Wallace Hume Carothers was an
American chemist who invented nylon and neoprene. The name of Wallace
Carothers stands out from the list of the world’s greatest inventors.
- Major Works
- It was his discovery that it was possible to add hydrogen chloride to monovinylacetylene with formation of 2-chloro-i, 3-butadiene, called chloroprene. This substance is analogous structurally to isoprene but polymerizes several hundreds of times more rapidly and leads to a product much superior to all previously known synthetic rubbers. Carothers' work laid the foundation for the development by other chemists and by chemical engineers of the du Pont Company of the commercial product which has found wide industrial use and which is marketed as neoprene.
- He investigated the means by which polymers structurally analogous to cellulose and silk could be prepared, and synthesized a large number. These materials constituted the first completely synthetic fibres with a degree of strength, orientation, and pliability comparable with natural fibres. This investigation led du Pont to set up a plant in Seaford, Delaware, which cost upwards of eight million dollars, for producing a new textile yarn to be known as nylon.Awards & Achievements
- In 1929 he was elected Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
- His achievements were recognized by his election to the National Academy of Sciences in 1936—the first organic chemist associated with industry to be elected to that organization.
