The Montreal protocol was drastically revise and the international phase-out schedules for the productions, distribution, and use of CFCs and 1, 1, 1-trichloroethane have been significantly accelerate. The recent state in relation to regulation for the use and production of CFCs and 1, 1, 1-trichloroethane is described.
Aqueous, semi-aqueous and solvent cleaning process are adopted as the alternatives and merit and the point issue of these processes are also discussed from the viewpoint of removal mechanism of soils from the surfaces. Cleaning agents used in these alternative processes are explained.

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The following means are proposed for the utilization of waste edible oil : forward to other shops, blend with stock feed, make into soaps, quenching oil, manure, paint and ink and fuel. This paper presents the effects on foaming ability and detergency of soap made from waste edi ble oil and on the growth of aquatic life.
Anisidine and carbonyl values of soap prepared at room temperature for 34 d from waste edible oil were markedly higher than those of waste edible oil. The foaming ability of waste edible oil soap was slightly less than market soap, but the detergency of soap was the same in all cases. There were no-market soap and waste edible oil soap on the flora of microorganism in river water. The inhibitory action of waste edible oil soap to wards Oryzias latipes (himedaka) growth was very weak.

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It is generally known that among the synthetic polymers, aliphatic polyesters are susceptible to biological attack. Polycaprolactone (PCL) with Mn 25, 000 are completely degraded by Penicillium sp. strain 26-1. It is found that aliphatic polyesters are hydrolyzed by several lipases andhog liver esterase. Melting point (T_m) of aliphatic polyesters has an effect on their degradabilities by lipase. Recently, the eyes of the world are focused on aliphatic polyesters as a biodegradable synthetic plastics. Various kinds of biodegradable plastics containing ester bonds have been developing. Ester type polyurethanes, copolyesters of aliphatic and aromatic polyesters, copoly amide-esters and copolymers composed of 2-methylene-1, 3, 6-trioxocane and styrene or vinyl acetate were hydrolyzed by lipase. The biodegradability can be effectively provided to conven tional plastics/PCL blends by conducting the design of mix combining the composition and melt viscosity ratio of the blends. Furthermore, the ecological roles of lipase are discussed.

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Characteristics of soaps, natural surfactants and bioemulsifiers as well as biosurfactants are reviewed and reevaluated as useful amphipathic materials in comparison with synthetic surfactants from petroleum origin. Then, new functions of microbial biosurfactants are inspected on polycarboxylic-type spiculisporic acid and agaricic acid, rhamnolipid A and B, cyclopeptide-type surfactin, and saponin-type aescin. Mimicking chemical structures of useful biosurfactants, biomimetic surfactants such as synthetic corynomycolic acid analogues having sole dialkyl chain structures and sophorolipid analogue having different hydroxyalkanoyl chain from microbial origin were prepared aiming at modification and improvement of original biosurfactants. There have been many hybrid-type chemical modifiers of pharmaceuticals with amphipathic moieties. Otherwise, chemical sensing or control release systems were aggressively constituted from liposomes consisting of pH-, reductant-, glucose- and chemical stimuli-sensi tive biomimetic surfactants as well as polysoap coat forming helical chains on liposomal surface.

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Biodegradation represents a significant removal mechanism for surfactants in variety of environmental compartments, decreasing exposure levels and increasing environmental safety factors. Therefore, biodegradation is an important factor that should be taken account in the environmental assessment process.
The effective way to evaluate the environmental acceptability of newly developed surfactants is to assess their biodegradability under conditions which simulate the real world envilonment.

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The exposure of chemical substances to human beings through any kind of contact with water is used to dominate the discussion of the environmental problems of chemical substances in water. Recently, the effects of chemical substances on the ecosystem through water have also become a subject of discussion. This review describes the methods for biodegradation tests, aquatic toxicity tests, and simulation tests which are the main principles of environmental compatibility evaluation in water, and in addition demonstrates the most recent examples of evaluation for surfactants using these methods.
These new examples of evaluation are distinguished by the fact that the possibilities of ulti mate biodegradation of surfactants are vigorously investigated and the aquatic toxicities of surfactants, including their intermediates, are evaluated thoroughly. On the development of surfactants which might in future be disposed of or released into the environment, it seems that each company is responsible for ascertaining their environmental compatibility before putting them on the market, and at the same time, the strategically important point for companies is to be able to conduct the most effective evaluation in the shortest time.

