Perkin & Sons: teenager trying to cure malaria accidentally created first synthetic dye

In 1856, 18-year-old William Henry Perkin, a student of German chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann at the Royal College of Chemistry in London, was attempting to synthesize quinine — the only treatment for malaria — from coal tar derivatives. Instead of the colorless quinine crystals he expected, he got a black, tarry sludge.

While cleaning the flask with alcohol, Perkin noticed that the sludge dissolved into a vivid purple solution. He tested it on silk and found that the color not only stuck but survived washing and sunlight. The purple was caused by toluidine impurities in the aniline he had used, reacting unexpectedly with potassium dichromate.

Perkin patented the dye and, with his father and brother, opened a dyeworks at Greenford, Middlesex in 1857. He named the color mauve after the French word for the mallow flower. Between 1859 and 1861, the color became a fashion sensation — Queen Victoria wore a mauve dress to the 1862 Royal Exhibition. Punch magazine ran cartoons about 'The Mauve Measles.'

Perkin's discovery launched the synthetic dye industry, which replaced natural dyes from plants and insects. By 1870, newer synthetic colors had surpassed mauve, but the industry Perkin founded had transformed chemistry from a laboratory curiosity into an industrial force. He retired wealthy at age 36.

He cleaned the flask with alcohol and found purple, which became the first synthetic dye, launching an industry.

Perkin was trying to synthesize quinine, a malaria treatment, from coal tar — he got a black sludge because the impure aniline reacted differently than expected.

The purple color was only discovered because he was cleaning his flask with alcohol — the dye was not visible in the dry black sludge.

He was an 18-year-old student with no funding, no factory, and no business experience — he built the first synthetic dye plant from scratch with his family.

Perkin was looking for a malaria cure and got black sludge. The purple in his cleaning alcohol became the first synthetic dye. That is the value of following the unexpected.