How was the new blue "YInMn Blue" for the first time in 200 years born from the laboratory? And can you find a new "red"?

As a crayon manufacturer's "Crayola" in 2017 put "a completely new blue" in the new colorRecruit a nameIt became a topic. New blue discovered for the first time in 200 years "YInMn Blue(Inmin Blue) "is a coincident product, it has gained a lot of attention due to having safety, durability and vividness that exceeds the existing blue, but how this blues studies Researchers have revealed whether they were born from a room.

Mas Subramanian's Quest for a Billion-Dollar Red
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2018-quest-for-billion-dollar-red/

In 2009, a team of Professor Mas Sublamanian of Oregon University accidentally found "New Blue". New blue discovered for the first time in 200 years has appeared as a new color of old-fashioned crayon maker "Crayola" in 2017.

A new "blue" born in the laboratory is now looking for a name as a new color of a long-established crayon maker - GIGAZINE


The new blue color is called "YInMn Blue (Inmin Blue)" taking the names of three elements "Yttrium (Y)", "Indium (In)" and "Manganese (Mn)" contained in the material. It is believed that this new hue is industrially attracting great attention not only in terms of exotic coloration but also new green and purple can be made by mixing other minerals. Specifically, it turns green when copper is mixed, turns into orange when iron is mixed, and purple can be made by mixing zinc and titanium.


However, according to Professor Sublamanian, it seems that there is no way to make "new red".

Historically, "red" is difficult to make and many substances that are toxic are often used to produce color. Gladiators painted red based on mercury on the face, painter'sTitiano VecellioIs a sulfide mineral of arsenicCrown stoneI used it for paintings. Also for decades, the red Lego block is known as a carcinogencadmiumWas included.

Some existing red colors have problems in safety, others have problems with stability, chromaticity, and opacity. It is used for FerrariRed 254Although it is safe and popular red, it is based on carbon and is susceptible to rain and heat.iron oxideYared ocherEtc. are stable without toxicity and there is a durability manufacture, but there is a disadvantage that it is not a bright hue that people want.

The birth of new colors is widely influenced from the cosmetics industry to the automobile industry and the construction industry, and it is thought that millions of dollars (hundreds of millions of yen) worth of annual value will be born. The discovery of Inmin Blue is also used for cosmetics and trainsPhthalocyanineAlthough it is considered to be industrially successful next to it, on the other hand, there were many walls before new blue appears in the market in the general society. Therefore, even if a new red is found, it takes a long time to get it to the market.

Professor Saburamann who will be 64 years old in the photograph. Professor Sublamanian was born in Chennai, Eastern India. Professor Sublamanian who grew up in a city facing the Bay of Bengal grew up fascinated by the composition of things, such as seeing beautiful shells on the coast and thinking "How can nature make such things?"


The color of the object is the color that the atoms that make up the object reflect the sun's light. As a result, 16.8 million colors can be expressed on a computer, but a chemical compound is required to actually reproduce the color with an object, and in the real world it can not express a variety of colors as much as a computer.

When Inmin Blue was discovered, Professor Sublamann was not mixing ingredients to create new specific colors. Professor Sublamanian's team has a combination of ferromagnetism, ferroelectricity and strong elasticityMultiferroic substancesI was looking for. Mr. Andrew Smith, a doctorate researcher, puts a gray substance mixed with pale white yttrium, black indium oxide, and yellow manganese in a small dish and put it in a small Kamado about 1200 degrees, 12 hours Late that the compound in the plate had changed to a beautiful blue color like ripe blueberries.


Inmin Blue changes the lightness of the color when adjusting the amount of manganese.


Professor Sublamanian who completed doctoral course at the Indian Institute of Technology has been a science-based complex company · for the next 30 yearsDuPontI was studying about solid material science. There are 54 patents acquired under Professor Sublamanian including those for superconducting materials and thermoelectric materials. However, it was said that the blue substance that Professor Sublamann saw was something I had never seen before. Professor Sublamanian seems to have always been worried that "Is this a reality? You are watching even a dream?"

Blue is a color full of nature, but it has been regarded as a difficult color to make with human hands. As "Ultramarine" made from lapis lazuli, which is a kind of jewelry, was too expensive, Vermeer, a painter who used plenty of Ultramarine pigment, is said to have put the family in a mire of debt.

The most expensive color in the world, the history of more precious pigment "Ultramarine" than gold - GIGAZINE


Prussian BlueIt was in the 18th century that the first synthetic pigment called " After that, many of the blue which became commonly usedcobaltIs used.

Professor Sublamanian and Mr. Smith conducted a test by immersing the newborn compound in acid, etc. As a result, it was found that Inmin Blue is an inactive substance, it does not fade and has no toxicity. I found that the durability is higher than Ultramarine and Prussian Blue. It is safer than cobalt blue, brighter than phthalocyanine blue, and darker than Victoria Blue. When the chicken coat painted with Inmin Blue was placed under the lamp, when the chicken coat painted with Inmin Blue mixed with the chicken hood with roofing covered with chromium oxide and cobalt blue and chromium oxide was high, the chicken hut painted with Inmin Blue The temperature was 12 degrees lower than that of cobalt blue one.

