However, the real breakthrough in industrial production occurred in , when Leo Hendrik Baekeland developed phenolic resins as the first true synthetic polymer, which became known as Bakelite. No other materials can match the versatility of polymeric materials.
Because of their molecular architectures, they can variously be stiff, soft or elastic; permeable or impermeable; and transparent or opaque. Moreover, polymers are relatively inexpensive. Because of their versatility, synthetic polymers have myriad applications. Some are very familiar: packaging, toys, furniture and fabrics.
Others are less visible, including circuit boards, composites for space ships, and medical uses such as absorbable sutures and implant materials. Many polymeric materials can be readily recycled by remolding recycled polymer pellets or by heating the polymer to recover the feedstock. Moreover, light polymeric materials can save weight in automotive and airplane construction, thus reducing fuel consumption and exhaust emission. As thermal insulators, polymer foams help to conserve energy.
Polymeric materials are prime examples of environmentally friendly materials that help protect fossil resources for future generations. Around , Belgian-born chemist Leo Hendrik Baekeland took two ordinary chemicals, phenol and formaldehyde, mixed them in a sealed autoclave, and subjected them to heat and pressure.
The sticky, amber-colored resin he produced in his laboratory was the first plastic ever to be created entirely from chemicals, and the first material to be made entirely by man. Baekeland's new material — he called it Bakelite — opened the door to the Age of Plastics. The development of polymer sciences stimulated the production of new materials with a wide variety of applications in high technology.
As early as , Staudinger emphasized the significance of macromolecules for biochemistry and biology. His intention, supported by his wife, Magda, was to create a new research discipline of macromolecular bioscience or, as we would call it today, macromolecular life science. He concluded his Nobel Prize acceptance speech by describing his vision: "In the light of new insights in macromolecular chemistry, the miracle of life shows an exceptional multitude and perfection of architectures characteristic of living matter.
Nature uses a very small number of monomers, such as amino acids and saccharides, to produce a large variety of biopolymers with specific functions in cell structures, transport, catalysis and replication.
Today, innovations in life sciences, especially biotechnology, will continue to stimulate the creation of new synthetic biopolymers, with unprecedented control of molecular architectures and biological activities. The English version of the plaque commemorating the event reads:. This building is named after Hermann Staudinger, who, between and , carried out his pathbreaking research on macromolecular chemistry in Freiburg. His theories on the polymer structures of fibers and plastics and his later research on biological macromolecules formed the basis for countless modern developments in the fields of materials science and biosciences and supported the rapid growth of the plastics industry.
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Awards Recognizing and celebrating excellence in chemistry and celebrate your achievements. The couple escaped from Germany via Belgium, and were settled in New York by Hermann remained in Freiburg with Magda, and they continued studying biologically important macromolecules until Allied bombing wrecked their laboratory in Following the Allied victory in , Staudinger worked to rebuild and rehabilitate German science.
In he founded the influential journal Makromoleculare Chemie now Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics and after retiring from his university post in he headed a new institute for macromolecular research, directly funded by the state. In the world of polymers, almost everything was new and untested.
Long standing established concepts had to be revised or new ones created. Since his death in , science, medicine and technology have been massively impacted by our growing understanding of the macromolecular realm. Before we can recycle many plastics, they must be sorted into separate streams. Angeli Mehta finds out how. Nina Notman talks to some of the companies launching chemical recycling technologies for single-use plastics. Andy Extance discovers why the compound best known as a fertiliser is a surprising candidate to power enormous container ships.
The Royal Society of Chemistry aims to use Cop26 as a springboard to a more sustainable future. Rachel Brazil reports. Already hailed as a miracle, the new vaccine technology could protect us from other diseases, Clare Sansom finds. Site powered by Webvision Cloud. Skip to main content Skip to navigation. Related articles. Feature The plastic sorting challenge TZ Before we can recycle many plastics, they must be sorted into separate streams. Business Taking responsibility for waste TZ How well are companies that produce and use plastics living up to their duty?
Feature Plastic recycling heading for the mainstream TZ Nina Notman talks to some of the companies launching chemical recycling technologies for single-use plastics.
