Paul Böttiger

Paul Böttiger was a German industrial chemist. He is the inventor of the first direct dye, Congo Red .

The date of birth and death and details of his biography are not known, nor is it known whether he received his doctorate.

Böttiger worked for Bayer in Elberfeld from July 1, 1881 to December 31, 1883 and then resigned in order to work in the branch of his father's company in Lodz , according to his own statements .

At Bayer he synthesized Congo red from benzidine and naphthionic acid . The company was not interested in the red dye because it was not acid-resistant. Böttiger had the dye patented from Lodz on February 27, 1884 (German patent 28753). It was the first of many subsequent direct dyes, which means that it could be applied to textiles (wool, cotton) in one step without prior staining. Böttiger offered the patent to Bayer, BASF and Höchst for sale, but they refused. Finally he sold it for an unknown amount to Agfa in Berlin, who had great success with it (trade name Congo Red). The success brought the competitor Bayer into financial difficulties until they developed a variant of a direct dye themselves. To avoid legal disputes, Bayer formed a cartel with Agfa after lengthy negotiations for direct dyes including Congo red.

This led to the famous Congo red process when the company Ewer & Pick from Berlin-Grünau challenged the patent in 1889 on the grounds that it was an azo dye based on the well-known synthesis method of Johann Peter Grieß . The company was supported by BASF in the lawsuit. Heinrich Caro testified in court as an expert and asserted the property of direct dyeing as a “technical effect” as a patent reason. The court recognized this and thus created an important precedent in patent law (patenting technical effects and processes as long as they were not “obvious”).

literature

Winfried R. Pötsch (lead), Annelore Fischer, Wolfgang Müller: Lexicon of important chemists , Harri Deutsch 1989, p. 58f

Web links

David Steensma: Congo Red, out of Africa?, Pdf

Individual evidence

↑ Pötsch u. a. Lexicon of important chemists, it says that some incorrect information in the literature is based on confusion with Theodor von Böttinger (1848–1920), member of the Bayer Management Board

personal data
SURNAME	Böttiger, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German chemist
DATE OF BIRTH	19th century
DATE OF DEATH	19th century or 20th century

[1] Pötsch u. a. Lexicon of important chemists, it says that some incorrect information in the literature is based on confusion with Theodor von Böttinger (1848–1920), member of the Bayer Management Board