Nylon's 75th Anniversary Fete

On Feb. 28 at the Hagley Museum & Library in Wilmington, the Delaware Academy of Chemical Sciences celebrated the 75th anniversary of the invention of nylon. On that date in 1935, organic chemist Gerard Berchet, a member of Wallace H. Carothers’ research group at the DuPont Experimental Station, prepared nylon 6,6 (a condensation copolymer made from equal parts of hexamethylenediamine and adipic acid), and a world-changing industry was born.

This synthetic fiber was first used to replace silk in women’s hosiery. In World War II, nylon replaced silk in parachutes. After the war, DuPont increased nylon research and production, quickly expanding into products such as clothing, carpeting, tire cord, seat belts, sporting goods, and home furnishings.

Nylon became a major moneymaker and led DuPont to establish its textile fibers department, which introduced Dacron, Orlon, Lycra, and Kevlar. “These synthetic fibers changed our world in many ways and were a far cry from cotton, wool, and linen, the ‘natural’ fibers,” says Allen A. Denio, organizer of the event, cofounder of the Delaware Academy, and councilor for the ACS Delaware Section.

Carothers was a highly respected organic chemist who earned his doctorate at the University of Illinois under Roger Adams in 1924. He continued his research there until 1926, when he accepted a position at Harvard University. He then moved to a new research lab, informally called “Purity Hall,” at the DuPont Experimental Station in 1928.

Joseph X. Labovsky, 97, the last survivor of Carothers’ research group, was the ceremony’s guest of honor. Labovsky was hired as a laboratory assistant by Carothers, and they shared a love of Russian music and literature. “Joe had come to Wilmington at age 12 from the Ukraine. Carothers had helped him receive a college scholarship and was impressed by his great work ethic and laboratory skill,” Denio says.

“DuPont should be recognized for hiring Dr. Carothers. He told them about his mental health problem involving episodes of deep depression, but he was hired anyway. During his employment he suffered periodic ‘spells’ when he would be absent, in some cases under hospital care. DuPont provided continuing support until his suicide in 1937,” Denio says.

Stephanie L. Kwolek, who invented Kevlar as a research chemist in the textile fibers department at DuPont, was also honored at the event. The celebration was attended by DuPont Chief Innovation Officer Thomas M. Connelly Jr. and New Castle County Executive Christopher A. Coons, who presented a proclamation thanking Carothers and Labovsky for “their great contribution to society.”

To top off the afternoon’s festivities, Michael A. Stemniski, a chemistry professor at the University of Delaware, did the famous nylon rope trick, drawing a thin nylon filament from the interface of an aqueous solution of hexamethylenediamine and a solution of adipoyl chloride in hexane.