RUBBER CITY GIRL: THE PATH TO THE GOODYEAR MEDAL

Abstract

ABSTRACT An overview of my 40-year career will be provided, spanning both industry and academe, and two continents. During my industrial years at LANXESS (formerly the Rubber Division of Bayer), I solved long-standing (10-yr) major manufacturing problems related to Taktene-55 and developed on-line and off-line process control tools that are still in operation. I also developed new technologies (bimodal butyl, one-step halobutyl, branched butyl, liquid carbon dioxide process) that resulted in patents. After transferring to academe, I continued the development of new polyisobutylene-based materials. I have held the Bayer (LANXESS) Industrial Research Chair for 12 yr, working closely with the rubber industry. My most important accomplishments include developing advanced elastomers and thermoplastic elastomers for health care, enzyme-catalyzed polymer functionalization, a “green” synthesis of disulfide polymers and gels, and research into natural rubber biosynthesis. Poly(styrene-isobutylene-polystyrene) is used in a Food and Drug Administration–approved drug-eluting stent, implanted in more than six million patients, saving lives. The recently patented poly(alloocimene-isobutylene-alloocimene) is also a potential biomaterial and also a potential halogen-free halobutyl rubber. I will also discuss my adventure of a field experiment at a Brazilian Hevea plantation to verify our laboratory discovery that the rubber content of Hevea latex can be increased by 20–50% using a special method of tapping. My goal now is creating safer breast implants with cancer-fighting and healing properties. I am proud that the Rubber World trade journal listed me among the 125 inventors that influenced rubber technology in a profound way. I thank my family, Professor Joseph P. Kennedy, and Dr. Adel Halasa for their mentorship and support.