New joint venture by Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
will dramatically reduce costs for industrial and medical uses worldwide
TOKYO (September 14) - Plans were announced today for the first large-scale production
of carbon clusters known as fullerenes, discovered in 1985 but never before available
in commercial quantities.
Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation said they will make
fullerenes available in quantity beginning in early 2002 under a new joint venture
to be known as Frontier Carbon Corporation. Mass production, anticipated to reach
1,500 tons a year by 2004, will permit fullerenes to be bought at prices 10 to
100 times lower than those currently prevailing.
Until now, availability and cost have been major obstacles to the industrial use
of fullerenes, the unique properties and potential applications of which have
long been known. Nearly 2,000 patents already exist for a broad range of pharmaceutical,
electronic and other commercial applications, including anticancer and anti-HIV
therapies, drugs for neurodegenerative diseases, drug delivery systems, and cosmetic
preparations that retard the aging of skin.
Industrial applications awaiting the availability of low-cost fullerenes include
superconductive materials, electrochemical systems, polymer and metal nano-composites,
electrolyte separation membranes for fuel cells, gas storage and separation membranes,
longer cell-life lithium ion batteries, highly functionalized coatings and ultra-fine
crystalline artificial diamonds for drilling and industrial polishing.
This unprecedented mass production process will use the basic material patent
of fullerenes owned by Fullerenes International Corporation*, flame-based technology
developed and patented by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), combined
with Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation's patented process systems engineering technologies
and fullerenes separation processes.
"This is a significant milestone for the development of nanotechnology and
science," said Mikio Sasaki, President and CEO of Mitsubishi Corporation.
"Mass production of fullerenes resulting in a significant cost reduction
will enable hundreds of existing patent applications to bloom in the near future."
Sasaki has been directly overseeing the fullerenes business of Mitsubishi Corporation
since 1993.
"This is truly an historic step, with worldwide implications," commented
Dr. George Stephanopoulos, Arthur D. Little Professor of Chemical Engineering
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who has been a technical adviser
to Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation and last year was named the company's Chief
Technology Officer.
"Essentially, these two companies, through their joint venture, are making
this enormously promising new material available in quantity and at low cost for
the very first time. This will be immediately beneficial to a number of major
industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, electronics, energy and materials-oriented
companies.
"Just as the discovery of fullerenes opened up a new field of chemistry,
the applications that will now be made possible open up endless opportunities
for new products, new processes and new medical therapies, including developments
in such critical areas as cancer and AIDS," noted Dr. Stephanopoulos.
Research on potential applications for fullerene carbon clusters began at Mitsubishi
Corporation in 1993. Mr. Sasaki said, "I distinctly remember the first time
a member of my staff presented me with fullerenes. It struck me that fullerenes
could be a revolutionary material with enormous potential."
Mitsubishi Corporation has marketed fullerenes and initiated joint research on
the use of fullerenes with several manufactures over the years. In 1999, Mitsubishi
Corporation established FIC to acquire and manage the patents for the development
and commercialization of fullerenes and carbon nanotubes, including the MIT patent
(through Nano-C LLC, the exclusive licensee of the MIT patent) for its flame-based
technology.
The new joint venture with Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation reflects a convergence
of the business strategies of the two companies, both upstream (patent position
and commercial-scale production) and downstream (development and commercialization
of fullerene-based applications). It will combine the scientific and production
technology and marketing capabilities of both companies.
The joint venture also represents the first major investment by Nanotech Partners,
the world's first nanotechnology investment fund specializing in fullerenes and
carbon nanotubes. The investment was first announced by Mitsubishi Corporation
at the International Fullerene Workshop last February in Tokyo.
Fullerene carbon clusters - in which carbon atoms are arranged in closed shells
- attracted major attention in the scientific community when they were discovered
by British and American researchers in 1985. They received wider public attention
in 1996 when the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the three researchers,
Robert F. Curl Jr. and Richard E. Smalley of Rice University (US) and Sir Harold
Kroto of the University of Sussex (UK).
| For further information, please contact |
| President & CEO, |
| Fullerene International Corporation |
| Tel: [+81] 1-212-605-2286 |
| General Manager, Press Relations Office, Mitsubishi Corporation |
| Tel: [+81] 3-3210-2172 |
| Mitsubishi Chemical America Inc. |
| Tel: [+81] 1-914-286-3600 |
| Manager, Public Relations Department, |
| Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. |
| Tel: [+81] 3-3283-6254 |
|
