Plastics. Journal for the manufacture and application of processed or chemically
fabricated materials with special consideration of artificial silk and other man-made
fibers, of vulcanized, devulcanized (reclaimed) and synthetic caoutchouc, guttapercha etc. as well as substitute materials, of celluloid and similar cellulose
products, of man-made leather and leather fabrics (linoleum), of resins, casein
products etc.
Note that all the examples given in the subtitles are macromolecular substances,
but the use of the term “plastics” (“Kunststoffe”) did not imply any claims on the
chemical constitution of the material or its constituents. The word “polymer” had
already been coined in 1832 by Jo ¨ns Jakob Berzelius [43], but his definition differs
significantly from modern usage. Berzelius described organic compounds that share
identical elemental composition but differ in overall molecular weight, the larger of
the compounds being described as “polymers” of the smallest (e.g., glucose,
C 6 H 12 O 6 , was a “polymer” of formaldehyde, CH 2 O). The concept that very large
molecules play a significant role in the properties of these materials would not have
been accepted at the time, neither by Berzelius nor by Escales. Then, chemistry had
only the vaguest idea of the molecular nature of the new class of substances.
2 Chemistry and the Molecular Concept
The modern concept of “molecule” originated, one says, from a publication of
Robert Boyle in 1661 (he called them “chemical anatomies” or “parcels of matter”)
[44] and was then further developed by others. By the end of the eighteenth century,
the molecular idea was already soundly established (e.g., “Every material having a
different form in its molecules and different distance between them . . .”
4 [45])
and large molecules such as albumin and gelatin had already been isolated and
characterized [46] (although molecular weight could only be determined by measurement of the vapor density).
Not long afterwards work appeared that pointed in the direction of large
molecular weights. In 1825, Johann Friedrich Engelhard [47] determined by
elemental analysis that hemoglobins from different species all had roughly the
same iron content (0.4% w/w), which led him to conclude that hemoglobins had to
have molecular weights of integer multiples of 16,000 (today we know that the
hemoglobin “monomer” has a molecular weight of about 17,000). The work was
cited and discussed by many sources. In 1839, Gerardus Johannes Mulder published
a remarkable paper [48] in which he determined the minimum molecular weight of
three proteins (fibrin, egg albumin, and serum albumin) by precise determination
of the elemental composition and arrived at values of the order of integer multiples
of about 15,000 for all three. We now know that these proteins are complexes with
4 "Chaque corps ayant une forme diffe ´rente dans ces mole ´cules et un e ´cartement diffe ´rent entre
elles, . . .."
66
U.W. Suter
fabricated materials with special consideration of artificial silk and other man-made
fibers, of vulcanized, devulcanized (reclaimed) and synthetic caoutchouc, guttapercha etc. as well as substitute materials, of celluloid and similar cellulose
products, of man-made leather and leather fabrics (linoleum), of resins, casein
products etc.
Note that all the examples given in the subtitles are macromolecular substances,
but the use of the term “plastics” (“Kunststoffe”) did not imply any claims on the
chemical constitution of the material or its constituents. The word “polymer” had
already been coined in 1832 by Jo ¨ns Jakob Berzelius [43], but his definition differs
significantly from modern usage. Berzelius described organic compounds that share
identical elemental composition but differ in overall molecular weight, the larger of
the compounds being described as “polymers” of the smallest (e.g., glucose,
C 6 H 12 O 6 , was a “polymer” of formaldehyde, CH 2 O). The concept that very large
molecules play a significant role in the properties of these materials would not have
been accepted at the time, neither by Berzelius nor by Escales. Then, chemistry had
only the vaguest idea of the molecular nature of the new class of substances.
2 Chemistry and the Molecular Concept
The modern concept of “molecule” originated, one says, from a publication of
Robert Boyle in 1661 (he called them “chemical anatomies” or “parcels of matter”)
[44] and was then further developed by others. By the end of the eighteenth century,
the molecular idea was already soundly established (e.g., “Every material having a
different form in its molecules and different distance between them . . .”
4 [45])
and large molecules such as albumin and gelatin had already been isolated and
characterized [46] (although molecular weight could only be determined by measurement of the vapor density).
Not long afterwards work appeared that pointed in the direction of large
molecular weights. In 1825, Johann Friedrich Engelhard [47] determined by
elemental analysis that hemoglobins from different species all had roughly the
same iron content (0.4% w/w), which led him to conclude that hemoglobins had to
have molecular weights of integer multiples of 16,000 (today we know that the
hemoglobin “monomer” has a molecular weight of about 17,000). The work was
cited and discussed by many sources. In 1839, Gerardus Johannes Mulder published
a remarkable paper [48] in which he determined the minimum molecular weight of
three proteins (fibrin, egg albumin, and serum albumin) by precise determination
of the elemental composition and arrived at values of the order of integer multiples
of about 15,000 for all three. We now know that these proteins are complexes with
4 "Chaque corps ayant une forme diffe ´rente dans ces mole ´cules et un e ´cartement diffe ´rent entre
elles, . . .."
66
U.W. Suter