Mauveine’s significance as a dye is its elusive colour. The purple substance – initially named aniline purple – was one of the world’s first synthetic dyes: mauveine. Dr John Plater’s dye detective work uncovers a long unsolved mystery behind Perkin’s mauveine dye. Perkin noticed whilst cleaning out a flask with ethanol that a purple solution had formed – an observation which led to Perkin becoming one of the most celebrated chemists of the Victorian era. Oxidising the aniline with potassium dichromate gave a black sludge which didn’t contain aniline: it contained something far more exciting. Perkin made several attempts at the synthesis over the Easter vacation in his home laboratory, using coal tar as a source of aniline. Quinine is found in tonic water and used as an anti-malarial. In 1856, an 18-year-old William Perkin, Hofmann’s assistant at the Royal College of Chemistry, was tasked to create a chemical synthesis of quinine. One of the most famous chemists of this era was William Henry Perkin. In the world of Chemistry, Dalton and Faraday were making discoveries in atomic theory and electricity. Cameras, cars, electricity and evolution were heralded in under the reign of Queen Victoria. The Victorian era was one of science and innovation. Dr Plater at the University of Aberdeen has been investigating, and thinks he may have discovered the true method of synthesising mauveine. But there is an unsolved mystery: using Perkin’s patented method, it is impossible to recreate the product he made. This discovery brought purple, a colour so expensive it had previously only been afforded by royalty and the church, to the mass-market. William Henry Perkin, a young London chemist, patented a synthesis in 1856 for a purple dye he created by accident whilst trying to synthesise quinine, a Victorian anti-malarial.
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