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Wallace Carothers

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Wallace Hume Carothers
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(born April 27, 1896, Burlington, Iowa, U.S. — died April 29, 1937, Philadelphia, Pa.) U.S. chemist. He became director of organic chemical research at DuPont in 1928. There he first worked on polymerization of acetylene and derivatives, leading to the development of neoprene. His outstanding achievement involved the theory of linear polymerization; he tested it by synthesizing polymers structurally resembling cellulose and silk, culminating in the production of nylon. The first synthetic polymer fibre to be produced commercially (1938), it laid the foundation of the synthetic fibre industry.

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Scientist: Wallace Hume Carothers
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American industrial chemist (1896–1937)

Carothers, the son of a teacher, was born in Burlington, Iowa, and gained a BS degree from Tarkio College, Missouri (1920), after working his way through college. He gained his PhD in 1924 from the University of Illinois and was an instructor in chemistry at Illinois and Harvard before joining the Du Pont company at Wilmington, Delaware, as head of organic chemistry research in 1928.

Carother's early work was in the application of electronic theory to organic chemistry but at du Pont he worked on polymerization. His first great success was the production of the synthetic rubber, neoprene (1931). Working with acetylenes he discovered that the action of hydrochloric acid on monovinylacetylene produced 2-chloro-buta-1,3-diene (chloroprene), which polymerized very readily to give a polymer that was superior in some respects to natural rubber.

In a systematic search for synthetic analogs of silk and cellulose he prepared many condensation polymers, especially polyesters and polyethers. In 1935 one polyamide, produced by condensation of adipic acid and hexamethylenediamine, proved outstanding in its properties and came into full-scale production in 1940 as Nylon 66. But Carothers did not live to see the results of his achievements; despite his brilliant successes he suffered from fits of depression and took his own life at the age of 41.

Biography: Wallace Hume Carothers
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The American chemist Wallace Hume Carothers (1896-1937) was an experimentalist in the organic and industrial branches. His researches into polymerization led to the invention of nylon, the first truly synthetic fiber.

Artificial fibers, in the sense of being man-made, had been known since the closing decades of the 19th century; the first patents for processes resulting in fibers of the type later known as rayon were taken out as early as 1885. Once it had been discovered by x-ray analysis that natural fibers were composed of molecules that were themselves long and narrow, the possibility of building up such long molecules from small units, so producing new fibers, had been envisaged. Wallace Carothers, who more than anyone enabled this possibility to be realized, died the year before the creation of nylon was announced by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, whose research team he had led with such distinction.

Carothers was born on April 27, 1896, in Burlington, lowa, to Ira Hume Carothers, teacher of commercial subjects, and Mary McMullin Carothers. In 1915 he entered Tarkio College, Mo., specializing in chemistry. After the outbreak of World War I he was asked to teach chemistry, no experienced instructor being available. After he obtained his bachelor of science degree in 1920, he enrolled in the chemistry department of the University of Illinois.

In 1921-1922 Carothers taught analytical and physical chemistry at the University of South Dakota. About this time he began to pursue independent research problems. He became interested in the recent valency theory of lrving Langmuir and investigated its relevance to organic chemistry. After receiving his doctorate in 1924 for research on the reduction of aldehydes with a platinum catalyst, he stayed on at Illinois for 2 years, teaching organic chemistry, and in 1926 moved to Harvard.

In 1928 the Du Pont Company, which had planned a new program of fundamental research, selected Carothers to lead the team in organic chemistry at its experimental station at Wilmington, Del. He was allocated a small group of trained research chemists to work on problems of his own choice. In the 9 years that followed, he made several major contributions to fundamental theory, as well as laying the foundations for the development of new materials.

Synthetic Rubbers

After the discovery in the 19th century that rubber on heating yields the liquid hydrocarbon isoprene, it gradually became apparent that its molecules were long chains of isoprene units; attempts to polymerize isoprene, however, merely produced sticky, rubbery substances of no commercial value. The exhaustive studies of acetylene compounds made by Carothers's team led to the crucial step about 1931, when they found a workable process for converting the hitherto little-known and unstable substance monovinyl acetylene to chloroprene (closely related to isoprene). This, on polymerization, yielded what is now known as neoprene, superior in many respects to the natural product.

