Perkin, Sir William

PERKIN, SIR WILLIAM HENRY (1838-1907). An English chemist who was the first to make a synthetic dyestuff (1856). He studied under Hofman at the Royal College of London. Perkin s first dye was called mauveine, but he proceeded to synthesize alizarin and coumarin, the first synthetic perfume. In 1907 he was awarded the first Perkin Medal, which has ever since been awarded by the American Division of the Society of Chemical Industry for distinguished work in chemistry. Not withstanding the fact that Perkin patented and manufactured mauve dye in England, the center of the synthetic dye industry shifted to Germany, where it remained until 1914. 

Perkin, Sir William Henry (1838-1907) British chemist, who while still a student accidentally produced mauvine, the first aniline dye and the first dyestuff to be synthesized. Perkin built a factory to produce it, and made a fortune. 

Perkin, Sir William Henry, 290-291 Perkin-Elmer spectrometer, 552 permanganate test, 645 phase-transfer catalysis, 299, 385 phenols, 381... 

Perkin, Sir William Henry (1838-1907) English chemist who worked as assistant to August Hofmann and, in 1856, discovered a brilliant purple dye. Later named mauveine, his invention became immensely popular, earned him a fortune, and led to the foundation of the modern synthetic dye industry. Some of his work on the synthesis of organic compounds, known as the Perkin synthesis, led to the development of the synthetic perfume industry. 

Perkin, Sir William Henry (1838-1907) British organic chemist. Perkin became famous for his discovery of mauve, the first synthetic dye. This discovery originated in 1856 when Perkin attempted to synthesize quinine. He did not succeed in doing so. However, when he used chromic acid to oxidize toluidine he obtained a dark precipitate. When he repeated the experiment using aniline he again obtained a dark precipitate. He found that adding alcohol to this precipitate produced a bright... 

A classic story of this line of research was the discovery of a method for the manufacture of the dye now known as mauve by the English chemist Sir William Henry Perkin (1838-1907). In 1856, Perkin was an 18-year-old student of the great German chemist August Wilhelm von Hoffmann (1818-92), superintendent of the Royal College of... 

F. M. Rowe, Perkins Centenary Lecture The Life and Work of Sir William Henry Perkin , J. Soc. Dyers Colorists 1938, 54, 551. 

The era of synthetic dyes is credited to Sir William Henry Perkin, who accidentally synthesized the purple dye mauveine in 1856 (at age 18) while trying to make quinine. Mauveine was an inexpensive substitute for Tyrian purple. Chemists soon developed many other synthetic dyes, and by the late 1800s the dye industry had become one of... 

Sir William Perkin The Discovery of Mauve, the First Aniline Dye. 

The synthetic color industry dates back to the accidental discovery of the first synthetic organic dye (mauve) in 1856. Sir William Henry Perkin, in an unsuccessful attempt to synthesize quinine, succeeded in obtaining a violet dye by the oxidation of aniline. This led other scientists to experiment and discover many new colors with superior properties to the natural pigments and extracts. The use of these new and different colors in foods, drugs, and cosmetics began almost immediately because of their tinctorial value, stability, and the many shades in which they were available. 

Sir William Henry Perkin. Chemical Heritage Foundation. Available from . 

The sources of dyes used by man include animal, vegetable, and mineral. Sir William Henry Perkins, in 1856, synthesized the first aniline dye. In 1860, a triphenylmethane dye, fuch-sine, was used by the French to color wine. On August 2, 1886, the U.S. Congress authorized the addition of color to butter. On June 6, 1896, Congress approved colorants in cheese, and by 1900 colorants were added to catsup, jellies, cordials, candies, sausage and noodles. However, there were some concerns by the public. For example, chrome yellow, martius yellow and quicksilver Vermillion were added to foods to hide poor quality or to increase weight. There was no control over the purity of colorants used. For example, it has been noted that rejected textile dyes were sometimes added to foods. Use of arsenic acid and mercury in the manufacture of colorants also created some concerns. 

An account of Sir William Perkin, whose name formerly graced two Royal Society journals, and his most notable discovery can be found in Garfield, S. Mauve How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World (New York, W.W. Norton Co., 2001). 

My two examples are the archetypes of innovation in chemistry and In engineering technology respectively. Sir William Henry Perkins, Sr., one of the founders of Industrial chemistry and Thomas Alva Edison, the Inventor and developer of the industrial research laboratory, — in both cases, one should add "among many other Inventions and innovations."... 

Scheme 1. Initial forays into the laboratory synthesis of quinine the mathematical approach by Sir William Henry Perkin (1856).

The foundation of the s mthetic dye industry is universally attributed to Sir William Henry Perkin on account of his discovery in 1856 of a purple dye that he originally gave the name Aniline Purple, but which was later to become known as Mauveine. Perkin was a young enthusiastic British organic chemist who was carrying out research not... 

Sir William Henry Perkin (1838-1907) Perkin came under the influence... 

British chemist Sir William Perkin synthesizes the first... 

Meyer plots the atomic volume (atomic weight divided by density) of each element against its atomic weight and shows that elements whose chemical properties are similar appear in similar positions on the waves of the curve. Russian chemist Dmitry Mendeleyev publishes the first periodic table for chemical elements. He writes, The properties of the elements are in periodic dependence upon their atomic weight. His table shows how the elements are related to each other and how increasing atomic weight affects their chemical reactivities. Gaps in the table indicate elements yet to be discovered and predict their properties. Mendeleyev coins the term transition element British chemist Sir William Perkin develops synthetic alizarin for manufacture from the madder plant. 

The use of coal as a raw material started with the discovery of the first coal tar color by Sir William Perkins in 1856. Prior to this time the liquid by-products of coal coking were regarded as wastes. Perkins s discovery revealed that valuable materials could be isolated or made from coal tar and ultimately led to the establishment of the modern chemical industry. Coke ovens rapidly came to be important as sources of chemicals such as benzene, naphthatlene, ammonia, and hydrogen. Coal tar became an important source for aromatic and heterocyclic chemicals for the dye and pharmaceutical industries. 

See John Greenaway, "Memorial Notice. William Henry Perkin," 738, in The Life and Work of Professor William Henry Perkin (London The Chemical Society, 1932) 1213 and [Sir] Robert Robinson, Memoirs, 27. As a talented pianist, Robinson later joined Lapworth, a violinist, in a shared love of Mozart. See Williams, Robert Robinson, 2223. 

Sir Robert Robinson (1886-1975) was born in Chesterfield, England, and received his D.Sc. from the University of Manchester with William Henry Perkin, Jr. After various appointments, he moved in 1930 to Oxford University, where he remained until his retirement in 1955. An accomplished mountain climber, Robinson was instrumental in developing the mechanistic descriptions of reactions that we use today. He received the 1947 Nobel Prize in chemistry. 

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