Santos, Bartolome, Abello January 24, 2011

PPT21 Organic Chemistry

A Look into the Life of Sir William Henry Perkin

William Henry Perkin, a British organic chemist, is known for

being the founder of first synthetic dye namely the mauve. He is also
considered to be the father of the synthetic dye and perfume industries.
Perkin was born in London in the year of March 12, 1838. He
was the youngest son of Mr. George Fowler Perkin, a builder and
contactor. His family lived in a wealthy lifestyle. Perkin has a natural
quality of being curious which gave him an interest in music, art,
science and engineering.
Despite of his father telling him to be an architect, Perkin can’t
settle on what profession he will take up. There will be some days
wherein he wanted to be a street car conductor, the next day, to be a
prime minister, or an engine driver. And as he continuously watches his father work, he wished
to be a mechanic or some kind. But the designing and planning of buildings just gave him the
idea of being a painter.
It wasn’t until he was thirteen years old, when he saw experiments on crystallization, that
he decided to be a chemist.
Then, he entered the City of London School where he met Mr. Thomas Hall, one of the
science masters and an avid devotee of Perkin. He always attended chemistry lectures of Mr.
Hall and watched his experiments, even at the stake of skipping his meals. With Mr. Hall, Perkin
felt that he has this enthusiasm for Chemistry. Perkin was a diligent student which Mr. Thomas
Hall observed that made him suggest Perkin to go to one of the prestigious universities, the
Royal College of Chemistry.
In year 1853, at the age of fifteen and despite of his father’s opposition, Perkin entered
Royal College of Chemistry where August von Hofmann, a German Chemist, was a professor.
Perkin became further engrossed in the field of chemistry; his scientific gift and affection to the
subject were perceived by Hofmann. He performed different research including a research on
anthracene and naphtylamine, the latter being published in the Chemical Journal.
At the age of seventeen, he was assigned by Hoffman to be his laboratory assistant. With
Hofmann’s enormous trust to Perkin, he guided to work on the synthesis of the antimalarial drug
quinine. This worked gave him the edge of forming his own idea or knowledge for the synthesis
of quinine. However, this flattering appointment left Perkin no time for research. Because of this,
he decided to build a laboratory in his own home and there, in the evenings, and in vacation time,
he tried to explore unknown regions in the world of Chemistry.
In 1856, Perkin spent his Easter vacation in the laboratory on his family's house with the
intention of performing an experiment of preparing quinine, a medicine for malaria. He first
started with toluidine but then it gave unsatisfactory results and he ended up using aniline, which
is also a product of tar. He treated a salt of aniline with bichromate of potash and obtained a
black precipitate. At first, he thought of discarding the black precipitate since it is a rule that
black precipitate are usually considered as objectionable by-products. However, he decided to
make a more careful examination. After all the experiment and investigation to the black to
purplish precipitate, Perkin made the substance known to be the first synthetic dye that originally
came from a coal tar and named it as the aniline purple.
A sample of the dye was sent to Messrs. Pular of Perth with the request of trying it on a
silk. He was told that if his discovery doesn’t make any goods expensive, then it will be the most
valuable invention that has came out for a long time. Trials on cotton were not that successful
since suitable mordants were still not known. However, this result just challenged Perkin to
improve his invention further.
At the same year, against the advice of Hofmann, Perkin left the Royal College of
Chemistry, and with the financial banking of his father, he built a factory where the dye could be
produced in quantity. Thereby launching the first synthetic dye industry.
In 1857, with this achievement of his life, he was made known for being the founder of
dyestuff industry. He made use of his discovery in commercial industry and further develop the
production and use of the dye. He also formed violets and rosanilines. The start-up firm Perkin &
Sons erected the first plant in Greenford Green near London and sold a purple dyestuff to silk
dyers all over Europe.
The industry had been progressing rapidly that in 1861, Perkin who, though only 23, was
already recognized as the leading English authority, was asked by the Chemical Society to
lecture on coloring matters derived from coal-tar, and on this occasion, the great Michael
Faraday, who was present warmly congratulated Perkin upon his fine lecture. In 1866, he was
elected to a Fellowship in the Royal Society.

In 1868, Perkin used the work of two German chemists, Carl Graebe and Carl Lieberman
as a basis for synthesizing alizarin, the chemical component of the madder plant essential in dye
making. While Graebe and Liberman had developed a workable synthesis process, it was too
expensive to be of practical use. Perkin came up with a cost-effective production version of his
fellow chemists’ process, and by 1871, his company was producing 220 tons of alizarin annually.
Within a short time, Perkin's curiosity and drive paid off as his synthetic dyes replaced natural
dyes all over the world. In 1870, Perkin received the Royal Medal of the Royal Society.

In 1874, at the age of thirty-six, Perkin sold his factory and left from manufacturing dye
and devoted his time in chemical research with the team up of B.F Duppa. After 1874, Perkin
moved to a new house in Sudbury, and continued to use the old one as his laboratory.
Perkin continued to do his research, lightly touching the dye situation. Until 1881, it
centered much around the action of acetic anhydride on a group of organic compounds known as
aldehydes. The first important result achieved was the synthesis of coumarin, an odorous
substance found in the tonka bean. This was the first case of the production of a vegetable
perfume from a coal-tar product.
He continued to turn his attention in an entirely new direction – the relationship between
the physical properties and the chemical constitution of substances. Along with Faraday, he
introduced the power of substances of rotating the plane of polarisation when placed in a
magnetic field.
In 1889, Perkin began to receive several awards to his achievements. He received the
Davy medal of the Royal Society. The British government also recognized Perkin's contribution
to science, industry, and his country by knighting him in 1906.
In July 14, 1907, Perkin passed away in the age of sixty-nine. At the same year, he was
awarded the first Perkin Medal, which has ever since been awarded by the American Division
Society of Chemical Industry for distinguished work in chemistry. Although Perkin patented and
manufactured mauve dye in England, the center of the synthetic dye industry shifted to Germany,
where it remained until 1914.
Perkin was married twice. His first wife was a faughter of the late Mr. John Lisset. Some
years after her death, he married a daughter of MR. Herman Molwo. They had three sons, which
were all noted chemists, and four daughters. He was knighted in 1906.