Both external academic networks and an understanding of legacy research activities, which often resulted in “failed” projects, can be important contributors to successful commercial products. Personal professional connections to academia, enabled by Eastman Chemical Company’s encouragement of active participation in ACS and other scientific meetings and activities, including publications, enabled the building of strong personal relationships with academic leaders in the polymer field. Specific interaction with Professor Stephen Cheng, University of Akron, was helpful in initiating the first interactions of Eastman and Akron Polymer Systems which was a catalyst for the partnership that led to a C+ compensation compound.<br/>Developing an amorphous copolyester with a Tg greater than 100 °C was a long-time goal of researchers at Eastman. Numerous Tg enhancing monomers were prepared and incorporated into various copolyester backbones over the past 50+ years. One monomer of particular interest was SEO-2 which is prepared by reacting ethylene carbonate or ethylene oxide with bisphenol S (made from phenol and sulfuric acid). SEO-2 was found to impart significantly enhanced Tgs as well as other desired properties into amorphous copolyesters when incorporated at modest levels. Although never commercialized, copolyesters based on SEO-2 led to extensive marketing studies and company trials. These studies contributed to a foundation that was helpful for the eventual commercialization of Eastman’s Tritan™ family of copolyesters.

Levering networks and legacy research for enabling new polymer products

251st National Meeting (2016)

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