GRGR (8) Mauve, Coal Tar & Seances, Part 1.1

[Michael D. Workman]

"The reason the Germans missed the boat was because of their failure to
appreciate the discoveries of one of their own, Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge.
In Anilin, Schenzinger uses Runge as a vehicle for espousing a Nazi
philosophy of science that adopts a 'romantic' view and opposes the
positivistic view that predominated. The central idea of this romantic view
is that Nature is a living whole, which is in union with souls that are
pure and that use their intuition to have communion with Nature."

"The purer the race, the better the union will be."

"The real history of Runge's work, however, is much less romantic and less
useful in glorifying the Aryan role in advancing chemistry.
Runge held both a medical degree and a doctorate in chemistry. His most
significant discoveries were made while he was the technical
director of a coal gas works at Oranienburg, near Berlin. The factory had
begun as a private enterprise, but had been acquired by the Prussian Royal
Maritime Society the same year (1832) Runge assumed his position."

"By the beginning of the 19th century, coal gas plants were operating
throughout Europe, producing huge quantities of the waste product coal tar,
which was considered to have little or no value. Runge began investigating
the coal tar from the Berlin gas works, with a view to obtaining ammonium
chloride from it."

"Runge ..produced some of the first synthetic dyes from coal tar - 21 years
before Perkin  In one study, Runge performed a high temperature dry
distillation of coal tar; this produced a volatile liquid. The liquid was
further distilled, using steam, to give a light oil and a thick brown
residue which remained in the distilling vessel. When the oil was shaken
with aqueous calcium chloride, chlorine gas was given off and a dark blue
solution was produced. Runge isolated the blue substance which he called
kyanol or blue oil."

"Kyanol had the ability to produce a yellow stain on pine, but not on other
woods or fabrics. Treatment of kyanol with various oxidising agents, such
as chlorine, nitric acid, chromic acid or copper chloride, produced hues of
violet, blue and red. Runge eventually isolated aniline and produced some
of the first synthetic dyes from coal tar - and he did this 21 years before
Perkin! The name aniline is the Spanish for indigo and was given to Runge's
substance in 1840 by Carl Fritzsche, who isolated it from the reaction of
natural indigo with potassium hydroxide."

"Runge performed several aniline reactions that are worth mentioning. Using
chromic acid, he oxidised aniline to give a black dye. Years later, John
Lightfoot of Accrington, Lancashire, in the UK, used the same reaction to
obtain aniline black dye, which he patented in 1863 for use in calico
printing."

"Runge also showed that oxidation of aniline chloride using lead chromate
could be used to produce green colours on cotton cloth. This was later
called emeraldine and was patented in Britain in 1860."

"So why were Runge's discoveries never commercialised, considering he was a
very practical man? In fact, he had submitted many proposals to his
employers for starting a coal tar-based industry, but they were never acted
on. These plans were thwarted by the directors of the Prussian Royal
Maritime Society as a result of the machinations of the financial manager
of the Oranienburg works, Ernst Eduard Cochius."

"Cochius opposed Runge's proposals because he felt that they were too risky
and not likely to contribute significantly to the profits of the works even
if successful. But this was not the only reason. Cochius also saw Runge as
a rival for ultimate authority and a threat to his position. In September
1850 when he bought the Oranienburg works from the Prussian government, he
immediately dismissed Runge and deprived him of his pension."

"Runge's coal tar research and many of his important discoveries, such as
the isolation of pyrrole and phenol, and the development of spot tests and
paper chromatography, received little recognition in his lifetime. However,
in 1873, six years after his death, the German Chemical Society erected a
monument at his gravesite in Oranienburg. In 1894, a plaque was placed at
the main entrance of the Oranienburg works to mark the centennial of his
birth."

"Ironically, Cochius, who had schemed against Runge and would have become a
very wealthy man had he implemented some of Runge's ideas, went bankrupt in
1855 and committed suicide."

Martin D Saltzman is professor of natural science at Providence College, US. 



Cheers,

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