The synthetic rubber developed during World War II was of very poor quality. After the war the synthetic rubber industry began a program to produce a better synthetic rubber for use in tires. An essential chemical used in the process is the one the initiates the reaction at low temperatures. Scientists at the Naval Stores Laboratory of the Southern Regional Research Center improved the process for making synthetic rubber by substituting a chemical prepared from citrus peel and pine trees for the initiator made from petroleum. This process was adopted by industry and is used to make over 1 million tons of synthetic rubber annually.
Cottonseed contains a pigment called gossypol.
Chickens fed meal containing cottonseed high in gossypol and other contaminants lay eggs with pink whites and green yolks. This limits its use in animal feeds. A good market for cottonseed is essential. Cotton breeders therefore began to work toward producing a cottonseed that did not contain gossypol. Processors required reliable and sensitive methods for analyzing cottonseed for gossypol so that they could assured their customers that the gossypol level was safe.