ExxonMobil gains Nobel Prize-winning technology with acquisition

PASADENA, Calif.—ExxonMobil Chemical Co. is buying a California-based company that makes what is described as sustainable structural polymers.

Purchase of Materia Inc. of Pasadena, Calif., combines Nobel Prize-winning technology with ExxonMobil's "complementary proprietary processes and world-class manufacturing capabilities to bring these new sustainable structural polymers to greater commercial scale," the chemical company said.

Materia was formed in 1999 and is based on a class of ruthenium catalysts and ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) chemistry invented by California Institute of Technology professor Robert Grubbs. Ruthenium is a metal in the platinum category on the periodic table.

Grubbs won a Nobel Prize for that work in 2005.

Materia, with support from the university and private investors, created commercial applications for sectors including oil and gas and industrial molding.

"Materia's flagship polymer family, Proxima, draws upon the ROMP catalyst technology to produce hydrocarbon-based products with significant performance and sustainability advantages," Materia CEO Cliff Post said in a statement. "This technology can be used to form composites that exhibit strength and stiffness equivalent to steel, with significantly reduced weight."

ExxonMobil and Materia have been working together since 2017 to develop more uses for Proxima, including work with wind turbine blade and anti-corrosion coatings.

"ExxonMobil anticipates expanding the scope of applications for Proxima, including parts for electric vehicles and sustainable construction projects," the company said.

ExxonMobil acquires a headquarters, research and technology center in Pasadena and a manufacturing site in Huntsville, Texas. Materia will retain its name as a subsidiary.

Proxima-brand resin can be used in a variety of applications, including thermosets, composites, coatings and foams.