Discovery of Nylon

Carothers's greatest accomplishment was his work in the related field of polycondensation, that is, the linkage of pairs of compounds, instead of identical units, with the elimination of some simple substance such as water. He prepared a number of polyester fibers, but these seemed to be unpromising, chiefly owing to their low melting points (later, however, this road led to Dacron and Terylene). The polyamide Carothers produced from adipic acid and hexamethylenediamine was eventually selected by Du Pont's textile experts for development and became known as Nylon-66 ("six-six"), since each of the constituent molecules contains six carbon atoms.

Carothers was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1936. He suffered from periodic fits of depression, which steadily grew worse; during one of these he ended his own life.

Further Reading

Roger Adams wrote a short biography of Carothers which was published in the National Academy of Sciences, Biographical Memoirs, vol. 20 (1939); this biography, slightly shortened and lacking the bibliography of Carothers's papers, is reprinted in Eduard Farber, ed., Great Chemists (1961). The development of synthetic rubbers and fibers, including the work of Carothers, is discussed in John Jewkes, David Sawers, and Richard Stillerman, The Sources of Invention (1958), and in James G. Raitt, Modern Chemistry: Applied and Social Aspects (1966); both books give useful references for further reading. For a history of chemistry which includes the work of Carothers see Aaron J. Ihde, The Development of Modern Chemistry (1964).

Additional Sources

Hermes, Matthew E., Enough for one lifetime: Wallace Carothers, inventor of nylon, Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society, 1996.

Spotlight: Wallace Carothers
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From our Archives: Today's Highlights, April 27, 2006

Wallace Carothers, the inventor of nylon, was born on this date in 1896. As the head of the organic chemistry research group at the E. I. du Pont de Nemours company in Wilmington, DE., Carothers discovered the first synthetic rubber, neoprene. He and his team went on to develop the synthetic polymer, nylon. In 1936, Carothers became the first industrial chemist to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Wallace Hume Carothers
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Carothers, Wallace Hume (kərŭTH'ərz), 1896-1937, American chemist, b. Burlington, Iowa. He received his doctorate at the Univ. of Illinois in 1924, then taught organic chemistry there and at Harvard. In 1928 he was made head of the research group in organic chemistry of the E. I. du Pont de Nemours company in Wilmington, Del. His work there on compounds of high molecular weight led to the discovery of the first synthetic rubber, neoprene. While with du Pont, he also investigated the physical and chemical properties of polyamides, showing that these compounds could be melt-spun into fibers or made into transparent film. This work resulted in the discovery of nylon.
Wikipedia: Wallace Carothers
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Wallace Hume Carothers
Born April 27, 1896(1896-04-27)
Burlington, Iowa, United States
Died April 29, 1937 (aged 41)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Nationality American
Fields Organic chemistry
Alma mater University of Illinois
Doctoral advisor Roger Adams
Known for Nylon

Wallace Hume Carothers (April 27, 1896 – April 29, 1937) was an American chemist, inventor and the leader of organic chemistry at DuPont, credited with the invention of Nylon.[1]

Carothers was a group leader at the DuPont Experimental Station laboratory, near Wilmington, Delaware, where most polymer research was done.[2] Carothers was a brilliant organic chemist who, in addition to first developing nylon, also helped lay the groundwork for Neoprene. After receiving his Ph.D, he taught at several universities before he was hired by DuPont to work on fundamental research.

He married the former Helen Sweetman on February 21, 1936. Carothers had been troubled by periods of mental depression since his youth. Despite his success with Nylon, he felt that he had not accomplished much and had run out of ideas. His unhappiness was compounded by the death of his favorite sister, and on April 29, 1937, he checked into a Philadelphia hotel room and died after drinking a cocktail of lemon juice laced with potassium cyanide.[3] His daughter, Jane, was born seven months later on November 27, 1937.

