Plastics, chemicals, and additives supplier Bayer MaterialScience (Leverkusen, Germany) is celebrating 10 years of collaboration with the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) and the International Science and Technology Center (both Moscow), helping lay the groundwork for new materials. Jörg Syrzisko, senior country representative for the company, says the Russian economy is booming and therefore represents an important sales market. “Our business here reflects our entire product portfolio,” he says.

In the future, products, often from the company’s involvement with its Russian R&D partners, will reach one in four of the 250 million people in the country, he says. “Our Russian colleagues are proven experts in the fields of organic and polymer chemistry as well as synthesis,” says Thomas Rölle, coordinator for the company’s collaborative projects.

“Thanks to German/Russian development projects, our Baytubes (carbon nanotubes which can make plastics conductive and are currently under development at a pilot plant with an annual capacity of 30 tonnes/yr) may soon be put to use in electronic components, storage batteries, and fuel cells,” says Martin Schmid, carbon nanotubes business manager. One current project with the RAS has led to the first patent applications: transparent glazing with photochrome coatings that darken automatically when exposed to light in order to prevent excessive indoor heat. He says that if polycarbonate applications for such glazing applications prove a success, the market potential could be immense.—[email protected]