has an SM
in management of technology from MIT and a PhD in chemical engineering from Caltech. He is a Registered
Professional Engineer (PE), a member of several professional societies, and the author of numerous publications
and presentations.
The Catalyst Review

April 2017

https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/reaxys https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/reaxys http://www.WorldWideScience.org http://internet.cenmag.org/ http://www.annualreviews.org/userimages/ContentEditor/1300384004941/Annual_Reviews_WhitePaper_Web_2011.pdf

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