Contents

Childhood and education

Carothers was born on April 27, 1896 in Burlington, Iowa, to Ira and Mary Evalina. He was the oldest of four children. He had one brother and two sisters: John, Isobel, and Mary. As a youth Carothers was fascinated by tools and mechanical devices and spent many hours experimenting. He attended public school in Des Moines, Iowa, where he was known as a conscientious student. After graduation, under pressure from his father, Carothers enrolled in the Capital City Commercial College in Des Moines, where his father was Vice-President, completing the accountancy and secretarial curriculum in July 1915.

In September 1915, he entered Tarkio College in Missouri. Carothers so excelled in chemistry that even before graduation he was made a chemistry instructor.[4] He graduated from Tarkio in 1920 at the age of 24 with a bachelor of science degree. Then he went to the University of Illinois for his master of arts degree, which he received in 1921.

During the 1921–22 school year, Carothers held a one-year appointment as a chemistry instructor at the University of South Dakota. It was at the University of South Dakota that he began his independent research, which resulted in an article accepted by the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

He went back to the University of Illinois to study for his Ph.D under Roger Adams. His degree was awarded in 1924. He specialized in organic chemistry and minored in physical chemistry and mathematics. He worked as a research assistant during 1922–1923 and received the Carr Fellowship for 1923–24. This was the most prestigious award offered by the university at that time.

Career

After receiving his Ph.D, Carothers stayed at the University of Illinois for two years as an instructor in organic chemistry.

In 1926 Carothers moved to Harvard. Again he was an instructor in organic chemistry. James B. Conant, who became President of Harvard College in 1933, said of Carothers: "In his research, Dr. Carothers showed even at this time the high degree of originality which marked his later work. He was never content to follow the beaten path or to accept the usual interpretations of organic reactions. His first thinking about polymerization and the structure of substances of high molecular weight began while he was at Harvard."[5]

In 1927, the DuPont Company decided to fund fundamental, pure research: research not deliberately aimed at the development of a money-making product. Wallace Carothers traveled to Wilmington, Delaware to discuss the possibility of being in charge of organic chemistry at the new DuPont laboratory for fundamental research[6].

DuPont

The decision to leave academia was difficult for Carothers. At first he refused DuPont's offer of employment, explaining that "I suffer from neurotic spells of diminished capacity which might constitute a much more serious handicap there than here."[7] In spite of this admission, a DuPont executive, Hamilton Bradshaw, traveled to Harvard and convinced Carothers to change his mind. His beginning salary was $500 a month as compared with only $267 at Harvard ($3200 per year).

Later in a letter to Wilko Machetanz, his Tarkio roommate, Carothers expanded on his feelings of depression: "I find myself, even now, accepting incalculable benefits proffered out of sheer magnanimity and good will and failing to make even such trivial return as circumstances permit and human feeling and decency demand, out of obtuseness or fear or selfishness or mere indifference and complete lack of feeling."[8]

Neoprene

Carothers started working at the DuPont Experimental Station on February 6, 1928. The synthesis of a polymer with a molecular weight of more than 4,200, the mass achieved by Dr. Emil Fischer, was his primary goal.

By the summer of 1928, Carothers boasted a small staff of Ph.D chemists and two consultants: Dr. Roger Adams, his thesis advisor, and Dr. Carl Marvel, his instructor of organic chemistry at the University of Illinois. The laboratory where these top scientists worked became known as "Purity Hall." It was discouraging that by the middle of 1929, "Purity Hall" had not produced a polymer with a weight of much over 4,000.

In January 1930, Dr. Elmer K. Bolton became assistant chemical director in the chemical department, and thus, Carothers' immediate boss. Bolton wanted practical results in 1930, and his wish was fulfilled. Bolton asked Carothers to examine the chemistry of an acetylene polymer with the goal of creating synthetic rubber. In April 1930 one of Carothers' staff, Dr. Arnold M. Collins, isolated chloroprene, a liquid which polymerized to produce a solid material that resembled rubber. This product was the first synthetic rubber and is known today as Neoprene.

