Platinum Metals Review - Volume 23, Issue 3, 1979

A platinum compound, cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (II)—known as cisplatin—has recently received the approval of the governments of the United States of America and the United Kingdom for chemotherapy of specific cancers. This paper gives a brief account of the discovery of the physiological activity of certain platinum co-ordination complexes by Professor Barnett Rosenberg and his colleagues, and of the clinical development and testing that has now resulted in its acceptance. While work is continuing to develop superior drugs of this type, and to find a better understanding of their modes of action, it is anticipated that this first generation metal anti-cancer drug will be used for many years to come.

The conversion of heat energy, resulting from the decay of plutonium-238 dioxide, to electrical energy for spacecraft requires alloys capable of containing the isotopic fuel at temperatures up to about 2000°C and of withstanding impact velocities of 90 metres per second. The development and properties of a platinum-30 per cent rhodium-8 per cent tungsten and an iridium-0.3 per cent tungsten alloy doped with 40 ppm each of thorium and aluminium, which meet the stringent service requirements, are reviewed.

An international conference on surface science was held at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, in March. More than ninety papers were presented, covering a very broad range of topics in surface science. This review concentrates only on those contributions particularly concerned with the platinum metals.

A comparison of entries in notebooks kept by William Hyde Wollaston with the records of an account that he maintained in the bank of Thomas Coutts & Co, London, serves to establish that approximately three quarters of Wollaston’s output of malleable platinum was disposed of through the London scientific instrument maker, William Cary. This article reviews the relationship between these two men, the nature of their business association and their incomes from the sale of platinum.