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Others nearly beat him to it. As early as 1872, German chemist Adolf von Baeyer was investigating the recalcitrant residue that gathered in the bottom of glassware that had been host to reactions between phenol (a turpentine-like solvent distilled from coal tar, which the gas-lighting industry produced in bulk) and formaldehyde (an embalming fluid distilled from wood alcohol). Von Baeyer set his sights on new synthetic dyes, however, not insulators. To him, the ugly, insoluble gunk in his glassware was a sign of a dead...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Chemist LEO BAEKELAND | 3/29/1999 | See Source »

...with page after page of failed experiments, Baekeland finally developed a material that he dubbed in his notebooks "Bakelite." The key turned out to be his "bakelizer," a heavy iron vessel that was part pressure cooker and part basement boiler. With it, he was able to control the formaldehyde-phenol reaction with more finesse than had anyone before...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Chemist LEO BAEKELAND | 3/29/1999 | See Source »

Initial heating of the phenol and formaldehyde (in the presence of an acid or base to get the reaction going) produced a shellac-like liquid good for coating surfaces like a varnish. Further heating turned the liquid into a pasty, gummier goo. And when Baekeland put this stuff into the bakelizer, he was rewarded with a hard, translucent, infinitely moldable substance. In a word: plastic...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Chemist LEO BAEKELAND | 3/29/1999 | See Source »

...trees are the product of a more complex chemical reaction. Bright days and cool evening create the perfect environemnt for the production of anthocyanin, a chemical relative of benzene and phenol. The bleached chlorophyll clears the way for the purple, red, pink and bluish variations of anthocyanin. For example, the Tupelo tree, found all over Martha's Vinyard, turns fire engine red according to Einset...

Author: By Victoria G.T. Bassetti, | Title: An Autumnal Adventure: Foliage in Vermont | 10/10/1986 | See Source »

...agents barter not only for goods that their own companies need, but also for materials that their suppliers need, or they sometimes buy for cash merchandise that they then barter with suppliers. For instance, Monogram Industries is buying steel pipe that it does not use itself but trades for phenol, which it badly needs in order to make insulating materials...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: BARTER: The Sultans of Swap | 3/11/1974 | See Source »

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