Universiv Micrdrilms International 300 N

INFORMATION TO USERS This reproduction was made from a copy of a document sent to us for microfilming. While the most advanced technology has been used to photograph and reproduce this document, the quality of the reproduction is heavily dependent upon the quality of the material submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help clarify markings or notations which may appear on this reproduction. 1.The sign or “target” for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is “Missing Page(s)”. If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting through an image and duplicating adjacent pages to assure complete continuity. 2. When an image on the film is obliterated with a round black mark, it is an indication of either blurred copy because of movement during exposure, duplicate copy, or copyrighted materials that should not have been filmed. For blurred pages, a good image of the page can be found in the adjacent frame. If copyrighted materials were deleted, a target note will appear listing the pages in the adjacent frame. 3. When a map, drawing or chart, etc., is part of the material being photographed, a definite method of “sectioning” the material has been followed. It is customary to begin filming at the upper left hand comer of a large sheet and to continue from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. If necessary, sectioning is continued again-beginning below the first row and continuing on until complete. 4. For illustrations that cannot be satisfactorily reproduced by xerographic means, photographic prints can be purchased at additional cost and inserted into your xerographic copy. These prints are available upon request from the Dissertations Customer Services Department. 5. Some pages in any document may have indistinct print. In all cases the best available copy has been filmed. UniversiV MIcrdrilms International 300 N. Z eeb Road Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 8324888 Furukawa, Yasu STAUDINGER, CAROTHERS, AND THE EMERGENCE OF MACROMOLECULAR CHEMISTRY The University of Oklahoma Ph.D. 1983 University Microfilms I nternâtions!300 N. zeeb Road, Ann Arbor. Ml 48106 Copyright 1983 by Furukawa, Yasu All Rights Reserved PLEASE NOTE: In all cases this material has been filmed in the best possible way from the available copy. Problems encountered with this document have been identified here with a check mark V 1. Glossy photographs or pages. 2. Colored illustrations, paper or print ______ 3. Photographs with dark background ______ 4. Illustrations are poor copy 5. Pages with black marks, not original copy 6. Print shows through as there is text on both sides of page. 7. Indistinct, broken or small print on several pages 8. Print exceeds margin requirements ______ 9. Tightly bound copy with print lost in spine ______ 10. Computer printout pages with indistinct print. 11. Page(s) ____________ lacking when material received, and not available from school or author. 12. P age(s) ____________ seem to be missing in numbering only a s text follows. 13. Two pages numbered ____________ . Text follows. 14. Curling and wrinkled pages ______ 15. Other University Microfilms International THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE STAUDINGER, CAROTHERS, AND THE EMERGENCE OF MACROMOLECULAR CHEMISTRY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree o f DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By YASU FURUKAWA Norman, Oklahoma 1983 STAUDINGER, CAROTHERS, AND THE EMERGENCE OF MACROMOLECULAR CHEMISTRY A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE iZ-Lri&y^ (s) 1983 Yasu Furawaka Ail Rights Reserved PREFACE In attempting to reconstruct a picture of the emergence of macromolecular chemistry, I have focussed my investigative efforts on the scientific work and activities of Hermann Staudinger, Wallace Hume Carothers, and their research groups in Germany and the United States. The roles of the two scientists and their schools were irrefutably central to the theoretical, practical, and institutional foundations of this new field of chemical science during the interwar period. Not only does this study describe their theoretical development, but it also aims to illuminate and contrast the scientific enterprise of the two founders from various angles, such as their scientific personalities, styles in chemistry, and the peculiar institutional and social milieux in which they pursued their science. In this respect, I hope that this'compara tive study sheds light on contrasting characteristics between German and American science in the early twentieth century as well. Many people at the University of Oklahoma have aided in completing this dissertation. I wish to express my deep gratitude to my major professor Mary Jo Nye (Associate Professor of the History of Science) for her careful reading of this text and for her constructive criticism , direction, and continuous encouragement. To Kenneth L. Taylor (Associate Professor of the History of Science and the Chairman of the Department of the History of Science), I owe a great debt for his prompt comments iv and helpful suggestions. The other members of my committee, Thomas M. Smith (Professor of the History of Science), David B. Kitts (Professor of the History of Science), Steven J. Livesey (Assistant Professor of the History of Science), and Robert A. Nye (Professor of History), also gave me useful comments from which I have benefitted. I am very grateful to Duane H. D. Roller (Professor of the History of Science and the Curator of the History of Science Collections) and Marcia M. Goodman (Librarian of the History of Science and Rare Book Collections and Assis tant Professor of Bibliography) for their valuable assistance while carrying out my doctoral research in the History of Science Collections at the University of Oklahoma. With the friendly help of the personnel of the Chemistry Library at the University of Oklahoma, I was able to consult a large amount of chemical literature published between the nineteenth century and the first half of this century. I have the pleasant duty of acknowledging the personal support and encouragement of Marilyn Ogilvie (Assistant Professor of Natural Science, Oklahoma Baptist University) and my fellow graduate students in the Department of the History of Science at the University of Oklahoma. Special thanks are due to the Department of History of Science at the University of Oklahoma for granting me a Graduate Assistantship during my doctoral study. The travel and research grants from the Gradu ate College at the University of Oklahoma and from the Eleutherian-M ills Hagley Foundation enabled me to examine a rich store of unpublished sources on Carothers and the Du Pont Company at the Eleutherian Mills Historical Library in Wilmington, Delaware, in the spring of 1982. In this connection, I would like to express my thanks to Richard R. Williams (Director of the Eleutherian Mills Historical Library) and the Eleutherian Mills Library staff for their cordial assistance and support. I am also grateful to Francis E. Parsons (Librarian of the Lavoisier Library, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company) fo r allo w in g me access to th e C arothers File at the Lavoisier Library in the Du Pont Experimental Station, and to Adeline B. C. Strange in Wilmington, who loaned me her collection of Carothers' letters and manuscripts in which I was especially interested. As living witnesses, Herman F. Mark (Dean Emeritus, Polytechnic Institute of New York), Julian W. H ill, and Gerard J. Berchet provided me invaluable information about Staudinger, Carothers, and their own experiences in th e 1920s and th e 1930s through my interviews with these polymer chemists. To those who gave me kind advice and assistance regarding research materials, I owe particular thanks. They are Jeffrey L. Sturchio (Assis tant Professor of the History of Science, New Jersey Institute of Tech nology), John K. Smith (Ph.D. candidate in the History of Technology, University of Delaware), John W. Servos (Assistant Professor of the History of Science, Princeton University), George Wise (Historian, General Electric Company), and Claus Priesner (Historian, Deutsches Museum, M unich). For German and French quotations in this dissertation, I have used available English translations when, in my judgment, they were satisfac tory. The remaining translations from foreign languages, those for which no published sources are cited, are my own. My appreciation is due to Tibor J. Herezeg (Professor of Astronomy, University of Oklahoma), for his meticulous reading of my translations from German passages and for his helpful suggestions. vi Finally, I wish to express an especial thanks to my parents, Yoshiko and Masatoyo Furukawa, for their understanding, encouragement, and endless affection. V ll TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE............................................................................ iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS............................................. i% LIST OF FIGURES................................................................x i i INTRODUCTION ............................................................... 1 Chapter I . BACKGROUND: THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE CONCEPT OF LARGE MOLECULES IN CLASSICAL ORGANIC CHEMISTRY .................. 11 I I . HERMANN STAUDINGER AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE MACROMOLECULAR THEORY .... 39 I I I . WALLACE HUME CAROTHERS AND THE MACROMOLECULAR SYNTHESIS ....................... 36

Load more