Professor Sublamanian announced a paper on the nature of Inminbrun at the American Chemical Journal, and in 2012 acquired a patent.

after that,LANXESS·BASF·Venator Materials, Independent of DuPontKemersMany companies gave a name as investors, and According to a survey of investigating companies, the value of Inmin Blew has reached 30 billion dollars (about 3.2 trillion yen). Although it is a beautiful color, it is highly safe, durable, stable and environmentally friendly, so it is expected to have a large industrial value. It was thought that becoming a popular color "blue" became one factor to raise the value.

The patent was acquired under Professor Sublamanian, but since it was discovered at university facilities, royalties were divided with Oregon State. So treat the pigmentShepherdWhen trying to sell Inmin Blue, it says that the issue of licensing was overwhelming. Shepherd investigates Inmin Blue's environmental resilience, regulatory compliance, cost, etc., and then acquires an exclusive license in 2015. Shepherd decided to use Inmin Blue as an industrial paint, and in September 2017, only after nine years had passed since the discovery of Inmin Blue, the US Environmental Protection Agency would use Inmin Blue as a commercial industrial paint Approved.

ShepherdColorJapan
http://www.shepherdjapan.com/


If Shepherd clears the Toxic Substances Control Act / TSCA of the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States, Inmin Blue will be used for more uses, but at the time of writing the article has been approved Normally, Inmin Blue is used in a limited range, such as being adopted as "Bluetiful" in Crayola's Crayola. In addition, indium, which is a material of Inminbr, can be used for liquid crystals such as smartphones, so demand is high and it is traded at a high price, so it gets up to 1000 dollars (about 110,000 yen) with 1 kg of Inmin Blue The point that becomes a bottleneck is becoming a bottleneck. However, the researchers are continuing to study methods of replacing indium with other substances, and it is considered that there is a demand as a coating material for skyscrapers and the like due to the durability that it will last 50 years if painted once It is.

Professor Sublamanian has not been able to obtain royalties even after nine years of discovery, as it took time to clear a number of tests and regulations, plus licensing related investment and expenses to attorneys. Thing. However, the presence of Inmin Bring gives Professor Saburamanian vitality and direction to research, Professor Sublamanian says, "If we can create red pigment, it will lead to great success" and the next color making I am burning passion.

Although patent No. 8, 282, 728 simply stated "intense blue color", the true invention of Professor Sublamanian is called the crystal structure of the compound or "trigonal bipyramidal coordination" (coordination of trigonal bipyramidal coordination) It is in an atomic array. This structure can reflect and absorb other colors, so you can create green, purple etc based on Inmin Blue.


Jun Lee researcher enrolled in the laboratory of Professor Sublamanian initially thought that "Red can be made if reducing the amount of indium". But this is not as easy as it is expressed in words. Many of the red pigments are semiconductors, and ingenuity is necessary to maintain conductivity. One approach is to adjust the distance of the atoms contained in the compound, so that researchers think of the idea of ​​absorbing blue in the compound with absorbed energy of electrons when light hits and reflecting red It was. However, when I tried it I said that it turned gray instead of red. "I can predict, but I do not know until I try," Lee researcher says.

If it becomes possible to reduce the amount of indium or to replace another substance with indium, it will be possible to create a new "red" at a lower cost as well. Cadmium used for red pigment for many years has been found to be harmful to the human body by research in recent years. German researchers as a material of red pigment replacing cadmiumAsh titanium stoneAlthough it announced in 2000, it was too expensive and there were never any pigments made from ash titanium stones on the market.

The EU is considering prohibiting the sale of cadmium pigment, but it has not been realized from the pressure of the artist group. In this situation, if Professor Sublamanian succeeds in developing new red, new red should be used instead of cadmium. Also known as Natural Red 4Cochineal pigmentIs approved for use in foods by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but new red can be replaced with such dyes. Red is only 8% of the whole car, but because it is a popular color in expensive sports cars, it is seen that there is a possibility of generating great economic value in the market.

byMatese Fields

The presence of Inmin Blue changed the life of Saburamanian in another sense. Professor Sublamanian said that she was invited to the museum when traveling with his wife, New York. Professor Saburamanian who dislikes museums always refuses to invite, but by chance on this tripWassily KandinskyHe said he stopped his feet in front of the work "Blue Mountain". I was robbed of the vivid blue drawn with Ultramarine. Professor Sublamanian answers "This is absolutely iron oxide" against the color of the wall of the bar, and is appealing to the attraction of "color" through Inmin Blue.

Although the subramanian professor did not become wealthy by the discovery of Inmin Blue, it is said that he is proud of this 57 th patent.

Studying about new pigments, though careful planning and carefully prepared a strategy, I do not know what will be born by actually doing it. Professor Sublamanian tells a joke that he may find new electrons while looking for new red. Professor Sublamanian who was asked, "Are you sure of finding a new red?", He said that while laughing, "No, we are just going forward."