Nobel prize for chemistry and Czech chemistry

Milan Kunz

Nobel prize for chemistry in this year got Alan J. Heeger (University of California, Santa Barbara), Alan G. MacDiarmid (University of Pennsylvania) and Hideki Shirakawa (University Tsukuba, Japan) for discovery of polymers conducting electricity. In seventies Shirakawa found a new method for production of polyacetylene. In

1977 he proposed it to Heeger and MacDiarmid who looked for a possibility to produce "synthetic metals". They started to study properties of the new polymer. When they added iodine to polyacetylene, the conductivity of the polymer increased more then million times. It was formed a new scientific branch – conducting polymers leading to plastic version of electronic parts.

These were news some days ago. They invoked remembrance on my start as the patent agent 15 years ago in the Research Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry in Brno. My colleague Spousta has a worse task: he is searching in his cellar, where he has his archive.

Two inventors came to me with a muddled patent application which did not cover all aspects of the invention. In the Czechoslovakia it was not possible to amend it by a new application in form of continuation in part. I thus proposed to elaborate a new application, and I prepared its draft. The inventors were satisfied with my work so much that they acknowledged me as the third author.

It was only a question of honor and glory, since they did not expect any money from their invention, and even glory we missed.

In the Research Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry Ing. Spousta CSc tried to elaborate a method for production of polyphenyleneoxide. This polymer is the main part of the plastic Noryl. In socialist states, it was a long task due to the bad organization of research.

Besides, he looked for new possibilities how to exploit interesting properties of polyphenyleneoxide. Its electric conductivity is very low.

Ing. Vaňáček was an assistant (teacher) on VTU Brno. His research concerned of gas diffusion electrodes. He looked for new supporting materials for silver. Gas diffusion electrodes must have a great specific surface, since reactions of gases and liquids take place on their surfaces, and simultaneously, they must have s strong structure to resist mechanical forces.

Therefore, silver powder is sintered with polymers, as polytetrafluorethylene (Tefal), or polyethylene are.

When polyphenyleneoxide was used as the polymer and silver oxide instead silver, the obtained sintered mass had unexpectedly high conductivity.

There was an exothermic reaction and the electrodes showed electrical density at least ten times higher than electrodes containing the same amount of silver. The resistivity of the mixture decreased more than eight orders(from about 10^12 to about 10^2).

The only possible explanation was that a chemical reaction occurred during sintering and conducting mesomeric structures or free radicals appeared. The experiments were made well before the patent CS 175936 was applied for, thus April, 15, 1975. The patent was granted on January, 15, 1979. But Ing. Vaňáček published his work before, in 1973 in a journal of his technical university (Knižnice odborných a vědeckých spisů TUT v Brně (nositel Řádu práce), Volume 1973, part B-32. I am not sure, if these publications were abstracted into some international databases, but the abstracts of patents appeared in Chemical Abstracts.

Later, Ing. Vaňáček elaborated some other possibilities of exploitation of the new electrodes, without a greater success. Some years ago he died tragically.

Ing. Spousta was surprised, but he heard the news stoically. After two days searching in the celar combined with looking after his grandson, he foud the first patent, CZ 175936. It was applied for on February 2, 1972, and issued on December 4, 1978. Here as coauthors are named Vaňaček’s bosses.