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Perkin W

Name: William Henry Perkin

Achievements: Developed the first artificial dye.

Born: March 12, 1838; Shadwell, London, England

Died: July 14, 1907; Sudbury, England (Aged 69)

Field & Discipline: Science; Chemistry; Dyes

Language: English

Father: George Fowler Perkin

Mother: Sarah Cuthbert

Siblings: Sarah; George; Thomas; Selina; Louisa; Eliza

Spouse: 1) Jemima Harriett Lissett ( a cousin, m. 1859, died 1862); 2) Alexandrine Caroline Mollwo (m. 1866)

Children: William Henry; Arthur George; Frederick Mollwo; four daughters

Education: City of London School, Cheapside; Royal College of Chemistry

Life & Times:

Perkin attended [attended lectures by] Faraday*’s lectures in electrochemistry at the Royal Institution, London,  and the demonstrations made a lasting impression.  Then, in the autumn of 1853, Perkin was enrolled at the Royal College of Chemistry for courses in practical and theoretical chemistry. 

The lectures were given by [taught by] von Hoffmann* at the Museum in Jermyn Street, since there were no lecture facilities at the College.  [taught by] Crookes* tutored him on chemical reactions and [studied work of] Bunsen’s* methods of analysis. 

Perkin then took a job as an assistant in Hoffmann’s private research laboratory in Oxford Street. In 1856, during the Easter vacation, while Perkin  was trying to produce artificial quinine, he synthesised an oxidized salt of allyl toluidine with potassium dichromate, with unsuccessful results.  He repeated the experiment with aniline, but while he didn’t produce quinine, he obtained a dark-colored precipitate that proved to be a suitable dye for silk.

The colour was a beautiful purple that wasn’t readily available in natural dyes and it became the first aniline dye.  In the back garden at their home, Perkin and his brother Thomas worked at making quantities of the aniline dye and improved its preparation.  He took his sample to the biggest silk dyers in England, located at Bethnal Green, close to his home in London, who reacted with cautious optimism, so Perkin decided to manufacture the dye himself.

He tried different ways to improve production methods and, in 1858, he went to stay with a friend, Frank Duppa, who had set up a lab in the grounds of his house.  They worked, at unpleasantly close quarters, with volatile materials like bromine and tried to make a number of organic materials by artificial means. The work led to the discovery of tartaric and other natural acids, including amino-acetic acid, produced by heating bromo-acetic acid with ammonia.

Eventually, Perkin chose a plot of land at Greenford Green, near Harrow, northwest of London, as the site for a dye factory. The land had good prospects, and was near the Paddington branch of the Regent Canal, with a good supply of water, an outflow and frontage on the canal towpath.   Labour wasn’t a problem either, because local farm workers were ready to change jobs for a slight increase in pay.

With the location found, Perkin designed the plant during the summer of 1857.  Safety was of prime importance, since the nitrated substances they would use were potentially explosive.  He continued working on more efficient production methods and developed the dye to make it suitable for the large cotton market.

The first factory dye, initially named “Aniline Purple” or “Tyrian Purple” was produced at the end of 1858 and when it was introduced in France, the colour was described as “mauve,” the name by which it became generally known.

Ten years later, two Germans, Graebe and Liebermann, invented a synthetic alizarine dye, known as “Turkey red,” from a derivative of [work related to] coal tar*.  Production of the dye was too expensive to replace the vegetable dye from the madder, which was currently being used for the same color, so Perkin developed a method using sulphonic acid of anthraquinone to achieve the same result.  

He was able to exploit the market quickly and the popularity of aniline dyes led to the decline of vegetable dyes.  Except for a little German competition, Perkin dominated the market in Britain until 1873.  The demand for alizarin grew quickly, the factory was too small to cope and Perkin needed to increase  production. 

In 1874, he transferred his business to the chemical company Brooke, Simpson & Spiller and he retired to Sudbury in Suffolk, England.  Now, with time for pure research, he was able to carry on with work he had started in 1867. 

At that time, he had discovered a method of synthesising unsaturated organic acid, now known as the “Perkin synthesis.” 

The following year, he had discovered a way to synthesise coumarin, a substance found in the Tonka bean and he synthesized cinnamic acid from benzaldehyde.  In his retirement, Perkin was the president of the Chemical Society from 1883 to 1885.  Ninety of his papers were published in “Transactions of the Chemical Society.”

In 1889, one of his papers on aniline purple appeared in the proceedings of the Royal Society, of which he had been a Fellow for twenty-three years.  In 1879, he was awarded the Royal Society Medal and the Davy Medal followed ten years later.

After his death, a collection raised by chemists from across the world established the Perkin Memorial Fund, with the aim of encouraging research into subjects relating to the coal tar and allied industries.  The Perkin Medal, awarded to English chemists to honour distinguished services to the industry, was created by the Society of Dyers and Colourists and the American Memorial Committee founded another Perkin Medal for US chemists.

Extra Connections: His work related to that of [influenced] Golgi*, [influenced] Lucius*, [influenced] Fischer*, [influenced] Joseph Hooker*, [influenced] Rowland Hill* and [influenced] Goodyear*

A fellow dye chemist was [fellow dye chemist was] Baeyer*

Assessment: Perkin was a well respected chemist worldwide, most famous for discovering the first synthetic compound of any complexity to be produced commercially, arising from the results of laboratory based research.

Oneliner: William Perkin, who discovered artificial dye

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