edited by
JOHN H. WOW! Southern Illinois University Carbondale, lllinois 62901
The Discovery of Saccharin D. Stanley Tarbell a n d Ann T r a c v Tarbell Vanderbilt ~ n i u e r s i t ~ Nashuille, Tennessee 37203 Ira Remsen in 1878 was estahlishine the first maior center of'gradunre rraining and research in American chtmistry at rhtt n f ~foundrd l ~ Jnhns Hupkins I'niveriit\, \ / I . His cnllalwrarora included sever:il graduate f~~llows and a pwt-doc. toral-fell~w. Cmstantine Fahll~erg.1'h.D.. I.rip7ig. 1 8 3 12). Fahlt~org'sresearch p r d d e n ~\vds ildirect outrmwthof Kemsen's rrsearch at Tut~inrrn,Williamo College, and llopkins. Fahlherg's results are shown below, were published in preliminary form in the Berichte, and more completely in Remsen's new Amer. Chem. J.,under hoth author's names ( 3 ) .
and the sale of saccharin mainly by Fahlherg's company increased from 5200 kg in 1888 to 190,000 kg in 1900. In 1902, saccharin nroduction in Germanv was broueht under strict legal control and was obtainable only througK pharmacies, in Dart because of oooosition hv beet suear erowers. This led to .. .. .. manutacture in uthrr countries and to exten.;i\,e smuggling O~t~rllliOns inru Germanv. In World War 1, restriction< were removed on German production and large amounts were again manufactured ( 6 ) . Remsen, outraged by Fahlherg's behavior, protested, in a paper of 1886, against the publicity given to saccharin and to Fahlberg's claim that it was his sole discovery (7); he also published a dignified statement in the Berichte (8). After Remsen's paper (7) appeared, Fahlberg, speaking before the Society of Chemical Industry in Britain, claimed sole credit for the discovery of saccharin. Remsen asked Watson Smith, the editor of the J. Soc. Chem. Ind., for an opportunity to reply to Fahlberg. When this was not forthcoming, Remsen, in deep indignation, requested his friend, Sir William Ramsay, to intercede. Ramsav's attempt was unsuccessful. as shown to him thanking him for his by a letter written by efforts and remarking, "the matter is altozether too small to worry about. ~ a h l b e r gis a scoundrel. . ."39). Many years later Remsen still remembered telling a student that "I did not want his [Fahlherg's] money, but I did feel that I ought to have received a little credit for the discovery" (9). Remsen's attitude a t the time is shown in unpublished letters to W. A. Noyes, who had reported (5)that aminosaccharin and its salts had an intensely sweet taste.
ems sen
Separated from p-isomer
KMnO,
"Benzoic sulphinide" or "Saccharin"
HJ'J NH
"Amidosulphinide"
These letters, in Remsen's elegant handwriting and the formal style of the period, are as follows (10)
It was noted that hoth the "sulphinide" and its salts were exceedindv sweet-tasting (3).The salts were a t first regarded as derivedfrom the ringopened form (3), but later work by Remsen's group ( 4 ) and hv William A. Noves. a Remsen PhD and then a< the ilnivrrsit" of Tc.nnessee I:?,, shcrwed that t h ~ . salts were derived from the cyclic n m d r ~"sulphinidr.",. Fahlherg, experienced in &ar chemistry and industrial consulting, recognized the commercial possibilities of the discovery as a sugar substitute and in 1884, with his uncle, A. List of Leipzig, started a pilot plant in New York. In 1885, "Saccharin" was displayed in a London exposition, with the information that it was patented by Dr. C. Fahlherg of New York and A. List of Lei~zie. . ,. This seems to have been Remsen's firat intormatinn that Fnhlherg was developin: rhe discovery. Fiihlhrr?: movrd his plant to (krmanv in IRR6. lvcatinr at ~ e s t e r k s e nnear , ~ B g d e h u r gand , two German patents, issued in 1886 to Fahlherg and the heirs of A. List, were assigned to Fahlberg, List & Co. Under the name Saccharinfahrik A. G. vorm. Fahlherg, List & Co., saccharin was still being manufactured in 1921. Various production problems were solved, ~
~
American Chemical Journal Ira Remsen, Editor Baltimore, Md
June 215,1886
Dear Professor:
