Mauveine

Letter from Perkin's son, with a sample of dyed silk

Mauveine, also known as aniline purple and Perkin's mauve, was one of the first synthetic dyes.[1][2] It was discovered serendipitously by William Henry Perkin in 1856 while he was attempting to synthesise the phytochemical quinine for the treatment of malaria.[3] It is also among the first chemical dyes to have been mass-produced.[4][5]

  1. ^ Hubner (2006). "History – 150 Years of mauveine". Chemie in unserer Zeit. 40 (4): 274–275. doi:10.1002/ciuz.200690054.
  2. ^ Anthony S. Travis (1990). "Perkin's Mauve: Ancestor of the Organic Chemical Industry". Technology and Culture. 31 (1): 51–82. doi:10.2307/3105760. JSTOR 3105760. S2CID 112031120.
  3. ^ St. Clair, Kassia (2016). The Secret Lives of Colour. London: John Murray. p. 21. ISBN 9781473630819. OCLC 936144129.
  4. ^ Hicks, Jan (2017-08-25). "William Henry Perkin and the world's first synthetic dye". Science and Industry Museum blog. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
  5. ^ "The color purple: How an accidental discovery changed fashion forever". CNN. 12 March 2018.