of substances that included such natural substances as rubber in addition to the
innovative new synthetic ones – “proper” plastics – like celluloid (1869), Galalith
(1897) or Bakelite (1908). Biopolymers include proteins, enzymes, polysaccharides
(e.g. cellulose, glycogen and pectin) as well as nucleic acids, the basic components
of our genetic structure as research in subsequent decades was to show.
2.1 Fascinating Class of Substances with Exceptional
Properties
The polymers produced by mankind (“synthetic”) and the polymers that are already
available without mankind doing anything (“natural”) have exceptional properties
and behaviour in common that no other class of substances can boast:
• In contrast to, for example, a saline solution, which cannot be distinguished
visually from clear water, polymers form colloidal (i.e. glue-like) solutions,
which move between liquid and solid states at relatively low concentrations
and are sometimes viscous and sometimes jelly-like (cf. [11], p. 45).
• Other properties that should be emphasised are a marked ability to swell and
form fibres, high elasticity, tremendous strength and “above all the unique
combination of very high stability with multiple reactivity” ([1], p. 302; cf. p. 95
and [10], p. 14).
It was not, however, clear at the time what gave polymers all these physical
characteristics; why a polymer, as it were, has no alternative but to display such
properties. Staudinger was convinced that chemists had to find the answers to these
questions: “The great variety of the individual phenomena is based [. . .] on the fact
that the atoms are joined together in very different ways” [10, p. 5]. In order to
“obtain an understanding” of the properties of the polymers, it was therefore
necessary “to determine the structure of their molecules; the nature of the bonds
and the arrangement of the atoms in the molecule therefore need to be specified”
[10, p. 9]. Understanding the specific chemical reaction that led to the creation of
polymers also promised to shed light on this matter. The aim was to have this
process, which was known as polymerisation, take place in a controlled fashion and
to discover suitable auxiliary materials that initiated, maintained and ended the
process – not least of all in order to be able to develop versatile new plastics and
manufacture them on an industrial scale.
2.2 The Four Basic Elements of Organic Chemistry
Staudinger’s primary interest was therefore to decipher the “structural principle”
of the polymers [10, p. 11; cf. p. 5]. Anyone who set out to determine their
90
M. Weber and G. Deussing
innovative new synthetic ones – “proper” plastics – like celluloid (1869), Galalith
(1897) or Bakelite (1908). Biopolymers include proteins, enzymes, polysaccharides
(e.g. cellulose, glycogen and pectin) as well as nucleic acids, the basic components
of our genetic structure as research in subsequent decades was to show.
2.1 Fascinating Class of Substances with Exceptional
Properties
The polymers produced by mankind (“synthetic”) and the polymers that are already
available without mankind doing anything (“natural”) have exceptional properties
and behaviour in common that no other class of substances can boast:
• In contrast to, for example, a saline solution, which cannot be distinguished
visually from clear water, polymers form colloidal (i.e. glue-like) solutions,
which move between liquid and solid states at relatively low concentrations
and are sometimes viscous and sometimes jelly-like (cf. [11], p. 45).
• Other properties that should be emphasised are a marked ability to swell and
form fibres, high elasticity, tremendous strength and “above all the unique
combination of very high stability with multiple reactivity” ([1], p. 302; cf. p. 95
and [10], p. 14).
It was not, however, clear at the time what gave polymers all these physical
characteristics; why a polymer, as it were, has no alternative but to display such
properties. Staudinger was convinced that chemists had to find the answers to these
questions: “The great variety of the individual phenomena is based [. . .] on the fact
that the atoms are joined together in very different ways” [10, p. 5]. In order to
“obtain an understanding” of the properties of the polymers, it was therefore
necessary “to determine the structure of their molecules; the nature of the bonds
and the arrangement of the atoms in the molecule therefore need to be specified”
[10, p. 9]. Understanding the specific chemical reaction that led to the creation of
polymers also promised to shed light on this matter. The aim was to have this
process, which was known as polymerisation, take place in a controlled fashion and
to discover suitable auxiliary materials that initiated, maintained and ended the
process – not least of all in order to be able to develop versatile new plastics and
manufacture them on an industrial scale.
2.2 The Four Basic Elements of Organic Chemistry
Staudinger’s primary interest was therefore to decipher the “structural principle”
of the polymers [10, p. 11; cf. p. 5]. Anyone who set out to determine their
90
M. Weber and G. Deussing