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(Narrator) For 50 years CSIRO has been engaged in research
into organic chemistry.
It’s established a wealth of experience
and a range of facilities unique in Australia.
CSIRO’s Division of Applied Organic Chemistry
encourages Australian industry to share and capitalise
on these resources.
It’s committed to working with Australian industry to design,
synthesise and test organic compounds
and to improve the processes involved in their manufacture.
The range of industries whose operations
include the manufacture or use of organic compounds is enormous.
Some are involved in the production of plastics,
rubber or paint or products composed of polymers.
Some manufacture high value chemicals such as
pharmaceuticals or crop protection chemicals.
Others formulate specialty chemical such as detergents,
disinfectants, insecticides, fungicides and so on.
The resources of CSIRO Applied Organic Chemistry
are of potential benefit to all these companies.
(Tom Reynolds) Well we’ve seen a worldwide for new disinfectants
as organisms in hospitals have become more resistant
due to the widespread use of antibiotics.
And hospital administrators and their patients today need a new
persistent, safe and pleasant to use disinfectant with
a broad spectrum of activity to deal with the problems
which are emerging in their hospitals today.
(Narrator) Disinfectants are manufactured internationally by
Gibson Chemicals as part of a comprehensive
range of specialty chemicals.
Research and development is an important
part of the operations at Gibson Chemicals,
however the search for a novel disinfectant
demanded highly specialised facilities.
(Tom Reynolds) We approached CSIRO because we found out
that they were doing work relevant to the areas that
interested us and of course they have magnificent
research facilities which really can’t be matched by a
company of our size. And so to us they’re an absolutely
ideal partner to work with to develop these new sophisticated
chemical substances. They also have experienced
staff in computer modelling of molecules which is pretty
advanced science, the sort of science you only find
in high tech research institutes and the sort of science
which is rarely found in industry.
And it’s that facility which makes CSIRO such a desirable partner.
(Narrator) In designing and synthesising new organic
compounds CSIRO draws on the specialist knowledge and
techniques which it has built up over the last half century.
Computer simulation is used to design the compounds
and the chemical routes for synthesising them.
For a compound to be of commercial value an economic route
for synthesis must be found. CSIRO has complete facilities
for scaling up the process from micro-laboratory level to
large laboratory scale for commercial process development.
Sophisticated analytical techniques are an essential
part of this scaling up procedure.
CSIRO has a wide range of up to date equipment for this purpose.
These particular facilities are one of the reasons
why the resources of CSIRO Applied Organic Chemistry are
useful for smaller companies as well as large.
(Graham Parker) Before we started we saw the CSIRO as being
a very large research organisation that would only be
interested and would only be able to work on long term and
expensive projects. We found that this is not the case.
They can accommodate small projects and small companies
without an unlimited amount of research and development finance available.
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(Narrator) Southern Dental Industries manufacture and market
an advanced range of products for the dental profession.
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When it came to adding a dentine adhesive to their product range
they decided they wanted one that was significantly
better than any other in the world.
CSIRO’s background in polymer research was directly relevant.
Potential adhesives are being designed, synthesised and
evaluated under a tripartite agreement involving Southern Dental Industries,
CSIRO and The Australian Dental Standards Laboratory.
(Graham Parker) Southern Dental Industries’ involvement
in this project has been in the way of funding
and also to supply a research chemist who’s
been dividing her time between the ADSL laboratories
and the CSIRO laboratories. And during the 12 months
that we’ve been involved in this project we have
achieved a dentine adhesive which will be most competitive
on international markets and we’ll be marketing
that product in the very near future.
(Narrator) Through its own long term research programs CSIRO has
accumulated a vast store of information and understanding
in the field of organic chemistry. Its special value
lies in its ability to apply this warehouse of knowledge
to specific projects initiated by industry.
(Roger Dunhill) The vapour cure process is a low temperature
process for curing paint films and other surface
coatings using an airborne catalyst.
Albright and Wilson has an interest in this area in that we are manufacturers
of acrylic resins and we are trying to develop superior
performance resins for this novel process.
CSIRO has been most useful to us in this collaboration
because of their acrylic polymer technology and research
carried on at the Division of Applied Organic Chemistry.
(Narrator) Albright and Wilson manufacture acrylic
polymers for a wide range of surface coating and bonding applications
as well as surface active agents and phosphate chemicals.
(Roger Dunhill) As well as the work that’s being carried
out at CSIRO we have been allocating
our own R&D resources to this project, that is our
laboratory facilities and personnel. But in addition
we have found it very useful to be able to second our
research staff to work with the research group at CSIRO.
The joint research has already enabled us to capitalise
on some of our own previous research and we are
quite confident of having some successful resins
commercialised in the near future. This is one of the real
advantages of the collaboration is giving us innovative
new ways of looking at our research.
(Narrator) Joint projects can be shaped to suit the
individual needs of each client company.
In some cases considerable R&D resources can be contributed by
the client company itself.
In other cases a client’s own R&D resources
don’t include the sort of in-depth skills required for a particular project.
Sometimes a company has the resources
but has already allocated them to other projects.
The CSIRO’s contribution may be as simple
as preparing known organic compounds for subsequent use
in the client company’s own research.
Whatever the project, confidentiality is naturally of paramount importance.
CSIRO is keen to provide its resources to
enable Australian industry to gain and maintain a
competitive edge in international markets.
Many companies have already established joint projects.
There are thousands of others which would profit from collaboration.
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