Organic chemistry
Since the invention of the first synthetic polymer product, bakelite, synthetic polymer products have frequently been invented.
Dimethylbutadiene
In 1909, Fritz Hofmann and a team working at Bayer succeeded in polymerizing dimethylbutadiene. It was then called methyl isoprene because it has one more methyl group than isoprene. Their polymer was the first synthetic rubber. The polymer had a number of deficiencies relative to natural rubber. The Bayer synthesis of dimethylbutadiene involved the dehydration of pinacol, as described above.