Charles F. Cross, Edward J. Bevan, and Clayton Beadle with the so-called “viscose
process”: using alkali and carbon disulfide, cellulose is reversibly converted into the
xanthogenate (or xanthate) and thus rendered soluble (the gelatinous solution was
called “viscoid”), spun, and then transformed back into cellulose in an acid bath,
and now called “rayon” [38]. But it wasn’t until 1900, with the invention of modern
spinning equipment by Charles F. Topham, that it became possible to create
cellulose fibers commercially [39]. Jacques E. Brandenberger succeeded in
producing crystal clear films out of rayon in 1908 in Paris with a new type of
machine; he called the product cellophane – the first flexible, transparent, and
waterproof packaging material – and patented the process in 1918 [40].
For four decades chemists and inventors had tried to create a practical plastic
from formaldehyde and phenol (both very inexpensive waste products from the
thriving chemical industry), when in 1907 Leo H. Baekeland managed to produce,
using an alkaline formulation and ground wood as filler, a synthetic resin [41]. He
wanted to find an insulating material that could replace shellac, manufactured from
the secretions of the Indian Kerria lacca (lac insect), which was becoming scarcer
and therefore more expensive. Bakelite satisfied all these requirements and more.
It served for many years as an ideal electric insulating material and is still
manufactured today. The first large-scale Bakelite lots were produced in 1909.
Bakelite proved to be very versatile, known as the material of a thousand uses.
When the patent on the Bakelite production process expired, other manufacturers
appeared on the market and the production of phenol resins surged.
When Victor Regnault had discovered in 1838 that gaseous vinyl chloride turned
into a white powder under the influence of sunlight, he did not appreciate that this
solid material would later gain extraordinary significance. After 1900, interest in
this and other vinylic substances grew; Friedrich August Heinrich Klatte patented a
polymerization process for the industrial use of such monomers [42] and
polyvinylchloride became especially interesting from an economic viewpoint
because chlorine was available in large quantities as a byproduct of the chloroalkali
electrolysis in the rapidly advancing chemical industry. Large scale production was
on the horizon.
By 1910, it was evident that the materials of interest here were on the way
to becoming the multifunctional materials of modern society. The first journal
dedicated to the ill-defined but important class of substances appeared 1911 in
Munich and was edited by Ernst R. Escales who had coined the term “Kunststoffe”
(roughly equivalent in meaning to “plastics,” “synthetics,” or “synthetic materials”)
the year before. The journal’s title page was as follows
3 :
3 KUNSTSTOFFE/Zeitschrift fu ¨r Erzeugung und Verwendung veredelter oder chemisch
hergestellter Stoffe/mit besonderer Beru ¨cksichtigung von Kunstseide und anderen Kunstfasern,
von vulkanisiertem, devulkanisiertem (wiedergewonnenem) und ku ¨nstlichem Kautschuk,
Guttapercha usw. sowie Ersatzstoffen, von Zellhorn (Zelluloid) und a ¨hnlichen Zellstofferzeugnissen, von ku ¨nstlichem Leder und Ledertuchen (Linoleum), von Kunstharzen, KaseinErzeugnissen usw.
Why Was the Macromolecular Hypothesis Such a Big Deal?
65
process”: using alkali and carbon disulfide, cellulose is reversibly converted into the
xanthogenate (or xanthate) and thus rendered soluble (the gelatinous solution was
called “viscoid”), spun, and then transformed back into cellulose in an acid bath,
and now called “rayon” [38]. But it wasn’t until 1900, with the invention of modern
spinning equipment by Charles F. Topham, that it became possible to create
cellulose fibers commercially [39]. Jacques E. Brandenberger succeeded in
producing crystal clear films out of rayon in 1908 in Paris with a new type of
machine; he called the product cellophane – the first flexible, transparent, and
waterproof packaging material – and patented the process in 1918 [40].
For four decades chemists and inventors had tried to create a practical plastic
from formaldehyde and phenol (both very inexpensive waste products from the
thriving chemical industry), when in 1907 Leo H. Baekeland managed to produce,
using an alkaline formulation and ground wood as filler, a synthetic resin [41]. He
wanted to find an insulating material that could replace shellac, manufactured from
the secretions of the Indian Kerria lacca (lac insect), which was becoming scarcer
and therefore more expensive. Bakelite satisfied all these requirements and more.
It served for many years as an ideal electric insulating material and is still
manufactured today. The first large-scale Bakelite lots were produced in 1909.
Bakelite proved to be very versatile, known as the material of a thousand uses.
When the patent on the Bakelite production process expired, other manufacturers
appeared on the market and the production of phenol resins surged.
When Victor Regnault had discovered in 1838 that gaseous vinyl chloride turned
into a white powder under the influence of sunlight, he did not appreciate that this
solid material would later gain extraordinary significance. After 1900, interest in
this and other vinylic substances grew; Friedrich August Heinrich Klatte patented a
polymerization process for the industrial use of such monomers [42] and
polyvinylchloride became especially interesting from an economic viewpoint
because chlorine was available in large quantities as a byproduct of the chloroalkali
electrolysis in the rapidly advancing chemical industry. Large scale production was
on the horizon.
By 1910, it was evident that the materials of interest here were on the way
to becoming the multifunctional materials of modern society. The first journal
dedicated to the ill-defined but important class of substances appeared 1911 in
Munich and was edited by Ernst R. Escales who had coined the term “Kunststoffe”
(roughly equivalent in meaning to “plastics,” “synthetics,” or “synthetic materials”)
the year before. The journal’s title page was as follows
3 :
3 KUNSTSTOFFE/Zeitschrift fu ¨r Erzeugung und Verwendung veredelter oder chemisch
hergestellter Stoffe/mit besonderer Beru ¨cksichtigung von Kunstseide und anderen Kunstfasern,
von vulkanisiertem, devulkanisiertem (wiedergewonnenem) und ku ¨nstlichem Kautschuk,
Guttapercha usw. sowie Ersatzstoffen, von Zellhorn (Zelluloid) und a ¨hnlichen Zellstofferzeugnissen, von ku ¨nstlichem Leder und Ledertuchen (Linoleum), von Kunstharzen, KaseinErzeugnissen usw.
Why Was the Macromolecular Hypothesis Such a Big Deal?
65