Celanese and Symyx Sign $20 Million Collaboration
Celanese and Symyx Technologies today announced that they have entered into a $20 million research collaboration in the emerging field of combinatorial materials science.
The partnership is focused on heterogeneous catalysis for commodity chemical applications, a program which began as part of a broad research collaboration initiated in February 1997 between Hoechst AG and Symyx to apply combinatorial chemistry to the discovery and development of new materials for the chemicals industry.
The program has been transferred from Hoechst to its chemical and acetate products company, Celanese, in keeping with Hoechst's decision to focus exclusively on the life sciences. A separate program directed toward the identification of catalysts for life science applications between Hoechst and Symyx continues through Hoechst's subsidiary Aventis Research and Technologies.
Under the terms of the new, expanded three-year partnership, Celanese pays to Symyx up to $20 million in research payments. Symyx will also receive royalties from products commercialized under this agreement. The collaboration will focus on the discovery and enhancement of commercial catalysts, polymer additives and other materials used in commercial chemical production.
"We are pleased with the extraordinary progress in this program to date, " said Hank Kieffer, Chief Technical Officer of Celanese. "We are convinced of the power of Symyx's combinatorial chemistry both to improve existing catalysts and to discover new ones. This partnership provides us with an advanced research program with high commercial potential, as well as access to cutting edge combinatorial materials technology."
According to Isy Goldwasser, Symyx president and chief operating officer, "By partnering this program with Celanese, we are able to continue this important research effort with a world leader in the development of innovative chemical processes."
Celanese, a company in the Hoechst Group, manufactures and markets commodity chemicals and acetate products throughout the world. The company has 12,000 employees located at more than 30 major sites. Celanese produces building blocks in making paints and coatings, textile products, plastics, and adhesives for key industries such as housing, automotive and apparel.
Founded in 1995 by Dr. Alejandro C. Zaffaroni and Peter G. Schultz, Symyx is a research firm in the field of combinatorial materials science, which develops and applies combinatorial methodologies to the discovery and improvement of materials for the chemical and electronics industries.