Carothers

The synthetic fiber industry as we know it began m 1928 when E I Du Pont de Nemours Company lured Professor Wallace H Carothers from Harvard University to direct their research department In a few years Carothers and his associates had pro duced nylon the first synthetic fiber and neoprene a rubber substitute Synthetic fibers and elastomers are both products of important contemporary industries with an economic influence far beyond anything imaginable m the middle 1920s... 

The leader of DuPont s effort was Wallace H Carothers who reasoned that he could reproduce the properties of silk by constructing a polymer chain held together as is silk by amide bonds The neces sary amide bonds were formed by heating a dicar boxylic acid with a diamine Hexanedioic acid adipic acid) and 1 6 hexanediamme hexamethylenedi-amine) react to give a salt that when heated gives a polyamide called nylon 66 The amide bonds form by a condensation reaction and nylon 66 is an example of a condensation polymer... 

For an account of Carothers role in the creation of nylon see the September 1988 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education (pp 803-808)... 

This result is known as the Carothers equation. It is apparent that this expression reduces to Eq. (5.4) for the case of f = 2. Furthermore, when f exceeds 2, as in the AA/BB/Af mixture under consideration, then n is increased over the value obtained at the same p for 7= 2. A numerical example will help clarify these relationships ... 

Polyesters were initially discovered and evaluated ia 1929 by W. H. Carothers, who used linear aliphatic polyester materials to develop the fundamental understanding of condensation polymerisation, study the reaction kinetics, and demonstrate that high molecular weight materials were obtainable and could be melt-spun iato fibers (1 5). 

However, because of the low melting poiats and poor hydrolytic stabiUty of polyesters from available iatermediates, Carothers shifted his attention to linear ahphatic polyamides and created nylon as the first commercial synthetic fiber. It was nearly 10 years before. R. Whinfield and J. T. Dickson were to discover the merits of poly(ethylene terephthalate) [25038-59-9] (PET) made from aromatic terephthaUc acid [100-21-0] (TA) and ethylene glycol [107-21-1] (2G). 

Nylon-11. Nylon-11 [25035-04-5] made by the polycondensation of 11-aminoundecanoic acid [2432-99-7] was first prepared by Carothers in 1935 but was first produced commercially in 1955 in France under the trade name Kilsan (167) Kilsan is a registered trademark of Elf Atochem Company. The polymer is prepared in a continuous process using phosphoric or hypophosphoric acid as a catalyst under inert atmosphere at ambient pressure. The total extractable content is low (0.5%) compared to nylon-6 (168). The polymer is hydrophobic, with a low melt point (T = 190° C), and has excellent electrical insulating properties. The effect of formic acid on the swelling behavior of nylon-11 has been studied (169), and such a treatment is claimed to produce a hard elastic fiber (170). 

H. Mark and G. S. Whiby, eds.. Collected Papers of Wallace Hume Carothers on High Polymeric Substances, High Polymers, Vol. I, Interscience Pubhshers, New York, 1940. 

The concept of functionaUty and its relationship to polymer formation was first advanced by Carothers (15). Flory (16) gready expanded the theoretical consideration and mathematical treatment of polycondensation systems. Thus if a dibasic acid and a diol react to form a polyester, assumiag there is no possibihty of other side reactions to compHcate the issue, only linear polymer molecules are formed. When the reactants are present ia stoichiometric amouats, the average degree of polymerization, follows the equatioa ... 

Collected Papers of W. H. Carothers," High PolymerSeries, Vol. 1, Interscience PubHshers, New York, 1940. 

Jack was a consultant to the research division ot duPont from 1937 to 1967 and encouraged the development of the great advances in polymer chemistry by Carothers, a friend from his Illinois days, and his co workers at duPont... 

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