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23 Jul 2008  -  Germany

Wacker honors researchers for developing highly reactive alpha-silanes

© Wacker Chemie AG

Wacker Chemie AG honored Dr. Volker Stanjek, Dr. Wolfram Schindler and Dr. Thomas Kammel with this year’s “Alexander Wacker Innovation Award” for their pioneering work in organofunctional silanes and the development of silane-curing polymers on July 4, 2008.

The researchers discovered that by changing certain structural elements, they could accelerate the chemical reactivity of silanes by a factor of 100 to 1,000. Highly reactive alpha-silanes enable the production of rapid-curing adhesives and sealants, isocyanate-free construction and installation foams, scratchproof coatings, abrasion-resistant composites and extremely low-tin silicone sealants. This year’s €10,000 innovation award focused on basic research.

Wacker’s chemists studied the so called alpha effect – a phenomenon known for some time. Back in the 1960s, scientists discovered that substitution of certain structural elements leads to higher organofunctional-silane reactivity. This discovery, however, was slowly forgotten.

“The key innovative power of this proposal is not so much observation of the alpha effect itself, but rather recognizing that a fundamental phenomenon has been discovered which is highly interesting for both scientific and business reasons,” stressed Wacker President & CEO Dr. Rudolf Staudigl during the award ceremony. According to the Munich-based company’s estimates, the long-term market potential of alpha silanes – marketed under the Geniosil® trademark since 2003 – could be in the hundreds of millions.

In his speech, Staudigl emphasized the great importance of innovations for the company’s future profitability. The aim is not only to come up with innovations, but to develop these into market successes as quickly as possible. In this regard, Wacker’s record is outstanding. “At around 4% of sales, our R&D investments make us one of the sector’s leaders,” said Staudigl. 

About the “Alexander Wacker Innovation Award”
Since 2005, the Munich-based chemical company has honoured employees’ outstanding R&D work as part of its annual research symposium. Named after the company’s founder, the €10,000 “Alexander Wacker Innovation Award” rotates between the categories of product innovation, process innovation and basic research. Next year’s research competition focus will be on product innovation.

About Wacker
Wacker is a globally-active chemical company with some 15,000 employees and annual sales of around €3.78 billion (2007). Wacker has 27 production sites and over 100 sales offices worldwide.
Wacker Silicones Silicone fluids, emulsions, rubber and resins; silanes; pyrogenic silicas; thermoplastic silicone elastomers
Wacker Polymers Dispersible polymer powders and dispersions for applications in the construction industry; PVAc solid resins; VC copolymers; polyvinyl butyrals and acetates
Wacker Fine Chemicals Fine chemicals, biologics and other biotech products, such as cyclodextrins and cysteine
Wacker Polysilicon Polysilicon for the semiconductor and photovoltaics industries
Siltronic Hyperpure silicon wafers and monocrystals for semiconductor devices

Source : Wacker Chemie AG