Baekeland

The synthesis in 1912 of phenol—formaldehyde resins by Baekeland, which forms the basis of many modern day adhesives. 

Although the use of simple diluents and adulterants almost certainly predates recorded history, the use of fillers to modify the properties of a composition can be traced as far back as eady Roman times, when artisans used ground marble in lime plaster, frescoes, and po22olanic mortar. The use of fillers in paper and paper coatings made its appearance in the mid-nineteenth century. Functional fillers, which introduce new properties into a composition rather than modify pre-existing properties, were commercially developed eady in the twentieth century when Goodrich added carbon black to mbber and Baekeland formulated phenol— formaldehyde plastics with wood dour. 

The first cellular synthetic plastic was an unwanted cellular phenol—formaldehyde resin produced by early workers in this field. The elimination of cell formation in these resins, as given by Baekeland in his 1909 heat and pressure patent (2), is generally considered the birth of the plastics industry. The first commercial cellular polymer was sponge mbber, introduced between 1910 and 1920 (3). 

Lac became an important component of decorative and protective finishes by the nineteenth century. It is ironic that the success of shellac led to the synthetic resin industry. Baekeland developed phenoHc resins while trying to find a substitute for shellac. 

A frequently cited example of protection from atmospheric corrosion is the Eiffel Tower. The narrow and, for that age, thin sections required a good priming of red lead for protection against corrosion. The top coat was linseed oil with white lead, and later coatings of ochre, iron oxide, and micaceous iron oxide were added. Since its constmction the coating has been renewed several times [29]. Modern atmospheric corrosion protection uses quick-drying nitrocellulose, synthetic resins, and reaction resins (two-component mixes). The chemist Leo Baekeland discovered the synthetic material named after him, Bakelite, in 1907. Three years later the first synthetic resin (phenol formaldehyde) proved itself in a protective paint. A new materials era had dawned. 

Phenolic resins were the first totally synthetic plastics invented. They were commercialized by 1910 [I]. Their history begins before the development of the structural theory of chemistry and even before Kekule had his famous dreams of snakes biting their tails. It commences with Gerhardt s 1853 observations of insoluble resin formation while dehydrating sodium salicylate [2]. These were followed by similar reports on the behavior of salicylic acid derivatives under a variety of reaction conditions by Schroder et al. (1869), Baeyer (1872), Velden (1877), Doebner (1896 and 1898), Speyer (1897) and Baekeland (1909-1912) [3-17]. Many of these early reports appear to involve the formation of phenolic polyesters rather than the phenol-aldehyde resins that we think of today. For... 

Phenol-formaldehyde resins are the oldest thermosetting polymers. They are produced by a condensation reaction between phenol and formaldehyde. Although many attempts were made to use the product and control the conditions for the acid-catalyzed reaction described by Bayer in 1872, there was no commercial production of the resin until the exhaustive work by Baekeland was published in 1909. In this paper, he describes the product as far superior to amber for pipe stem and similar articles, less flexible but more durable than celluloid, odorless, and fire-resistant. ° The reaction between phenol and formaldehyde is either base or acid catalyzed, and the polymers are termed resols (for the base catalyzed) and novalacs (for the acid catalyzed). 

Phenolic resins were discovered by Baeyer in 1872 through acid-catalyzed reactions of phenols and acetaldehyde. Kleeberg found in 1891 that resinous products could also be formed by reacting phenol with formaldehyde. But it was Baekeland who was granted patents in 1909 describing both base-catalyzed resoles (known as Bakelite resins) and acid-catalyzed novolac products.2... 

Baekeland in America obtained his first patent for materials prepared from these two compounds. In 1910 he founded the General Bakelite Company to exploit this development, in the process making phenol-formaldehydes, the first synthetic polymers to achieve commercial importance. 

Baekeland had to make important discoveries before he could bridge the gap between the initial concept and final products. In particular, he found that the base-catalysed condensation of phenol and formaldehyde can be carried out in two parts. If the process is carefully controlled, an intermediate product can be isolated, either as a liquid or a solid, depending on the extent of reaction. At this stage, the material consists of essentially linear molecules and is both fusible and soluble in appropriate solvents. When heated under pressure to 150 °C, this intermediate is converted to the hard, infusible solid known as bakelite . This second stage is the one at which the three-dimensional cross-linked network develops. 

The route to crosslinked phenol-formaldehyde resins via resoles corresponds to that used by Baekeland in his original commercial technique. They now tend to be used for adhesives, binders, and laminates. The resole... 

That spring, Carothers was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, along with Orville Wright and Leo Baekeland, the inventor of Bake-... 

Baekeland A process for making organic polymers by reacting phenols with formaldehyde. Based on an observation by A. von Bayer in 1872 and developed into an industrial process by L. H. Baekeland from 1905 to 1909. It was used to make Bakelite, one of the first commercial plastics. The first industrial manufacture began in Germany in 1910. 

A Belgian chemist, Leo Baekeland, started investigation of tarry materials formed when phenol reacted with formaldehyde. 

He found out in 1909 that a resinous plastic substance is formed in this reaction. This substance could be heated and moulded into a shape. Further heating of a substance in the mould sets it in the fine shape. Further heating does not resoften this substance. Baekeland patented this substance and called it Bakelite. Bakelite was the first Synthetic polymer. The industry of Bakelite led to a study and establishment success of polymer science. 

James Swinburne also discovered phenol-formaldehyde resins at the same time, but he was one day late in his application for patent than Baekeland. 

The first purely Synthetic polymer was the phenolformaldehyde family of synthetic resins discovered by Baekeland in Germany and first produced commercially in 1907. In 1930, polystyrene was first manufactured in Germany. 

Baekeland Lecture Of Alginates and Rubbers and Catalysts and Rings. P.H. Plesch, SCI Lecture Papers Series, No. 0064,1994, (Published 1996). 

The first synthetic polymer utilized on a large commercial scale was Bakelite produced by Leo Baekeland, one of many foreign-born scientists who helped create American technology. By 1909 he had demonstrated a number of Bakelite articles to members of the recently formed Chemists Club of New York. 

Baekeland, Leo Hendrik. Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 3, 1941-45, Charles Scribnerfs Sons, New York, 1973, pp. 25-27. 

Fifteen prominent chemical engineers first met in New York more than 60 years ago to plan a continuing literature for their rapidly growing profession. From industry came such pioneer practitioners as Leo H. Baekeland, Arthur D. Litde, Charles L. Reese, John V. N. Dorr, M. C. Whitaker, and R. S. McBride. From the universities came such eminent educators as William H. Walker, Allred H. White, D. D. Jackson, J. H. James, Warren K. Lewis, and Harry A. Curtis. H. C. Parmelee, then editor of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, served as chairman and was joined subsequently by S. D. Kukpatrick as consulting editor. 

Phenolic resins. The oldest condensation reaction on record is between phenol and formaldehyde to produce phenolics. Professor Adolf von Baeyer first documented the reaction in 1872, for which the Nobel Committee awarded him their prize in 1905. Thirty years later, a technical application of this reaction was worked out by Dr. Leo Baekeland, when he showed that useful moldings can be made by carrying out the final stages of the reaction under pressure. As his reward, phenolic resins are still often called Bakelite, a seemingly better deal chan Baeyer s. At one time, phenolics were the workhorse of the plastics industry. 

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