Fast forward about 7 years and I contact Dr.? Vineet Bajpai (Bus. Manager- Fuel Solutions and Polyisobutylene for BASF here in the US).\u00a0 I simply request that BASF supply some rudimentary information for my book on cationic polymerization, the bulk of which has already appeared in print years before.\u00a0 What was the response that that I got from him and Ulrich Eichenauer and Anette Eckerle (titles unknown)?\u00a0 Nein, asking BASF to do such a thing was verboten!\u00a0 To say that I am disappointed with BASF\u2019s stance is a major understatement.\u00a0 My thinking was that this company might be progressive in the way they conduct themselves and that they were truly dedicated to the betterment of mankind.\u00a0 Guess I was wrong there.\u00a0 Again, my hope is that someone in charge will prove to me that BASF is truly dedicated to education in the chemical sector and do the right thing and cooperate with me.\u00a0 I will say this, I have talked with other people there (high ranking R&D scientists) and they share my sentiments.\u00a0 That is, since the chemistry is well known and there is no IP risk whatsoever what is the big deal especially since it is free promotion of BASF and for the educational benefit of scientists in training!!!<\/p>\n
ExxonMobil:\u00a0 I contacted this company around the time I first started having dealings with BASF.\u00a0 At the time I had recently invented the first aqueous polymerization system for isobutene and I recall the people who I talked with (in their butyl R&D department) being completely ignorant of the fact that polymer could be made under such conditions.\u00a0 My attempts at developing some sort of collaboration with them didn\u2019t even get past the conversational stage so I quickly decided to stop wasting my time with them.\u00a0 Once I started writing the second book chapter (on polyisobutene and butyl rubber) I contacted one of their main R&D scientists via phone (Dr. Tim Shaffer).\u00a0 At that time I was excited to talk with him as I held him in high regard.\u00a0 When I requested information from him instead of providing me with the resources I was looking for he instead suggested I simply read the most recent summary that he and others from Exxon had published.\u00a0 It was a major disappointment to me especially since there was really nothing new in their summary compared to those written about 20+ years prior to its publication.\u00a0 Interestingly when I dug into Exxon\u2019s newest and greatest technologies I wasn\u2019t impressed as they really amount to a major waste of millions of R&D funds and no real improvements from an environmental standpoint.\u00a0 Even their energy efficient initiator system is only about 90 years old!!!\u00a0 I\u2019m not overly surprised by the waste given the fact that when I attempted to contact Rex Tillerson (the CEO of Exxon) the head of their Chemical R&D department (Michael C. Kirby) told me that my chemistry (isobutene polymerization) had no overlap with any products produced by Exxon (see letter below).\u00a0 Someone should remind me to eventually point out the significance of the date in this letter<\/span>.\u00a0 So the breaking news story from Exxon should be Exxon no longer makes butyl rubber<\/span><\/em>!<\/p>\n TPC: Some months ago I wrote to Ms. Sara Cronin (corporate communications) of this company.\u00a0 I never received a response from anyone there.\u00a0 At this moment I do not know of anyone in their R&D sector and my guess is their chemistry is antiquated at best.\u00a0 Should anyone from this company have a desire to provide basic information and get a free plug in my upcoming book by all means please feel free to contact me through my website.\u00a0 Such a collaboration could have ancillary benefits as well (I do know a thing or two about IB polymerization).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The following details my interaction with companies that manufacture polyisobutene and butyl rubber. BASF: For those who do not know, I have had dealings with BASF on and off for about 8+ years.\u00a0 This began not long after I started … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/innovscience.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Exxon-letter-Kirby.jpg\" "\\"Exxon")
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