Historical Background (Or: There Is Nothing New Under the Sun)

Abstract

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2000, was rewarded “for the discovery and development of electrically conductive polymers.” However, there have been severa1 forerunners of Hegger, MacDiarmid, and Shirakawa. The most important representatives of these materials polyaniline, polypyrrole have already prepared by chemical oxidation in the nineteenth century. In fact, the discovery of polyacetylene in 1970s—which had no practical importance but helped to arouse the interest of the researchers and public alike—was an episode in the history of conducting polymers. The story of polyaniline is described in detail (Letheby, J Chem Soc 15:161, 1862).