Discovery PVC was synthesized in 1872 by German chemist Eugen Baumann after extended investigation and experimentation.Baumann, E. (1872) "Ueber einige Vinylverbindungen" (On some vinyl compounds), Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie, 163 : 308–322. The polymer appeared as a white solid inside a flask of vinyl chloride that had been left on a shelf sheltered from sunlight for four weeks. In the early 20th century, the Russian chemist Ivan Ostromislensky and Fritz Klatte of the German chemical company Griesheim-Elektron both attempted to use PVC in commercial products, but difficulties in processing the rigid, sometimes brittle polymer thwarted their efforts. Waldo Semon and the B.F. Goodrich Company developed a method in 1926 to plasticize PVC by blending it with various additives, including the use of dibutyl phthalate by 1933.
Discovery PVC was synthesized in 1872 by German chemist Eugen Baumann after extended investigation and experimentationBaumann, E. (1872) "Ueber einige Vinylverbindungen" (On some vinyl compounds), Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie, 163 : 308–322. The polymer appeared as a white solid inside a flask of vinyl chloride that had been left on a shelf sheltered from sunlight for four weeks. In the early 20th century, the Russian chemist Ivan Ostromislensky and Fritz Klatte of the German chemical company Gri.esheim-Elektron both attempted to use PVC in commercial products, but difficulties in processing the rigid, sometimes brittle polymer thwarted their efforts. Waldo Semon and the B.F. Goodrich Company developed a method in 1926 to plasticize PVC by blending it with various additives, including the use of dibutyl phthalate by 1933.