Before the end of the 19th century, we used natural materials such as bark, berries, seaweed and lichens to dye fabrics. Natural dyes were ultimately supplanted by synthetic dyes when William Henry Perkin discovered the first synthetic dye, mauve, in 1856.
18 year old William Perkin, a gifted student of the Royal College of Chemistry in London, was looking for a way to develop an artificial form of quinine from coal tar. Quinine was needed to treat British troops suffering from malaria in India. During his experiments, instead of quinine, young Perkin was left with some purplish powder. More experimentation led him to realise that this substance worked as a textile dye which was colourfast and resistant to light. It was originally called aniline purple, but was renamed mauve (French for the mallow flower) when it reached a peak of popularity.
This colour was propelled in fashion by the choice of mauve gowns by the Queen Victoria and Empress Eugenie (wife of Napoleon III). Around 1860, if you weren’t wearing mauve you were definitely not fashionable! Before Perkin’s discovery huge quantities of shells of a species of Mediterranean mollusc were needed to get a purple colour. Perkin’s mauve therefore allowed the masses to own the latest fashionable colours.
The discovery of mauve really boosted the petrochemical industry. An explosion of young chemists suddenly realised organic chemistry was exciting, profitable and of great use. More than 7,000 synthetic colorants are presently in commercial use, differing in fastness and other properties and requiring different methods of application. Most of the dyes are used by the textile industry, but the leather, paper, food and cosmetic industries are also important users. Artificial dyes are also used in modern medicine. They play a crucial role in many aspects of genetic identification. Researchers have also found a revolutionary use for dyes in an important treatment of cancer, in which tumours are stained before being blasted with a high-precision laser.
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