Ileana Calotescu
Purple pigment was for first time isolated by Phoenicians from the Murex brandaris mollusc, living in the Indo-Pacific region. This pigment was very expensive.
The first discovery of a synthetic purple die, Aniline purple, was accidentally discovered in 1856 by William Henry Perkin, who was only 18 years old, while trying to synthesize qinin, a chemical used to treat malaria.
Instead of quinine, his beakers were filled with a brown sludge. When Perkin cleaned out those beakers with alcohol, this brown sludge became a bright purple dye, which in the end turned out to be aniline purple. He named this dye Mauveine.
Mauveine color looks like the color of this flower.
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Great discoveries happen by chance, don’t they?
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Yes
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No
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I see this divinely beautiful thing for the first time. Thanks.
It is a common wild plant in my area.
Ah yes, and this is why it was so expensive rare and sought after. I love sweat peas. So delicate looking. Lovely photo!
Twelve thousand Murex brandaris mollusc yield no more than 1.4 g of pure dye
Purple facts I did not know!
It (purple) was once the color of Royalty!
I knew this because I am a chemist and I worked almost all my life with pigments! 🙂 Purple was the color of royalty because it was very expensive and the average people couldn’t afford to buy it!
well thanks for the insight, that is fun to know about you!!!
yes, the cost of making purple was huge!