University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Cuprene: A historical curiosity along the path to polyacetylene

Rasmussen, Seth C.

Content Files
bhc2017v042p063.pdf

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/127961

Description

Title
Cuprene: A historical curiosity along the path to polyacetylene
Author(s)
Rasmussen, Seth C.
Issue Date
2017-03-15
Keyword(s)
  • History
  • Chemistry
Date of Ingest
2025-04-22T14:28:55-05:00
Abstract
Investigations into the polymerization of acetylene began in 1866 with the work of Berthelot, who produced a resinous material comparable to polystyrene upon heating acetylene at extreme temperatures. When heating was carried out in the presence of either elemental carbon or iron, it was found that the temperature required could be significantly decreased, while simultaneously increasing the overall reaction rate. Such efforts were then continued by Hugo Erdmann and Paul Köthner in 1898, who passed acetylene over spongy copper at 250 °C to produce an amorphous solid that they believed to be a complex copper acetylide. The following year, the copper-catalyzed process was also reported independently by Paul Sabatier and J. P. Senderens, who believed the product to be a complex hydrocarbon dispersed with small traces of copper. Sabatier then gave this material the name cuprene in 1900. Generally characterized as a yellowish powdery material, cuprene was generally believed to be an acetylenic polymer of some type and studies of the material continued until 1955, when Giulio Natta successfully reported the production of polyacetylene, (CH=CH)n, as a black crystalline polymer. After Natta's report, cuprene became essentially a curiosity and few continued its study. The history of cuprene up through 1955 will be presented, along with more recent attempts to understand the mechanism of polymerization and the composition of the resulting polymeric material.
Publisher
Division of the History of Chemistry
ISSN
1053-4385
Type of Resource
text
Genre of Resource
article
Language
eng
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/127961
DOI
https://doi.org/10.70359/bhc2017v042p063
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2017 Division of the History of Chemistry

Owning Collections

Bulletin for the History of Chemistry: Volume 42, Number 1, 2017 PRIMARY