Polyesters

In the same year, Dr. Julian Hill, another member of the Carothers team, started work again on attempting to produce a polyester with a molecular weight of above 4,000. His efforts were soon met with great success when he produced a synthetic polymer with a molecular weight of about 12,000. The high molecular weight allowed the melted polymer to be stretched out into strings of fiber. Thus was created the first synthetic silk, described by the chemists as a superpolyester.

Polyesters and polyamides are examples of condensation polymers formed by step-growth polymerization. Carothers worked out the theory of step-growth polymerization and derived the Carothers equation which relates the average degree of polymerization to the fractional conversion (or yield) of monomer into polymer. This equation shows that for a high molecular weight, a very high fractional conversion is needed (for step-growth polymers only).

Hill also produced a synthetic fiber that was elastic and strong by combining glycols and acids under reduced pressure in a molecular still. Unfortunately the fiber produced could not be commercialized because it reverted back to a sticky mass when placed in hot water. Carothers dropped his research on polymers for several years.

Depression

In 1931, Carothers moved into a house in Wilmington, which became known as Whiskey Acres, with three other DuPont scientists. Therefore, he was no recluse, but his depressive moods often prevented him from enjoying all the activities in which his roommates took part. In a letter to a close friend, Frances Spencer, he said, "There doesn't seem to be much to report concerning my experiences outside of chemistry. I'm living out in the country now with three other bachelors, and they being socially inclined have all gone out in tall hats and white ties, while I after my ancient custom sit sullenly at home."[9] From that point on, Carothers always kept a capsule of cyanide attached to his watch chain.

Carothers hated the public speaking that was necessary to maintain his high profile. In a letter to a friend, Wilko Machetanz, in January 1932, he related, "I did go up to New Haven during the holidays and made a speech at the organic symposium. It was pretty well received but the prospect of having to make it ruined the preceding weeks and it was necessary to resort to considerable amounts of alcohol to quiet my nerves for the occasion. … My nervousness, moroseness and vacillation get worse as time goes on, and the frequent resort to drinking doesn't bring about any permanent improvement. 1932 looks pretty black to me just now."[10]

In 1932, the agreement under which Carothers was hired was modified by Dr. Bolton. "Purity Hall" would now focus on "effecting a closer relationship between the ultimate objectives of our work and the interests of the company."[11] Essentially this meant that funds were shifted from pure research to practical research. Carothers did not see himself as a skilled commercial researcher. He proposed that fundamental work be limited to two or three proposals, which would be consistent with DuPont's interests.

Personal life

Carothers's personal life during this time was busy. He was having an affair with a married woman, Sylvia Moore, who, with her husband filed for divorce in 1933. At the same time, he worried about the financial problems of his parents and planned to bring them to Wilmington. With no thought of the possible emotional ramifications of this move, he bought a house in Arden about ten miles (16 km) from the Experimental Station and moved into it with his parents. He was 37 at the time. Interactions with his parents soon became tense. Carothers was still seeing Sylvia Moore, who was now single. Of course, his parents highly disapproved of this relationship. Finding the tension in the household too wearing, his parents returned to Des Moines in the spring of 1934.

Polyamides

In 1934, Carothers turned his attention to fibers again. Now the team substituted amines for glycols to produce a type of polymer called a polyamide. These substances were much more stable than the polyesters formed by using the glycols. The ability of polyamides to form crystalline domains through hydrogen bonding gives them increased mechanical properties. Therefore they might produce a synthetic silk that would be practical for everyday use. His research resulted in the invention of a number of new polyamides. The labwork for this project was conducted by Dr. W.R. Peterson and Dr. Coffman. Later Dr. Gerard Berchet was assigned to this research.

