Arnold Miller Collins (1899-1982) was a chemist at DuPont who, working under Elmer Bolton and

Wallace Carothers Wallace Hume Carothers (; April 27, 1896 – April 29, 1937) was an American chemist, inventor and the leader of organic chemistry at DuPont, who was credited with the invention of nylon. Carothers was a group leader at the DuPont Experimen ...

, first isolated

polychloroprene Neoprene (also polychloroprene) is a family of synthetic rubbers that are produced by polymerization of chloroprene.Werner Obrecht, Jean-Pierre Lambert, Michael Happ, Christiane Oppenheimer-Stix, John Dunn and Ralf Krüger "Rubber, 4. Emulsion R ...

and 2-chloro-1, 3-butadiene in 1930.

Personal

Born 1899. Married Helen Clark Collins. Died October 8, 1982.

Education

Collins attended Columbia College, graduating in 1921 with the AB degree. Doctoral degree. Columbia College 1924. His dissertation was entitled "Electrolytic introduction of alkyl groups", Columbia University, New York, New York.

Career

At Dupont, Collins worked under

. Carothers assigned Collins to produce a sample of di

vinylacetylene Vinylacetylene is the organic compound with the formula C4H4. The colourless gas was once used in the polymer industry. It is composed of both alkyne and alkene groups and is the simplest enyne. Vinylacetylene is extremely dangerous because in ...

. In March 1930, while distilling the products of the acetylene reaction, Collins obtained a small quantity of an unknown liquid, which he put aside in stoppered test tubes. He later found that the liquid had congealed into a clear homogeneous mass. When Collins removed the mass from the test tube, it bounced. Further analysis showed that the mass was a polymer of chloroprene, formed with chlorine from the cuprous chloride catalyst. Collins had stumbled upon a new synthetic rubber. Following this breakthrough, DuPont began to manufacture its first artificial rubber, DuPrene, in September 1931. In 1936, it was renamed neoprene a term to be used generically.

Awards and Recognitions

* 1973 -

Charles Goodyear Medal The Charles Goodyear Medal is the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Society, Rubber Division. Established in 1941, the award is named after Charles Goodyear, the discoverer of vulcanization, and consists of a gold medal, a framed ...

from the

ACS Rubber Division ACS or Acs may refer to: Organizations and societies * American Cancer Society, an American voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer * American Ceramic Society, an American professional organization * American Cheese Socie ...

External links

1981 Interview with Arnold Collins

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Arnold M. Polymer scientists and engineers 1899 births 1982 deaths American chemists