What type of plastic was made from phenol and formaldehyde?
Phenol formaldehyde resin oil paints before baking the finished canvas in order to fake the drying out of the paint over the centuries. Phenol-formaldehyde is degraded by the white rot fungus "Phanerochaete chrysosporium" Phenol formaldehyde resin Phenol formaldehyde resins (PF) or phenolic resins are synthetic polymers obtained by the reaction of phenol or substituted phenol with formaldehyde. Used as the basis for Bakelite, PFs were the first commercial synthetic resins (plastics). They have been widely used for the production of molded products including billiard balls, laboratory countertops, and as coatings and adhesives. They were at one time the primary material used for the
Plastic bottles by plastic type. Under this scheme, a plastic container is marked with a triangle of three "chasing arrows", which encloses a number denoting the plastic type: The first plastic based on a synthetic polymer was made from phenol and formaldehyde, with the first viable and cheap synthesis methods invented in 1907, by Leo Hendrik Baekeland, a Belgian-born American living in New York state. Baekeland was looking for an insulating shellac to coat wires in electric motors and generators. He found that combining phenol (CHOH) and formaldehyde (HCOH) formed a sticky mass and later found that the material could be