Sumitomo Rubber has used the SPring-8 synchrotron radiation facility in a joint project to create what it is calling a Tender X-Ray Nanoscope, the world’s first technology able to analyze a substance’s structure and chemical bonds at the nano level. This has then been used to successfully visualize the sulfur compounds employed in lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries. The project comes as...
New findings from a collaborative research project involving Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (TYO:5110) could lead to an improved supply of natural rubber. Working in collaboration here with Tohoku University, Kanazawa University and the Riken SPring-8 Center, Sumitomo Rubber has managed to elucidate the structure and modify the functionality of cis-prenyltransferase NDPS1, a tomato-derived enzyme with a structure similar to that...
The Bio-monomer Production Laboratory has developed a new, world-first technology able to efficiently create butadiene from biomass. Consisting of members from Riken, Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5101) and Zeon Corp. (TYO:4205), the research team has then succeeded at using butadiene created with this technology to produce butadiene rubber. At present, butadiene is produced industrially from fossil resources such as petroleum....
Zeon Corp. (TYO:4205) has worked with the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken) and Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (TYO:5101) to co-develop a new technology for producing isoprene – a raw material used in synthetic rubber – from biomass in a stable and efficient manner. By constructing a world-first artificial pathway and creating highly active enzymes, the research project has...
The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (IPCR/RIKEN) has revealed that it has constructed a gene transcription database which will serve as the basis for research into the genome of the rubber tree. The database makes it possible to use a browser to sequence the genome, find genes and access full-length cDNA. Researchers will be able to use it to...
