Seeking Space Filling Materials That Can Be Degraded Or Depolymerized On-Demand

• A material
• A technology
• A partner

A SpecialChem Client is seeking a crosslinked space-filling material that can be weakened, degraded, or depolymerized upon external trigger. The material should be stable in moist or aqueous conditions. 

The SpecialChem Client is a major supplier of high end materials for specific business segment that include adhesives, sealants and gap fillers. They have very strong world-wide marketing and product development capabilities.

They are developing a new product, delivering new functionalities to create a new market segments. Despite previous attempts, they were not able to develop a suitable on-demand depolymerizable technology.

Depending on the background of the technology a number of different scenarios may be applicable (from raw material supply to R&D partnership), with a potential to create the US$50MM market size.

• Cures fast
• Ideally under 1 minute but may consider technologies where the material degrades slower, e.g. under 15 minutes. In particular, the slower methods will work if the initial fast trigger is followed by a slower unsupervised degradation process
• Maintains mechanical integrity in moist/aqueous conditions
• Depending on the application different values of viscoelastic and mechanical properties (stiffness, moduli, strength, shear adhesion strength) could be applicable. Proposals will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
• Application: one-component system or several components mixed immediately before application.
• The breakdown of the material can happen by either cohesive failure mechanism or by failure of its adhesive interface to the other components of the system
• Triggering mechanism:
• On demand (such as light-triggered)
• If a solvents: no inconvenient smell, nor part of food chain (eg ethanol, vinegar, lemon juice)
• pH range 2- 8
• Non-toxic or unknown toxicity status (no cytotoxic)
• No ionizing radiation
• No temperatures in excess of 70 degrees C
• Residue acceptable after the breakdown (amount of bulk removed: 60% to 98%)

The breakdown of the material can happen by either cohesive failure mechanism or by failure of its adhesive interface to the other components of the system.

• Processes involving ionizing radiation, or toxic solvents, or extreme temperatures
• Materials with known carcinogenicity or mutagenicity risks

The SpecialChem Client is expecting to proceed immediately with product development, manufacturing and sales or further technology development if needed.

• Ideas
• Concepts
• Proven Concepts
• Ready-to-use solutions
• Partners

• Licensing
• Contractual partnership (R&D, marketing…)
• Joint-venture
• Buying
• Selling