Platinum Metals Review - Volume 21, Issue 1, 1977

A wide range of studies carried out by cell biologists and biochemists lead to the conclusion that platinum anti-tumour compounds exert their potency by stopping the replication of DNA, thereby preventing cell division. This is most likely achieved by the formation of a complex between the bases of the DNA and the platinum compounds. The exact nature of this binding is not yet understood.

Basalt, a rock which results when molten lava from deep in the earth’s crust rises up and cools sufficiently to solidify is found in many parts of the world. In some notable instances it covers areas of many thousands of square miles. This paper describes work carried out to produce commercially useful fibre from the basalt which occurs as an enormous outcrop in Idaho, Oregon and Washington in the United States of America.

Economic considerations require that platinum metals and alloys used as catalysts should have a high surface to volume ratio, thus extremely small particles are required. This article describes a tribophysical process for producing such particles uniformly dispersed on alumina. The catalytic activity and life of the materials produced have been tested for the oxidation of hydrocarbon gas and the results are discussed.