AN CHE N A discussion of furan chemistry, furfural
Y
furan compounds or applications of them--2508 in this country and 700 abroad. About one sixth of these patents deal with resins in some form.
must have a prominent part. Since 1947 marks the 25th anniversary of the birth of furfural as an industrial product, the chemical historians particularly will be interested in the story to be given by the originator of the furfural project. The organic chemist will find in the papers which follow food for thought, probably material for argumentation, and certainly fields for speculation. The chemical engineer can take pride in the knowledge t h a t his help was needed in every step from the digestion of oat hulls to the application of furfural to the production of nylon.
Yhen open chain cornpounds were made in
1926 by hydrogenating furfural with a base metal catalyst, dreams arose t h a t one day furfural would be a n important source of such products. This dream did not reach fruition until twenty years later. I n the meantime hundreds of industrial applications were made of the furans.
During one summer several tons of furfural wcre sold to cigar manufacturers. The nature of the use was never divulged. Possibly it was t o The field of furan chemistry, theoretical and improve the odor. A French company made pcrapplied, is large, and the time allotted to this fumes in which were blended esters of furylsj-mposium-presented before the Division of acrylic acid, and foreign patents describe the Industrial and Engineering Chemistry a t the 112th Meeting of the A V E R I C ~ X CHEMIIC.~L use of furan mercaptans as constituents of synthetic coffee aromas. Furfural has been used as SOCIETY-was relatively brief; therefore, some an odorant in candles used for church ceremoimportant phases of the field cannot be included nials, The Japanese used sodium furylacrylate as in these papers. I n mitigation of these necesa soy sauce preservative, and a western railroad sary omissions the following resume is offered. killed weeds on its right-of-way with furfural. A Frenchman patented the use of methyl furan Since Dobereiner described the preparation of as a motor fuel, and a n automobile ran through furfural in 1832, between 4000 and 5000 scientific the streets of Chicago burning furfural instead of articles have been published, each dealing with gasoline. A manufacturer of illuminating gas in some phase of furan chemistry. Hopeful inHolland used the aldehyde to clean its pipe lines ventors have been granted some 3200 patents on of tar, and a New York man made nail polish remover with tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol. Furfural controlled slime deposits in water supplies, and a midwestern football team used hydrofuramide to combat athlete’s foot.
As a fungicide for seed treatment, a glue preservative, a fumigant for poultry houses, a repellent for screw-worm flies, as an embalming fluid, furfural found uses. As a paint and varnish remover it served as a means of livelihood for several companies. Furfuryl alcohol is a n excellent carbon reinover for use in gasoline motors. I t is hoped that, in addition to contributing to the chemical literature, this symposium will encourage young chemists to dream, and hope, and plan to create n e w industries out of what today appear to be only laboratory curiosities. FREDUS N. P E T E R S
Tightening cover on furfural digester
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