large increase in the interest for instruments that fit into educational programs
where the system delivers rapid, repeatable results with minimal operator interaction. Now we have operations on three
continents and further expansion in the
pipeline, we are confident that Sal and
John Paul will make vital contributions
to Magritek.” Magritek’s latest Spinsolve
system allows 13C NMR Spectroscopy.
It delivers more detail in its spectra
than use of the more basic 1H nucleus.
Carbon has a large chemical shift range
of approximately 250 ppm and using
composite pulse decoupling there is usually a single peak per carbon atom in the
molecule making carbon spectra much
more informative than proton spectra.
Furthermore, multinuclear and multidimensional experiments reveal additional
structural information such as how carbon and proton atoms in the molecule
are connected. This enables NMR to
easily resolve isomers that are often confused with other analytical methods.
Reactive Surfaces Files
Lawsuit Against Toyota
A lawsuit has been filed by bio-based ad-
ditive manufacturer Reactive Surfaces in
the Federal District Court for the Western
District of Texas. The suit alleges that,
although Toyota filed patent applications
long after Reactive Surfaces, the United
States Patent and Trademark Office incor-
rectly granted certain patents to Toyota,
and that the government agency is con-
tinuing to incorrectly grant Toyota patents
in view of Reactive Surfaces’ own earlier
filed U.S. patent applications disclosing
and claiming the same inventions. A
change in U.S. patent laws – a change
that will radically alter US patent laws
from a first-to-invent system to one based
upon first-to-file - looms very large in this
series of legal challenges. The innovation
at the heart of the Reactive Surfaces’ suits
is a platform technology using biological
enzymes entrained in coatings for surfaces
like touch screens, mirrors, windows, etc.
which cause those surfaces to self-clean
themselves from contamination by finger-
prints, greasy smudges, makeup, and other
natural oils that are otherwise difficult to
remove and which significantly deterio-
rate the view and appearance. There are
enormous markets at stake in the auto-
motive industry, the electronics industry,
food preparation industry, and more. The
Federal lawsuit seeks a ruling from the
Court regarding over a half dozen pat-
ent interference proceedings that Reactive
Surfaces simultaneously filed in opposition
to the Toyota patents and patent applica-
tions. It also seeks a judgment from the
Court that the small company is the right-
ful inventor of the subject technology, that
none of its commercialization efforts such
as its eRACE cell phone screen protec-
tors infringe any Toyota patent claim, and
that the Toyota patents are invalid and
unenforceable.
Dr. Steve McDaniel, founder and chief
innovation officer of Reactive Surfaces,
“These actions brought by our small
cutting-edge start-up company against
a mega corporation are existential for
us. Our actions against Toyota will air
this out thoroughly in the full sunshine
of a case presented to a jury of peers,
and we strongly believe that we
will prevail. We invented enzy-
matic self-cleaning coatings, not
Toyota, and that will be very,
very obvious.”
Toyota declined to provide comment
regarding the lawsuit.
BASF Breaks Ground
on New Resin Plant in
Shanghai, China
BASF broke ground on a new resin and
electrocoat (e-coat) plant at the Shanghai
Chemical Industry Park in Shanghai.
With its operation scheduled to commence in the second half of 2015, the
plant will help to address the increasing
demand for high quality coatings solutions in various growing industries, notably the automotive industry, in Asia
Pacific. “Through this project we demonstrate once again how we make customers
more successful,” said Dr. Albert Heuser,
President Greater China and Functions
Asia Pacific, BASF. “As part of our Asia
Pacific strategy, we aim to produce locally
75% of what we sell in Asia Pacific. By
implementing this project, we are taking
an important step towards our strategic
goal and at the same time, serving an important market need in China.” This new
resin and e-coat plant will be located adjacent to another new BASF automotive
coatings plant which will start operation
in the second quarter of 2014. The close
proximity of these two plants will allow
for more synergies and efficiency. “ With
this new resin plant we will be stepping up
our commitment to China even further.
The new facility, which is literally next