Fahlberg has patented benzoic sulphinide and is making a great ado about it. Some New York gentlemen have become interested in the matter. I have thought that as the amido-sulphinide is such a sweet substance it might he well to file a caveat' on that simply to head off Fahlberg. I may think it bestto take thisstep though I don't believe there is any prospective profit in it. Can you send me a small specimen? Should I file the caveat, I wouli :o it under your name as well as my awn. If possible, send me a sa .:I specimen by return mail; I would like to compare its sweetness with that of the simple sulphinide. What yield did you get? Yours very truly, Ira Remsen
' A"caveat" in U.S. Datent law. meant at that time a l e d daim for
n patrnt, .hose
trom filinr: a
~
dctml- wrrr tu be filed ln~rr, which prevpntpd orhem I P on ~ rhe I vnmt suh,rcr \"Oxford Englmh I)irtiw
nary"). Volume 55, Number 3, March 1978 I 161
Noyes must have replied by "return mail", because Remsen wrote again four days later. Johns Hopkins U n i v e r s i t y June 30,1886 Baltimore My dear Professor: Your l e t t e r s t o g e t h e r w i t h the s p e c i m e n of the amido-sulphinide are received. A s well as I am able to judge, the amido compound i s not as sweet as the s i m p l e s u l p h i n i d e - i n d e e d I consider it considerably less sweet. At the same t i m e i t can undoubtedly be made at a considerably s m a l l e r p r i c e . I shall do nothing about the matter at present. I hardly t h i n k anything w i l l come of it.-Fahlberg hasgot some capi t a l i s t s in New York interested in the t h i n g , and one of them has consulted me. I am to see h i m i n a few days, when I shall know mare about F's movements than I do now. Yours s i n c e r e l y , Ira Remsen
In another letter to Noyes of June 20,1887, Remsen says: P.S. There i s no n e w d e v e l o p m e n t in the matter of the s u l p h i n i d e . The enveat w a s f i l e d asvau know. Whether a n v t h i n a further will comeof i t depends somewhat at least upon the ene& wkh which it i s pushed. I fear I have no talent for p u s h i n g . ~~~
~~~~
~
It was probably unfortunate for American chemical in-
162 / Journal of Chemical Education
dustry, and for the funds which might have accrued for Hopkins' chemical research, that Remsen did not recognize the possible value of the discovery of saccharin, and did not arrange for someone else to "push" its exploration vigorously. Literature Cited [I! Noyes, W. A,. and Norris, J. F.. hiographyofRemsen. Riograph. Mem. Not.Aeod Sein., 14,205 11932): Getman, F. H., "The Life of Ira Remsen." 1940;Tarhell. D. S. and Ambir. 23,145 11976). A. T.. unpubliahod; Hannswsy. 0.. 121 Brown. W. Norman, "Johns Hopkins Hallcentury Directory;' 1926. "Dar C m m Rrmkhaus Lerion." 1933, arlicie "Fshlkrg". Fahibrguas born in Tambov,Riusis, in 1850anddied in Nariauin 1910. 131 Fahlherg,C..and Remsen, I.. Re,, 12,469 11879):Remsm,I..and Fahlkrg.C..Amer Chem. J.. 1.126 (1879-18801: dated January, 1080. 141 Remam,l..ibid.. 6. 260 118841. 151 Nwea. W.A..ibid.. 8. 167 118851. 16) Ullmann, F., Enr.yklop6dis d m Technischsn Chamie. 11, 346, 11921l. article on "~~~v~sauresu1flnid;'givos an excellent amount and allom Remren pmmr credit fur the original research. In a standard German encyclopedia of 1933, Do? Gmme Rrorkhaus Lerieon. Remseni name is not mentioned sf all lsriicles m"Fah1berg" and "Saccharin"). Figurer on American production of saccharin, which reached a v e d million lhslyear in the 1960's. are given by Kirk-Othmer,"Eneyclupedia af Chemical Technology," 2nd ed., 1969. 171 Rem~en.l..and Pa1mer.A. G..Amcr. Chem. 5 , 8.221 118861. IS! Remsen, l . , R e ~ ,20,2274 (1887). 191 Getman. Lile. a 66 ff. Fahlhercis mirfakenly describpd in this reference as agraduste with nemsen. (10) Original letleain the W.A. Noyes Archiue.University of 1llinoisArchives;wesre in^ dehtpd to themurtery oftheArchivirt,Dr. Maynard Brichford. University uflllinnir Library, U ~ h a n aIllinois. , We have been unable t o iind any previou~puhlicationuf
