Biographical Memoirs Volume 54 (1983) / Chapter Skim
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Elmer Keiser Bolton
Elmer Keiser Bolton
Pages 50-73
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From page 50... ...
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From page 51... ...
The record of industrial products developed by Du Font research organizations that he directed is impressive; it includes synthetic dyes and intermediates, flotation chemicals, rubber chemicals, neoprene synthetic rubber, nylon synthetic fiber, and Teflon polytetrafluoroethylene resin. His leaclership in bringing these developments to fruition was always apparent to management and to those he directed, but because of his characteristic self-effacement his name is not widely associated with these accomplishments.
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From page 52... ...
The Classical Course included elective studies in chemistry during the second, third, and fourth years, and it must have been at this time that his interest in chemistry was kindled. Bolton entered Harvard in 1908 to pursue graduate study in organic chemistry.
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From page 53... ...
Bolton" to all but a few close friends, to whom he was "Elmer." When BoIton received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1913, the university awarded him the Sheldon Fellowship, which he used to spend two years of postcloctoral research with WilIstatter at the Kaiser Wilhelm Tnstitut.
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From page 54... ...
In 1920, when he had become responsible for Du Font dye research, he wrote: The greatest contribution which the German universities have made to their dye industry is not in the number of research chemists who have entered the industry with previous knowledge of operating processes, nor the development of new fields of research by the professors of the universities, but in the large number of research chemists who have been taught the correct methods for attacking a problem by men prominent in their line of work and if the American dye industry is to succeed in future years, it is necessary to receive from our universities chemists who have had a thorough training in the fundamental principles of research work.2 The thrill important consequence of Bolton's stay in Germany was his exposure to and interest in German efforts to make a synthetic rubber. Harries, at the University of Kiel, was particularly active on this problem, studying the polymerization of isoprene and dimethy~butacliene, and Bolton became familiar with the research through Harries' publications and, quite probably, by attending seminars.
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From page 55... ...
In 1916 the Du Pont Company decided to embark on the manufacture of synthetic dyes, and BoTton was selected leacler of the Dye Group that was set up at the Station to develop manufacturing processes. The development of dye intermediates was carried out at Jackson Laboratory, across the Delaware River from Wilmington, under the direction of Dr.
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From page 56... ...
Thus, he wrote: "A very important problem in the development of the Chemical Industry is to determine whether the methods for research work for developing new manufacturing processes leacl to results in the shortest time with the minimum expenditure of money."4 This philosophy was later to be implementer! many times in his decisions to move laboratory findings quickly into the development phase.
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From page 57... ...
By 1923 he had in progress research on rubber accelerators, and soon thereafter extended the research to encompass antioxidants for rubber and gasoline, flotation agents, insecticides, seed disinfectants, and large-scale manufacture of tetraethyIlead. Several commercial products soon emerged from these programs, and the business of the Dyestuffs Department was broadened!
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From page 58... ...
Work was started in September 1925 on polymerization of butadiene, which was obtained by hydrogenation of diacetylene, but not much progress was macle. From December 29 through 31, 1925, Bolton attended the first National Symposium on Organic Chemistry at Rochester, New York, where he heard a paper by Father Nieuwlancl of Notre Dame entitIed "Acetylene Reactions, Mostly Catalytic." Nieuwlanc!
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From page 59... ...
In 1928 Wallace Carothers, then an instructor at Harvard, was hired as group leader to head this program. It is probable that Bolton's friend Roger Adams influenced this selection; Adams had trained Carothers and was by then department head at Illinois and a consultant for Du Font.
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From page 60... ...
Nevertheless, it was far superior to natural rubber in resistance to oils and to outdoor degradation, and Bolton insisted that it would find commercial uses; he was right. The critical technical discoveries in neoprene development were made by several scientists, but it was Bolton who recognized the import of Nieuwland's work, gave his organization the direction to capitalize on it, and persisted for six years in the face of many technical discouragements to achieve his objective of the first commercial synthetic rubber.
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From page 61... ...
ester of an aTiphatic dicarboxylic acid and an aliphatic glycoT in a "molecular still." This was a high-vacuum still with a condensing surface very close to the reaction mixture, so that not only the methanol by-product but also low molecular weight polyesters were removed from the reaction zone, thus driving the equilibrium toward high molecular weight products. Then came the key observation: in April 1930 Dr.
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From page 62... ...
Bolton refused to give up. In early 1934 he urged Carothers to reexamine his superpolymer work to see if some basis could be found for synthetic fiber development.
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From page 63... ...
Here again, his insistence on pure raw materials came to the fore. The pilot plant began suddenly to produce poor quality fiber.
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From page 64... ...
He recognized a fact of history that pioneering inventions represent dramatic change and are almost invariably brought to fruition only by the dogged persistence of a few people who have faith. When Bolton became director of the Chemical Department in 1930, the technical staff numbered 121; when he retired in 1951, it had grown to 203.
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From page 65... ...
Although the Ice polymerization method required a pressure of 3000 atm, well beyond the reach of commercial compressors then available, Bolton immediately launched programs to investigate the properties and potential uses of this novel polymer, using samples supplied by Ice. His foresight was rewarded almost two years later when Chemical Department scientists discovered that ethylene could be converted to high molecular weight polymer in an emulsion system at a pressure of only 1000 atm, which could be attained with commercial compressors.
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From page 66... ...
This observation eventually led to the commercialization in 1961 of Ternary polyvinyl fluoride film, which is used as a pigmented, weatI~er-resistant, laminated overlay for architectural metal siding and paneling. In 1948 the Chemical Department began research on the concept of a photosensitive, etchable plastic printing medium as a replacement for metal printing plates.
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From page 67... ...
In his Perkin Medal Address, he saicI: Since the most valuable research asset is good men, it is the policy of the Company to staff our laboratories with the best-qualified men available. As stated recently by Dr.
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From page 68... ...
He served on the Advisory Board to Industrial and Engineering Chemistry and Chemical and Engineering News ~~ 94~ 9491. He was honored with: The Chemical Industry Medal 1941; The Perkin Medal, 1945; Election to the National Academy of Sciences, 1946; and The Willard Gibbs Medal, 1954.
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From page 69... ...
He flied 30 July 1968 at the age of eighty-two. He was a great leader, endowed with the trait that he often urged on his associates: he hacl "eine gute Nase."
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From page 70... ...
Chem., 34:53-58. 1945 Du Pont research (Perkin Medal address)
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