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Polymer-Timeline

19.01.2009
This timeline highlights the seminal inventions and research breakthroughs in
organic chemistry which lead to a better understanding of polymer structures
and to the development of innovative polymer applications in medicine.

1839 Charles Goodyear succeeds in hardening natural rubber by vulcanizing,
thus producing a dry, tough, yet elastic material.

1858 Chemists Friedrich Kekulé and Archibald Couper show that organic
molecules are made up of carbon atoms combined chemically into different
shapes.

1870 John Wesley Hyatt markets celluloid, a plastic made of cellulose nitrate,
i. e., chemically modified cellulose (gun cotton).

1887 Count Hilaire de Chardonnet introduces a way to spin solutions of
cellulose nitrate (pyroxyline) into Chardonnet silk, the first synthetic fiber.

1909 Leo Baekeland creates Bakelite, the first completely synthetic plastic.

1920 Hermann Staudinger proposes that polymers are long chains of smaller
units that repeat themselves hundreds or thousands of times. His theory is to become the basis of modern polymer science. He later receives a Nobel Prize
for his research on the synthesis and properties of polymers.

1920s Kurt Meyer and Herman Mark use x-rays to examine the internal structure
of cellulose and other polymers, providing convincing evidence of the multiunit structure of some molecules.

Late 1920s Wallace Hume Carothers and his research group at DuPont
synthesize and develop applications for synthetic polyesters, neoprenes, and
nylons.

1930 German chemists develop two types of synthetic rubber (Buna-S and
Buna-N) from butadiene, a petroleum byproduct.

1930s Paul Flory develops a mathematical theory to explain the creation of
polymer networks ”in which polymer fluids form cross-links and become, like
rubber, elastic”. Flory would receive a Nobel Prize for his lifetime contributions
to polymer chemistry in 1974.

1940s Peter Debye develops a light-scattering technique for measuring the molecular weight of large polymers.

1950 Norton Higgins is granted a patent to the production of polyglycolic acid,
a polymer that can be degraded metabolically and later is to become one of
the key polymers in tissue engineering.

1963 Edward Schmitt and Rocco Polistina file a patent for the first absorbable synthetic sutures, made of polyglycolic acid.

1975 Robert Langer and M. Judah Folkman use polymers to isolate chemicals
that stop angiogenesis, i. e., the formation of small blood vessels, suggesting
a new way to attack cancer. These studies also establish the feasibility of a controlled release of macromolecules.

1986 Robert Langer and Joseph Vacanti demonstrate that liver cells grown on
a plastic framework can function after being transplanted into animals, opening
the door to the new field of tissue engineering.

1996 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves polymer wafer implants
for treating brain cancer.

1997 Clinical trials show that artificial skin can heal diabetic skin ulcers,
establishing the potential clinical feasibility of tissue engineering.

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Polymers and People

28.12.2007

Artificial skin has been laboratory-grown on a polymer scaffold and can be used for healing chronic wounds of patients with ulcers caused by insufficient blood flow (Ulcus cruris).

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The Mystery of Polymers Unraveled

09.01.2008

Bakelite, one of the first plastics, was invented by Leo Baekeland in 1909. Its rapid success sparked a flurry of synthesis investigations and innovations in both America and Europe.

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PET Synthesis

19.01.2009

PET, a polyester, is a chemical feedstock in polymer industry. Its synthesis may follow either of two ways ...

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Seeing Through Nature

18.03.2008

Carbon atoms can bond to up to four other atoms. The four neighboring atoms of each carbon atom form a tetrahedron, i.e., a pyramid-shaped polyhedron. This was a key scientific discovery in the late 19th century. Several carbon atoms can bond to each other to form chains and branches in many different combinations, sometimes yielding extremely long molecular chains. The building blocks of such polymers are small molecules (monomers).

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