Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Materia, BASF In Technology Licensing Deal

Pasadena-based Materia, the advanced chemical technology firm spun out of Caltech, said Tuesday that it has licensed its metathesis technology to specialty chemical firm BASF. Financial terms of the license were not disclosed. According to Materia, BASF will use the technology in research and development of certain specialty chemicals. Materia's olefin metathesis catalyst technology has a very wide range of uses in the chemistry industry, and is based on reserach from Professor Robert Grubbs at Caltech. Grubbs was the recipient of the Nobel Prize for the technology in 2005. The firm also has major licensing deals with companies Dow Corning, Cargill Corporation, and others. Materia is headed by Michael Giardello.

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