Wallace Carothers - Polyamides

Polyamides

In 1934, Carothers turned his attention to fibers again. Now the team substituted diamines for glycols to produce a type of polymer called a polyamide. These substances were much more stable than the polyesters formed by using the glycols. The ability of polyamides to form crystalline domains through hydrogen bonding gives them increased mechanical properties. Therefore they might produce a synthetic silk that would be practical for everyday use. His research resulted in the invention of a number of new polyamides. The lab work for this project was conducted by Dr. W.R. Peterson and Dr. Donald Coffman. In 1935 Dr. Gerard Berchet was assigned to this polyamide research.

It was during this productive period of research, in the summer of 1934, prior to the eventual invention of nylon, that Carothers disappeared. He did not come into work, and no one knew where he was. He was found in a small psychiatric clinic, Pinel Clinic, near the famous Phipps Clinic associated with Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Apparently, he had become so depressed that he drove to Baltimore to consult a psychiatrist, who put him in the clinic.