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The effects of nitrogen moieties on the autoxidation of phospatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylcholine (PC) were studied in Tween 20 micelles at 37°C under air. When the oxidation was initiated by a water-soluble azo compound, the rate of oxidation of PE and PC was proportional to the number of bisallylic hydrogens and to the square root of azo-initiator concentration, and independent of difference in nitrogen moieties of PE and PC. When oxidation was induced by copper (II) ion, the kinetic order in the concentration of copper (II) ion was 0.5, suggesting that the oxidation may thus be initiated by radicals formed in the copper (II) ion-catalyzed decomposition of phospholipid hydroperoxides. The rate of oxidation per the number of bisallylic hydrogens of PE was 6.5-times larger than that of PC, possively due to the formation of the PE-copper (II) ion complex. The accelerating effect of the ethanolamine moiety on oxidation induced by copper (II) ion was confirmed by the finding that the oxidation of PC was promoted by the addition of non-oxidizable dimyristoyl-PE but not dimyristoyl-PC.

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This study was conducted to evaluate the biological effects of residual nickel (Ni) in hydrogenated oil.
Six groups of young rats were fed diets containing different levels (0, 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1000 ppm as Ni) of Ni-chloride for 4 weeks, and effects on growth, accumulation of Ni in organs and tissues, excretion of Ni into the feces and urine, and metallothionein formation in the liver were investigated.
Diets containing Ni more than 500 ppm caused lower growth rate and higher Ni accumulation in the liver, lung, kidney and whole blood.
In all Ni-supplemented groups, however, Ni excreted into the feces was about 90 % total Ni excreted, and no Ni-containing metallothionein could be found in the liver.

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A comparative study was made on fatty acid profiles of lipids in various tissues and feces from rats fed for 28 d one of the following diets 20 % in fat content : soybean oil mixed either with trans- or cis-dococenoic acid (TDO : t-22 : 1 18.1 %, CDO : c-22 : 1 18.2 %) blended rapeseed oil (RSO : c-22 : 1 17.9%) and soybean oil (as control).
1) The proportion of t-22 : 1 was markedly low (0.10.4%) in all tissues examined in rats fed TDO, but slightly higher in adipose tissue (0.6%) and adrenal (0.5%). The proportion in fecal lipids was extremely high (51.3%). The same has been noted for c-22 : 1, but the proportion of c-22 : 1 in each tissue of rats fed CDO and RSO was slightly higher (0.57.2%) than that (0.12.6%) of t-22 : 1.
2) Virtually no dietary t-22 : 1 was incorporated into liver phospholipids. Incorporation into liver subcellular granules was only slight, as also observed for c-22 : 1. The proportion of c-22 : 1 was lower in liver subcellular granules, but higher in the cytosol fraction, compared to that in whole liver.
3) In serum lipids, the proportion of t- or c-22 : 1 in HDL phospholipids was slightly higher than that in LDL phospholipids.
4) Dietary long-chain trans-monoenoic acids present in hardened fish oil, would thus appear to be preferentially excreted into feces and incorporated into various tissues in very small amounts, particularly in the case of liver subcelullar granules and membranes, even when fat contains trans acids at considerably high levels. The incorporation of long chain cis-monoenoic acids into various tissues was slightly higher than that of the corresponding trans acids.

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The electron spin resonance (ESR) spectra of a spin probe, deuterated 2, 2, 6, 6-tetramethyl-4-oxo piperidine-d₁₆-1-oxyl (TEMPONE-D), in the binary system of 3- (isooctadecyloxy) -1, 2-propanediol (GE) and water were measured for structural clarification of a liquid crystal (LC) in the GE/water system. Deuteration of the TEMPONE molecule should contribute to narrow ESR signals. The narrow signals facilitated the analysis of ESR signal patterns and obtaining dynamic information on molecular aggregation. In the system whose weight fraction of water was more than 0.25 (LC+water), two sets of ESR signals of TEMPONE-Dcorresponding to LC of GE and separated water, could be observed sepalately. The exchange rate of TEMPONE-D between the LC of GE and separated water is thus quite slow. Consequently, as noted previously, LC of GE may serve to maintain the reversed hexagonal structureand its strong hydrophobicity, regardless of water content. The present method was found quite useful for examining the characteristics of a molecular aggregation such as LC.

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