Load more articles. No comments yet. You're not signed in. To link your comment to your profile, sign in now. I have also heated an open tube rammed with a mixture of asbestos fiber and liquid. Also a sealed tube rammed with mixture of asbestos fiber and liquid. I found tube broken perhaps in irregular expansion but the reactions seems to have been satisfactory because the resulting stick was very hard and below where there was some unmixed liquid A there was an end?
This looks promising and it will be worth while to determine in how far this mass which I will call D is able to make moulded materials either alone or in conjunctions with other solid materials as for instance asbestos, casein, zinc oxid sic , starch, different inorganic powders and lamp black and thus make a substitute for celluloid and for hard rubber.
Substance D was "insoluble in all solvents, does not soften. I call it Bakalite sic and it is obtained by heating A or B or C in closed vessels. The key to reaching the final product "C" from "A" or "B" were machines that subjected earlier stages to heat and pressure. Baekeland called these machines "Bakelizers. Baekeland made the first public announcement of his invention on February 8, , in a lecture before the New York section of the American Chemical Society.
Previous reactions had resulted in slow processes and brittle products, he said; then he continued " Baekeland's first patent in the field had been granted in ; in all, he took out more than patents related to the manufacture and applications of Bakelite. He started semi-commercial production in his laboratory and, in , when daily output had reached liters, most of it for electrical insulators , he formed a U.
Bakelite can be molded, and in this regard was better than celluloid and also less expensive to make. Moreover, it could be molded very quickly, an enormous advantage in mass production processes where many identical units were produced one after the other. Bakelite is a thermosetting resin—that is, once molded, it retains its shape even if heated or subjected to various solvents. Bakelite was also particularly suitable for the emerging electrical and automobile industries because of its extraordinarily high resistance not only to electricity, but to heat and chemical action as well.
It was soon used for all non-conducting parts of radios and other electrical devices, such as bases and sockets for light bulbs and electron tubes, supports for any type of electrical components, automobile distributor caps and other insulators.
Along with its electrical uses, molded Bakelite found a place in almost every area of modern life. From novelty jewelry and iron handles to telephones and washing-machines impellers, Bakelite was seen everywhere and was a constant presence in the technological infrastructure.
The Bakelite Corporation adopted as its logo the mathematical symbol for infinity and the slogan, "The Material of a Thousand Uses," but they recognized no boundaries for their material. The Achilles heel was color. The pure Bakelite resin was lovely amber, and it could take other colors as well. Unfortunately, it was quite brittle and had to be strengthened by "filling" with other substances, usually cellulose in the form of sawdust.
After filling, all colors came out opaque at best and often dull and muddy. Ultimately, Bakelite was replaced by other plastics that shared its desirable qualities, but could also take bright colors. Today, only one or two firms now make phenolic resins, but Baekeland's creation set the mold for the modern plastics industry.
Today, synthetic plastics are everywhere. They are as familiar to us as wood or metal, and are easily taken for granted. Almost anyone can name a dozen familiar products made in part or in whole with plastic: toys, computers, clothing, sports equipment, carpet, appliances, building materials, signs, office supplies, packaging, phones and fashion accessories. But some are less visible: Medical equipment—from hip-joint replacements and pacemakers to contact lenses and surgical tools—are made using wholly or partly synthetic materials.
Baekeland's new material opened the door to the Age of Plastics and seeded the growth of a worldwide industry that today employs more than 60 million people.
As the future unfolds, plastics and other synthetic polymers will play increasingly versatile roles in medicine, electronics, aerospace and advanced structural composites. New products will be manufactured and molded all over the world—in complex processes that began with Leo Baekeland, an idea, and the Bakelizer. Like many of the people who have made important contributions to American life, Leo Hendrik Baekeland was an immigrant. For example, even more recently, conductive polymers were discovered — again, at the time, it was difficult for people to believe that an organic material like a polymer could be conductive like a metal, but it's true!
Polymers have found even more uses than you could imagine. They are replacing traditional metals and semiconductors, they are being used in solar cells and electronics. There are polymer formulations that are being used in composites for building materials, medicine, drug delivery, adhesives, paints, packaging, clothing.
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