Jun 12 2007
Symyx Technologies, Inc., a global leader in helping companies maximize the effectiveness and success of their R&D programs, today announced that Federico II University in Naples, Italy, is opening a new academic research facility based on the Symyx Parallel Pressure Reactor (PPR) workflow. Global industry and academic polyolefins research experts, including Symyx scientists, will be on hand for the official inauguration of the facility on June 22, 2007, and will present on high-throughput technologies and applications at the University’s International Symposium.
“The Symyx PPR has enabled breakthrough research and significant commercial innovations in polyolefins, a field that previously was deemed to be mature,” said Professor Vincenzo Busico, Federico II University. “With the PPR at the center of our new research facility, we continue our tradition of spurring innovation and use of advanced technologies in catalysis and polymer programs throughout our university and partner networks.”
The new High-Throughput Catalyst Screening facility at the Laboratory of Stereoselective Polymerization (LSP) at the University’s Department of Chemistry will be the first academic research environment in the world to leverage a high-throughput research platform for work in polyolefin research. The LSP is an internationally recognized center of excellence in polyolefins, with a strong portfolio of industrial collaborations and partnership with the Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI), a consortium of companies and universities from across Europe dedicated to the advancement of polymer research. Professor Vincenzo Busico, Head of the LSP, also serves as Scientific Chairman of the Polyolefins Technology Area for the DPI.
“With commercial deployment of licensed Symyx-discovered materials in recent years, we have demonstrated that our PPR workflow can dramatically accelerate the process of catalyst and materials discovery and help reduce the time between discovery and commercial application," said Isy Goldwasser, president of Symyx Technologies. “We are honored to join with Prof. Busico and his co-workers at Federico II University to further advance the productivity of research and development.”
The Symyx PPR is an automated platform for parallel polymerization and/or synthesis studies over a range of controlled temperatures and pressures. The workflow includes hardware, software and a fully automated robotic platform, enabling scientists to design experiments, execute syntheses, monitor conversion and analyze data in one complete system.
“In the initial configuration, we expect a 10-fold increase of our catalyst screening potential,” Prof. Busico explained. “Our industrial partners share this vision and we are especially grateful to two of them – namely, Sabic Europe and Dow Chemical – for supporting our effort.”
Symyx scientists will be on hand at the official inauguration of the facility in June, and will present two sessions at the event. The first session will be dedicated to catalysis. The second will cover current trends in polymer science. In both sessions, Symyx scientists will discuss the impact of new research tools and share some of the innovative strategies that commercial R&D facilities have developed to realize new advancements using high-throughput technologies from Symyx.