Historical accounts in chemistry have often been subject to biases that lead to incorrect claims and timelines of important scientific discoveries.  One problem that is frequently encountered when telling the history of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is who should be given credit for the discovery and when the discovery was made. A primary complicating factor seems to stem from a limited understanding of the macromolecule prior to the 1920s. The field in its infancy at this point would advance significantly due to the work by Herman Staudinger and happened to coincide with the patent submissions of Fritz Klatte which began the process of looking at industrialization and application.  Additionally, the historical emphasis on plastics often ignores contributions that preceded the patenting and commercialization of polymeric products. The discovery of PVC has been incorrectly attributed to industry patents in the early 20<sup>th</sup> century, along with other erroneous attributions prior to and after the historically accepted account of Eugene Baumann in 1872. It is not to say that the contributions made in the 20<sup>th</sup> century were not substantial, as without the contributions of Fritz Klatte, industrial scalability would still have been out of reach. The presentation will focus on how PVC progressed from a material of only academic interest, to the billion-dollar industry we know today.

Following the PVC pipeline: Misconceptions and milestones from discovery to industrialization

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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