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Paul Chu's superconductor research at the University of Houston will act as a "multiplier" to Du Pont's own efforts, senior vice president Al MacLachlan said after Du Pont announced a multimillion dollar deal with Houston on August 23. Under the agreement, which took a year to negotiate, Du Pont made an initial payment of $1.5 million to the university and will fork over an additional $1.5 million upon issuance of a patent to Chu covering the class of 1-2-3 superconducting compounds (YBa2Cu3O7).

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Du Pont has about 30 people researching superconductivity. They will be able to build upon Chu's work by exploring commercial uses for their discoveries, MacLachlan said. He emphasized that this agreement is paving the way for future superconductor research agreements with Houston.

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