New class of rubbery plastic materials,with promise of big economies,produced in lab by Cornell researchers

摘要

An entirely new class of rubbery plastics has been produced in the laboratory by a Cornell University researcher and two co-workers.Because the material uses two common and inexpensive petroleum products,ethylene and polyethylene,for its feedstock,the research has the promise of greatly reduced production costs.The development is the result of a chance discovery by Geoffrey Coates,assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell,of a long-sought catalyst that enables the new polymer to be "grown"from molecules of ethylene and propylene.A catalyst-in this case,based on titanium-is a substance that increases the rate of chemical reaction without itself changing chemically."We didn't predict this.It was an example of serendipity"says Coates.