Kaminsky, Walter

H. Behrens Henri Brunner Joan S. Fessenden Ralph J. Fessenden Gregory L. Geoffroy Wayne L. Gladfelter A. F. Halasa Walter Kaminsky V. D. Mochel D. N. Schulz Walter Siebert Hansjbrg Sinn D. P. Tate... 

Walter Kaminsky (99), Institut fur Anorganische und Angewandte Chemie, University of Hamburg, 2000 Hamburg, Federal Republic of Germany... 

Walter Kaminsky, Institute for Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, University of Hamburg, 20146 Hamburg, Germany (89)... 

Flowever, while no major breakthrough was made during the last ten years of the century in their traditional fields of endeavor, chemical corporations continued to improve the performance of their products by devising new methods for their manufacture. A case in point is supplied by the development of the metallocene catalysts. First described by Walter Kaminsky of the University of Hamburg in the 1980s and pioneered in the field of polyolefins by Exxon and Dow, these... 

The cyclopentadienyl ligand was of great interest to inorganic chemists, however, and hundreds of metallocene molecules were characterized. Nevertheless, some 20 years were to pass before Professor Walter Kaminsky, now at the University of Hamburg, discovered a cocatalyst, methylaluminoxane (MAO), that was to spark a revolution. In very simple terms, Kaminsky discovered that if a large excess of the cocatalyst MAO to metallocene is used, the metallocene molecule is modified and the resultant complex becomes a highly reactive polymerization catalyst for olefins and other specific monomers. Following Kaminsky s discovery of the cocatalyst MAO, there was a flurry of activity, most notably in the laboratories of the Exxon and Dow companies, that led to further developments in this field. 

Professor Walter Kaminsky was bom 1941 in Hamburg and studied chemistry at the University of Hamburg. His thesis was in the field of metallocene chemistry and his habilitation in the field of recycling of polymers by pyrolysis. Since 1979, he has occupied the role of Full Professor of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry at the University of Hamburg. 

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