University Technologies International (UTI), the University of Calgary’s technology transfer unit, signed an exclusive license agreement with California-based chemical company Materia, Inc. to commercialize olefin metathesis catalysts developed by a university researcher. This deal is an expansion of the 2004 agreement between UTI and Materia under which the company provided funding and research materials for studies in the lab of inventor Dr. Warren Piers. Materia was founded in 1998 to commercialize olefin metathesis catalyst technology, which “enables chemical compounds to be synthesized with greater efficiency, under less stringent reaction conditions, and with reduced byproducts and hazardous waste,” the company says. “Metathesis has been accepted as an emerging ‘green technology’ platform and has been broadly adopted by the pharmaceutical, chemical, and polymer industries.” The catalysts produced by Dr. Piers are more active and have a faster rate of initiation than some other catalysts, allowing for manipulation of carbon-carbon bonds at lower temperatures, potentially decreasing energy consumption and enhancing cost-effectiveness. Go to: Marketwire

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