It was during this productive period of research, in the summer of 1934, prior to the eventual invention of Nylon, that Carothers disappeared. He did not come into work, and no one knew where he was. He was found in a small psychiatric clinic, Phipps Clinic, associated with Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Apparently, he had become so depressed that he drove to Baltimore to consult a psychiatrist, who put him in the clinic.

Nylon

Shortly after his release from the clinic, Carothers returned to DuPont. Bolton instructed Carothers to work on polyamides that might lead to a viable fiber. Berchet became the lab man for this job. On February 28, 1935, he produced a half-ounce of a polymer, which was labeled polyamide 6-6. This was the substance that would eventually become Nylon. It was difficult to work with because of its high melting point, but Bolton chose this polyamide as the one to develop commercially. He selected Dr. George Graves to work with Carothers on the project. Eventually Graves supplanted Carothers as the leader of the polyamide project. In addition, dozens of chemists and engineers worked on refining polyamide 6-6 into a viable commercial product.

Marriage and decline

On February 21, 1936, Carothers married Helen Sweetman, whom he had been dating since 1934. Sweetman worked for duPont on the preparation of patent applications. She had a bachelors degree in Chemistry.

Soon after, on April 30, 1936, Carothers was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, a very high honor. Carothers was the first industrial organic chemist to receive this honor. Yet by June 1936, in spite of this honor which validated his contributions to science, Carothers could not shake his depression, which prevented him from working. In early June he was admitted involuntarily to the Philadelphia Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital, a prestigious mental hospital, where his psychiatrist was Dr. Kenneth Appel. One month later he was given permission to leave the institute to go hiking in the Tyrolean Alps with friends. The plan was for him to day hike with Dr. Roger Adams and Dr. John Flack for two weeks. After they left, he stayed on, hiking by himself, without sending word to anyone, even his wife. On September 14, he suddenly appeared at her desk at the Experimental Station. From now on Carothers was not expected to perform any real work at the Experimental Station. He would often go in and visit. He began living in Whiskey Acres again, at the request of his wife, who did not feel emotionally strong enough to handle his problems.

On January 8, 1937, Carothers' beloved sister Isobel died of pneumonia. Wallace and Helen Carothers traveled to Chicago to attend her funeral and then to Des Moines to view her burial. He still traveled to Philadelphia to visit his psychiatrist, Dr. Appel, who told a friend of Carothers that he thought suicide was the likely outcome of Carothers' case.

On April 28, 1937, Carothers went to the Experimental Station to work. The following day he committed suicide in a hotel room in Philadelphia by taking cyanide dissolved in lemon juice, knowing that the ingestion of cyanide in an acidic solution would greatly intensify the speed and effect of the poison. He left no note.

References

  1. ^ Hermes, Matthew. Enough for One Lifetime, Wallace Carothers the Inventor of Nylon, Chemical Heritage Foundation, 1996, ISBN 0-8412-3331-4.
  2. ^ Roberts, RM (1989) Serendipity: Accidental discoveries In Science, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-60203-5
  3. ^ Burton, Holman, Lazonby, Pilling & Waddington, Chemical Storylines, Heinemann Educational Publishers, 2000. ISBN 0-435-63119-5
  4. ^ Zumdahl, Susan and Steven. Chemistry. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007.
  5. ^ Adams, Roger (1940) A Biography, in High Polymers: A Series of Monographs on the Chemistry, Physics and Technology of High Polymeric Substances Vol.1 Collected Papers of W.H. Carothers on High Polymeric Substances, New York, NY: Interscience Publishers, Inc. XVIII
  6. ^ Smith; Hounshell (1985), "Wallace H. Carothers and Fundamental Research at Du Pont.", Science 229 (4712): 436–442, 1985 Aug 2, doi:10.1126/science.229.4712.436, PMID 17738664 
  7. ^ Hermes, Enough for One Lifetime p.83.
  8. ^ Hermes, Enough for One Lifetime p.86.
  9. ^ Hermes, Enough for One Lifetime p.140
  10. ^ Hermes, Enough for One Lifetime p.144
  11. ^ Hermes Enough for One Lifetime p.157

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