Mechanisms of Transition Metal Catalyzed Reactions in Hydrocarbons Robert H. Grubbs, California Institute of Technology CHE DMR Co-funded Excerpts from News release:DKG Product Award for Therban® AT New opportunities for the rubber industry based on Nobel Prizewinning technology This press release is from Lanxess about a new family of materials they are producing. The material is made using one of our ruthenium based metathesis catalysts. This application demonstrates the value of fundamentally new technology that makes possible many new applications. While the application has nothing to do with living polymerization, it demonstrates the ability of catalysts to scramble double bonds in the presence of many other functional groups and in a practical industrial environment. The catalysts and the demonstration of their use in polymer applications was funded by NSF. Leverkusen, July 4, 2006 vit/als ( e)

Mechanisms of Transition Metal Catalyzed Reactions in Hydrocarbons Robert H. Grubbs, California Institute of Technology CHE DMR Co-funded Leverkusen – The Leverkusen-based chemicals group LANXESS was presented with the DKG Product Award in the Materials category at the German Rubber Conference in Nuremberg. Judges deemed the development of the new Therban® AT product line worthy of this award. The technology behind Therban® AT is based on discoveries that were accorded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry only last year. Modern rubber items need to cope with ever more demanding application areas. For example under the engine hood even simple hoses and seals need to withstand long-term temperatures of around 150 degrees Celsius. Nowadays, high- performance components made of rubber are expected to withstand several million cycles, in hot environments saturated with oil vapor. For that reason, simple standard rubbers have long since fallen out of use in this area of technology. Hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubbers (HNBR) have earned a good reputation as high-performance alternatives in high- end application areas. The new LANXESS HNBR grades, marketed under the name Therban® AT, can now greatly expand on the potential of this highperformance elastomer in precisely these applications. “They are less viscous than popular HNBR grades and are therefore much easier to process,” says chemist Dirk Achten of the LANXESS Technical Rubber Products business unit. This means that they can be pressed through injection molding nozzles at lower pressures, mixed with other rubber components (e.g. carbon black) more easily, and require far fewer of the auxiliary chemicals that need to be mixed into “conventional” HNBR for processing. As a result, they keep machines clean for longer, enable more rubber parts to be made in less time and, above all, generate products with improved characteristics. However, the DKG Award didn't just reward a particularly promising LANXESS development, but also one of the most interesting. Indeed, this development is based on research results that only earned the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for chemists Chauvin, Schrock and Grubbs as recently as in It took LANXESS only a few years to transform an initial idea into the first high- performance rubber to be optimized using this Nobel Prize-winning chemistry. Other possible applications include solvent-free adhesives, the direct covering and/or coating of fabrics, fibers and cords using low-solvent “spread coat” processes in the production of belts, membranes and printing blankets, IT seals and pneumatic springs.