The discovery of macromolecules

The discovery of molecules was greatly aided by the realization of Avogadro that the pressure, P, of a dilute gas at a known temperature, T, and volume, V, was determined by the number of particles, N, independent of the mass of the molecules. Measurement of the gas density, p, then allowed a calculation of the molecular weight, M  

Many macromolecules can be dissolved in an appropriate solvent to produce a dilute solution. The dilute solution state has served as the basis for many of the fundamental conceptual advances in polymer science. Raoult 

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By the end of the 19th century, important advances in the area of cellulose chemistry led to the development of chemical fibers from natural polymers. A first major step was the development of artificial silk made from nitrocellulose by Count Hilaire de Chardonnet and presented at the world exhibition in Paris in 1894. Alas, some unfortunate women wearing his new garments went up in flames when they accidentally came to close to open fire because nitrocellulose also makes an excellent explosive. Despite these initial difficulties, other inventions in the early 20th century in macromolecular chemistry, namely viscose production by Urban, Frem-ery, and Bronnert in 1901 and the discovery of macromolecules by H. Staudinger, initiated the development of chemical fibers from synthetic polymers, such as polyamide (PA), polyester (PES), polyacrylonitrile (PAN), and polyurethane (PUR). It took another 60 years until in 1993, the overall production of man-made fibers for the first time exceeded that of natural fibers. 

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