Sumikaclean® ED is the special polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) sheet for the transparent soundproof materials used for expressways and railways. Sumikaclean ED has good impact-resistant, soundproof, wind-resistant, weather-resistant, rubbing-resistant, and flame-retardant properties that are needed for the transparent soundproof materials. In this paper, we report the results of the investigation to add some important properties before we reached the development of Sumikaclean® ED. And some properties of sumikaclean® ED are presented.
( by Kazuo Hieda, Shinsuke Ochiai, Koichi Tokuyama, Katsumi Akada )

To develop a substitute for the ply wood panel is an urgent matter for the sake of forest conservation in the world. "KATAWORK®" made of glass fiber reinforced polypropylene was developed as the substitute. It has excellent performances compared with the ply wood panel or the other substitutes. The background of the investigation and the properties of the product will be outlined.
( by Takahisa Hara, Kohji Yamatsuta, Yukito Nakamura, Yoshinori Ohmura )

Comb like polymer polyol (abbreviated by CPO) which consists of polyethylene as the main chain and polyol as the side chain in its structure has many unique properties. In this paper, two new multi functional additives which are designed by using CPO are introduced. Main applications of Sumiaid® are the flow improver and the permanent anti-static agents for plastics. Those of Sumiguard® are the anti-blooming and anti-mold-contamination agents for rubbers.
( by Noboru Yamaguchi, Sumio Hara, Tohru Fujiki )

Sumikaron® Brilliant Red S-BWF, a new benzodifuranone-type disperse dye, has good build-up properties and excellent fastness properties especially to washing. The dye was developed in order to meet the strong demand from dyeing industry for a dye of good wet-fastness. It has already made an intense impact on the market in a short span of time after its launch in 1993. The invention of the dye was based on intensive studies into the mechanism of wet-fastness of disperse dyes and benzodifuranone chemistry. Some of the interesting results, such as (1) the investigation of the wet-fastness properties of disperse dyes, (2) the quantitative structure-dyeing property relationships of benzodifuranones, (3) a new synthetic method for benzodifuranones and (4) the important features of Sumikaron® Brilliant Red S-BWF, are presented in this review.
( by Yasuyoshi Ueda, Yosuke Yamamoto, Nobuyuki Katsuda )

We applied a human metaphase finding system (Magiscan) to find Chinese hamster cells (CHL/IU or CHO-K1) in metaphase. The chromosome observation system consisting of one main and two satellite systems has been developed. The main system is for metaphase finding, and the coordinates of located metaphases on a glass slide are stored in the computer. The satellite systems are for relocation of metaphases by an automatic stage controller. More than 90% of metaphases on slides were recognized by the system. The accuracy of metaphase finding was virtually not affected by cell density or staining conditions. There were no significant differences in the frequency of structural chromosomal aberrations or polyploidy between the Magiscan-assisted and manually searched metaphases.
( by Masaki Hara, Kyoko Odawara, Keisuke Yamamoto, Iwao Nakatsuka )

As a pioneer, we introduced computer Chemistry more than one decade ago. Up to this point, many fruitful results were obtained for the design of new molecules. This approach are extending to new materials development. Our activities in computational materials science are demonstrated with several applications; study and analysis about polymers, electronic related materials, surfaces and catalysts. The future of this field is also discussed.
( by Fumisato Goto, Masamitsu Ishitobi, Tomoaki Endo, Masaya Ishida, Akiko Nakazono, Yasunari Zempo, Takeshi Kikuchi )