杏吧原创

Walk down a supermarket aisle and you鈥檒l find most vitamins hiding inside opaque plastic bottles to prevent them from spoiling. So how do energy drinks like VitaminWater, which is sold in clear plastic bottles that often sit in the sun for lengthy periods, keep their touted nutrients fresh?

The extra ingredients are light-blocking chemicals that are infused into the plastic. 鈥淭he chemicals鈥� sole purpose is to protect the beverage inside,鈥� says Steve Andrews, an applications chemist and research fellow at chemical giant BASF in Tarrytown, New York. 鈥淭he consumer will never know this technology is there.鈥�

Applications chemists help develop new uses for their companies鈥� products. One example is BASF鈥檚 UV blockers, which are also used to coat solar cells, helping them last longer and work more efficiently. This sort of work makes a big impact: chemists who work in product development touch every aspect of daily life, such as transforming natural gas into plastic packaging, creating sparkly toothpaste that coaxes kids to brush their teeth and developing the nation鈥檚 favourite chocolate bar.

鈥淲hen I speak to students on campus visits, I tell them they can work on projects that could affect half a billion consumers,鈥� says Peter Gallagher, vice president of global skin R&D for Unilever. 鈥淓ven drug companies don鈥檛 have that kind of reach.鈥�

As a chemist in product development, you have to balance creating something that is novel to consumers and will satisfy their needs with boosting the company鈥檚 bottom line, ticking the health and safety boxes and ensuring that you don鈥檛 inadvertently step on a competitor鈥檚 proprietary toes.

Not only does this make for an absorbing challenge, but with chemical companies increasingly outsourcing their research and development, it also makes economic sense for chemists to look for a job in product development. 鈥淕raduates need to switch their mindset and realise that they may not be doing fundamental research but something further down the production line,鈥� says David Harwell, assistant director for career management at the American Chemical Society.

鈥淭he closer the product is to the customer, the more the company will invest, so this is where the jobs are. If they can鈥檛 sell it, they aren鈥檛 going to make it.鈥�

Creative solutions

Kraft Foods, which employs more than 3,000 food scientists, chemists and engineers, is one company that has stepped up investment. In 2011, new products accounted for three per cent more of its net revenue than in 2008, says spokesman Richard Buino. This has included removing more than 6,000 tonnes of salt from nearly 1,000 products sold in the US, and replacing artificial preservatives in hotdogs with celery juice. 鈥淥ur chemists have played an important role in boosting the popularity of our products by adapting recipes to fit local consumers鈥� tastes and improving our foods鈥� nutritional profiles,鈥� says Buino.

Unilever is also doing well, says Gallagher, who puts it down to people鈥檚 desire to buy products that make them feel good, even during a recession: 鈥淲hen times are tough, people go back to brands they trust.鈥�

Product development work at large multinational companies allows scientists to think creatively 鈥� and it pays well. PhD-level scientists earn on average $10,000 more at companies with 25,000 or more employees than the average wage across companies of all sizes combined, according to the ACS.

So how do you land a spot at one of these multinational corporations? Companies say they seek research scientists who can see things from a business perspective. 鈥淚f you come up with a fantastic invention that is just not affordable or is inconsistent with the marketing position of the brand, you have to be able to let it go,鈥� says Neil Randle, operations director for skincare at Unilever鈥檚 R&D laboratories in Trumbull, New Jersey. 鈥淭his can sometimes be a little difficult for scientists, because those ideas are our babies.鈥�

Being willing and able to move abroad for a job will also mark you out, says Harwell. So will the ability to speak and write coherently about your research 鈥� you鈥檒l be expected to work closely with marketing, supply and finance colleagues, and interact with customers.

鈥淥ften you鈥檙e explaining what can be quite complex and precise science to people who do not have a scientific background, and you have to find a way to communicate so they get it quickly,鈥� says Randle. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e often working to deadlines, and everybody has to play their part to get to a successful product launch.鈥�

When Randle joined Unilever after completing a chemistry PhD, his first big project was the launch of Dove shower gel and bath foam in Europe. Transforming the beloved beauty bar into a liquid was no easy challenge, he recalls. 鈥淲e had to develop a very specific formula that would be consistent with all the benefits that the bar provided,鈥� he says. That included incorporating the brand鈥檚 one-quarter moisturising cream claim, plus a consistent fragrance that consumers would recognise as Dove.

After 25 years with Unilever, Randle says he still enjoys the variety that working for a big company offers.

鈥淎nyone who decides to work in a particular industry, let alone a particular company, for 25 years has to have fun doing it,鈥� he says. 鈥淔or me, it鈥檚 the variety. If you want to work on ice cream, you can go work on ice cream. If you want to work on toilet bleach, you can go work on toilet bleach. If you want to work in more of a factory environment, want to travel, or if you want to become a true world expert, the opportunities are all over the place. You just have to look for them.鈥