Fundamental Biochemical and Biotechnological Principles of Biomass Growth and Use 5

the utility of a product, but it adds value and makes a difference. Since ancient times

dyestuffs were produced at considerable expense from plants, animals, and minerals.

At the end of the nineteenth century, chemistry paved the way to cheap dyestuffs and

a world full of colors for the first time, thus ending the industrial era of dye plants. The

synthesis of the red dye Alizarin in 1869 by German chemists Carl Graebe (1841–1927)

and Carl Liebermann (1842–1914) replaced the natural dye made from dyer’s mad-

der (Rubia tinctorum) within a short time period. Alizarin became one of the first

products of BASF, founded in 1865 in Mannheim, Germany, by Friedrich Engelhorn

(1821–1902). Another red dye, fuchsin, first synthesized in 1858 became the starting

point for Hoechst AG, founded by Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Meister (1827–1895), Eugen

Lucius (1834–1903), and Ludwig August Müller (1846–1895) in Hoechst close to

Frankfurt and only 80 km (50 miles) from Mannheim. In 1878 followed Indigo, another

synthetic dye, which was developed by Adolf von Baeyer (1835–1917). Indigo gained

industrial relevance at BASF and Hoechst when Johannes Pfleger (1867–1957), chemist

at Degussa AG in Frankfurt/Main, improved the process economics significantly. Until

the early twentieth century, dye products were dominating commercial chemistry and

even the whole industry was called dye chemistry.

Receptive markets and growing chemical science were now joined by entrepreneurs.

It is important to understand the significance of these three factors working together.

But in the end, industry is made by competent individuals who complement each other,

build friendship, realize the business option, and take the chance. The men mentioned

here – many friends since university studies – formed such a network that became the

starting point of the German chemical industry.

Drugs As of today successful companies use scientific and technical competence to

broaden their product portfolio, develop new application fields, and enter profitable

markets. In the early twentieth century, the potential of synthetic drugs had been

realized and especially the German dye industry started to invest in research and

development. Arsphenamine (Salvarsan®), a syphilis drug, developed by the German

physician Paul Ehrlich (1854–1915) and the Japanese bacteriologist Sahachiro Hata

(1873–1931) in 1910 became a cash cow to Hoechst AG. In 1935 followed Prontosil®,

the first sulfonamide developed by Fritz Mietzsch (1896–1958) and Josef Klarer

(1898–1953) at Bayer AG in Wuppertal. Noticeably, this chemical group is also used

as azodyes demonstrating how competence in a specific field can lead to a spillover

invention in a very different application. Gerhard Domagk (1895–1964) discovered

the antibacterial effect and received the Nobel Prize in 1939. These examples not only

demonstrate how gaining experience in synthetic chemistry in one field (materials,

dyes) led to exploring very different markets (pharmaceuticals) but also how chemical

industries early integrated microbiological competence.

The pharmaceutical business opened the door for biotechnology in chemical

industries when the Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming (1881–1955) explored

antibiotics in 1928. He realized that the fungiPenicilliumsecretes the antibiotic peni-

cillin, a discovery that was honored with the Nobel Prize in 1945. Since 1942 in England

Glaxo (pharma company; founded in 1873 and originally in the baby food business) and

ICI (chemical industry, founded in 1926) but especially in the US Merck & Co (1917; sep-

arated from Merck KGaA, a German pharma company founded in 1668) and Pfizer & Co

(founded in 1849; biological pesticides) developed fermentative production processes