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Plastic

paints
Society: ACSMain Category: ChemicalEra: 1940sDateCreated: 1949PhiladelphiaState: PACountry: USAWebsite: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/acrylicemulsion.htmlCreator: Rohm and Haas [now The Dow Chemical Company]

Developed by Rohm and Haas in the 1940s, water-based acrylic emulsion technology filled a need for easy-to-use household paints for a growing suburban population in the United States following World War II. This aqueous technology required less preparation to use, was easier to clean up, had less odor, and performed better than or equal to paints made with solvents. It was also a leap forward in acrylic chemistry.

YearAdded:
2008
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/United Soybean Board (CC BY 2.0)Image Caption: From plastics to paints it changed our world
Discovery of Organic Free Radicals by Moses Gomberg
Society: ACSMain Category: ChemicalSub Category: Frontiers of KnowledgeEra: 1900-1909DateCreated: 1900University Of MichiganAnn ArborState: MICountry: USAWebsite: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/freeradicals.htmlCreator: Gomberg, Moses

In 1900, Moses Gomberg, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Michigan, confirmed the existence of a stable, trivalent organic free radical: triphenylmethyl. In so doing, he challenged the then prevailing belief that carbon could have only four chemical bonds. Gomberg’s discovery made a major contribution to theoretical organic chemistry and fostered a field of research that continues to grow and expand. Today, organic free radicals are widely used in plastics and rubber manufacture, as well as medicine, agriculture and biochemistry.

YearAdded:
2000
Image Credit: Public Domain (Copyright Exp.)Image Caption: Discovery of Organic Free Radicals by Moses GombergEra_date_from: 1900
Leo Baekeland and Bakelite
Society: ACSMain Category: ChemicalSub Category: Polymer ChemistryEra: 1900-1909DateCreated: 1907YonkersState: NYCountry: USAWebsite: http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=924&content_id=WPCP_007586&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=d6432ada-458d-4c1a-aa4e-e703e3868638Creator: Baekeland, Leo

Around 1907, 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 Yonkers laboratory was the first plastic ever to be created entirely from chemicals, and the first material to be made entirely by man.

Image Caption: Development of BakeliteEra_date_from: 1907
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Innovations

Leo Baekeland and Bakelite

Around 1907, 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 Yonkers laboratory was the first plastic ever to be…

Read More
Discovery of Organic Free Radicals by Moses Gomberg

In 1900, Moses Gomberg, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Michigan, confirmed the existence of a stable, trivalent organic free radical: triphenylmethyl. In so doing, he challenged the then prevailing belief that carbon could have only four chemical bonds. Gomberg’s discovery made a…

Read More
paints

Developed by Rohm and Haas in the 1940s, water-based acrylic emulsion technology filled a need for easy-to-use household paints for a growing suburban population in the United States following World War II. This aqueous technology required less preparation to use, was easier to clean up, had…

Read More

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