DALLA SCOPERTA DI NATTA LO SVILUPPO DELL'INDUSTRIA E DELLA RICERCA
SULLE PLASTICHE IN ITALIA
Prefazione - Indice
Prefazione
Most scientists and technologists
bave some degree of interest in the history of their chosen profession
and in particular of their specialty and, of course, there is a constant
flow of new monographs and reviews which cater to this desire. In bis
book, Natta 's Discovery and the Development
of the Research and Plastics lndustry in ltaly, Ezio Martuscelli has
presented us with a compelling account not only of the discovery itself
and of the commercialization of isotactic polypropylene shortly after
Natta's momentous work in 1954, but also how this stimulated the already
vibrant Italian chemical industry and facilitated its growth into its
present major role in the international petrochemical arena.
Our almost daily encounter with Italian world wide dominante in the arts,
in industrial design, in fashion - not to mention gastronomy - may bave
obscured the fact that Italian chemical technology al so has an illustrious
history. This formed the nuc1eus far the rapid expansion of this heavy
industrial sector in converting frolli essentially coal-based to oil-based
chemistry after the Second World War. In Martuscelli's book we also learn
much about the Italian artificial textile fibre industry which was already
highly developed in the earlier part of the twentieth century. Indeed,
in the '20's and '30's, Italy was second only to the D.S. in its production
of cellulosic artifici al fibers.
As always, success in the competitive commercial world can be associated
with the zeal and driving torce of individual leaders and in the case
of the early Italian chemical industry the name of Guido Donegani stands
out as the entrepreneur who in 35 years transformed the small mining company
of Montecatini into a major chemical conglomerate. Realizing the enormous
potential of synthetic polymers, this company had the foresight and imagination
to underwrite the basic research of Giulio Natta and bis group at the
Polytechnic Institute of Milan in the early '50's which led rather quickly
to the remarkable success story skillfully told bere. There already exist
accounts of the basic scientific discoveries which led to stereoregular
polypropylene, including that by Natta himself in bis 1963 Nobel Prize
acceptance speech, but in bis book Martuscelli also provides fascinating
insights . into how this laboratory finding was quickly transformed into
a major industrial product which now forms the basis of the most versattle
plastic currently available.
As in most Western European countries, Italian heavy industry was subjected
to complex governmental intervention including partial nationalization
starting in the '50's and '60's, and the Italian chemical industry was
no exception. Martuscelli describes this sometimes bewildering and tortuous
series of events in brisk detail. We may note
that this intervention was also coupled with useful social engineering.
In the case of the plastics industry, this led to the build up of large
production facilities in the historically under developed mezzogiorno
(south) region of the country.
More recently the chemical industry has been transformed by the advent
of multi-nationalism which has involved restructuring, the formation
of joint ventures, and wholesale takeovers in even more rapid succession.
Again Italian participation in this evolving process is fully described
and Martuscelli then brings us to the current situation in which the
spectre of the "commoditization" of certain plastics forms an important
role. This has helped to bring about a drastic de-emphasis of what used
to be called "industriai basic research". In fact, it is not that "basic
research" has disappeared; rather that its directions afe much more
tightly controlled to enhance the probability of yielding a profitable
outcome on shorter time scales. The continuing appearance of new generations
of propylene polymerization catalysts is a relevant example and provides
us with some evidence that serious research in the chemical industry
is still alive. Nevertheless the change has been quite profound and
traumatic, especially far the researchers. I recall that some forty
years ago I was hired to "do research" in what was then the General
Electric Research Laboratory. On arrival I was given no directions and
after a few days I hesitantly approached the then Director of Chemical
Research, Arthur Bueche (himself a very eminent early polymer researcher)and
asked what I was supposed to be doing. Art seemed genuinely surprised
by my nalve question and told me in no uncertain terms what was expected
from me then was highest quality fundamental research and I was.not
to be concerned with company applications. 
Such
a scene would be totally unimaginable in today's industriallaboratory.
H was fortunate indeed that at the time of Natta's discovery in the
early '50's, a different research culture prevailed.
Natta's influence on the Halian polymer chemical scene was remarkable.
Not only did the native industry obtain an early lead in polypropylene
production, but bis collaborators (P. Corradini, P. Pino: G. Zerbi and
many others) became internationally renowned in their own right far their
pioneering and innovative polymer research in academe, in government,
and in industry. Now the third generation (of whom Ezio Martuscelli is
a distinguished member) is carrying the torch.
Moreover, Natta's work on catalysis can be said to bave led to the genesis
of a whole new direc- tion of polymer development with enormous ramifications.
The recent interest in the exciting and unexpected electro-optical properties
of conjugated polymers in large measure stems from the discovery in Japan
by H. Shirakawa of the lise of Ziegler-Natta catalysts, at higher than
"normal" concentration, in the preparation of metallic-appearing polyacetylene
films in the early 70's, [T. Ho, M. Shirakawa, S. Ikeda, J. Polym. Sci.
12, Il (1974)] [It is interesting to observe that Natta himself had earlier
polymerized acetylene using "normal" catalyst concentrations but obtained
only powders or flakes; G. Natta, G. Mazzanti, P. Corradini, Atti. Acad.
Lincei, Rend. Classe Sci. Fis. Mat. Nat. 25, 3 (1958)]. This important
discovery, and its associated ramifications won Shirakawa, A. MacDiarmid
and A. Heeger the Nobel Prize far Chemistry in 2000, almost 40 years after
K. Ziegler and G. Natta won the same prize in 1963. Thus we bave come
in a full circle though how this will develop in the future is difficult
to predict. The monograph by Martuscelli presents us a wealth of fascinating
information which will indeed help us place these developments in clear
perspective.
Frank E. Karasz
Amherst, Massachusetts, February, 200l
