Poulenc Frères (Poulenc Brothers) was a French chemical, pharmaceutical and photographic supplies company that had its origins in a Paris pharmacy founded in 1827.
From 1852 it began to manufacture (or package) photographic chemicals.
It took the name Poulenc Frères in 1881, and by 1900 had a range of high-quality products.
That year it went public as the Établissements Poulenc Frères.
It began production of synthetic medicines, and continued to grow during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
(1914–18).
In 1928 it merged with the Société des usines chimiques du Rhône to form
Rhône-Poulenc
Rhône-Poulenc () was a French chemical and pharmaceutical company founded in 1928. In 1999 it merged with Hoechst AG to form Aventis. As of 2015, the pharmaceutical operations of Rhône-Poulenc are part of Sanofi and the chemicals divisions a ...
.
Origins
The company can trace its roots to the Pharmacie-Droguerie Hédouin, a pharmacy founded in 1827 in the rue Saint-Merri, Paris.
The baker Pierre Wittman (1798–1880) bought the store in 1845.
His daughter, Pauline Wittmann (1828–1910), married Étienne Poulenc (1823–78) in February 1851.
They had three sons: Gaston (1852–1948), Emile (1855–1917) and Camille (1864–1942).
Etienne Poulenc was a pharmacist and a chemist, and partnered with his father-in-law.
He became sole owner in 1858.
With his brother-in-law Léon Whittman, Etienne began to manufacture photographic products, which up to then the business had only retailed, under the "P.W." brand.
Starting in 1852 the products needed for photographic
collodion
Collodion is a flammable, syrupy solution of nitrocellulose in ether and alcohol. There are two basic types: flexible and non-flexible. The flexible type is often used as a surgical dressing or to hold dressings in place. When painted on the ski ...
were prepared or packaged in a factory in
Vaugirard.
These included
silver bromide
Silver bromide (AgBr) is a soft, pale-yellow, water-insoluble salt well known (along with other silver halides) for its unusual sensitivity to light. This property has allowed silver halides to become the basis of modern photographic materials. Ag ...
and
iodide
An iodide ion is the ion I−. Compounds with iodine in formal oxidation state −1 are called iodides. In everyday life, iodide is most commonly encountered as a component of iodized salt, which many governments mandate. Worldwide, iodine def ...
,
iodine chloride Iodine chloride may refer to:
* Iodine monochloride, ICl
* Iodine dichloride, ICl2−
* Iodine trichloride, ICl3
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