MOUNTAINVIEW, Calif. - In Boston, the international consultancy Frost & Sullivan granted its "2005 Product Leadership of the Year Award" to BASF for developing a pellet form of triphenylphosphine (TPP). BASF is the first company worldwide to offer this intermediate as pellets. Compared to the traditional flakes, this new product clearly reduces dust formation, which improves handling and processing and is a clear improvement on safety.

TPP is a highly efficient intermediate that has many applications, including coatings. TPP is also essential as a co-catalyst in isobutanol and n-butanol production. Moreover, TPP is a popular initiator of several polymerization reactions, and it is used successfully as an oxidation and UV stabilizer in plastics.

BASF sells TPP not only in pellet form but in a melt formulation, too. This formulation can be pumped, and is thus suitable for processing in a closed system - eliminating the need for manual handling. Most of BASF's TPP is sold to customers around the world, with a small fraction used within the company "Verbund" to make other products.