Two people were left with "life-changing" injuries when a corrosive substance was thrown on to them through their car windows.
Cousins Resham Khan and Jameel Muhktar had been celebrating Ms Khan's 21st birthday before the attack.
John Tomlin, 24, is described as white, 6ft tall, of stocky build and with short fair hair.
He is known to frequent the Canning Town area.
Ms Khan, a student at Manchester Metropolitan University, and Mr Muhktar suffered severe burns to the face and body in the attack on 21 June.
"Within seconds, my cousin started screaming. Her eyes were blistered, her face started melting. My face started melting", Mr Muhktar said.
According to police, they had stopped at traffic lights when the man approached them and threw the toxic substance at Ms Khan through the window.
The attacker then circled around the car and threw more of the acid at Mr Muhktar, before eventually fleeing the scene.
Mr Muhktar, 37, had to be temporarily placed in an induced coma to treat his injuries.
"I'm in a really bad way. I'm going to be scarred for life. I can't walk properly, I can't hear properly, I can't sleep", he said.
Police said there was no current information to suggest the attack was racially or religiously motivated.

Taylor is out of contract in the summer and has been linked with West Brom, Middlesbrough and Crystal Palace.
The 23-year-old pulled out of the 1-1 draw with Wigan as Leeds failed to reach the Championship play-offs.
"I'm hugely disappointed with Charlie. I think he's been terribly advised all season," Monk told BBC Radio Leeds.
Taylor has been with Leeds since the age of nine and has made 104 first-team appearances since his debut in August 2011.
However, he told the club last summer he did not want to open talks on a new deal and then had a transfer request rejected.
Monk suggested Taylor's head had been turned by the interest reportedly shown in him from Premier League clubs.
"I understand he's very young, and we've tried to help him and guide him from within, but it's very difficult to get him fully committed," he said.
"Had he had some better advice from the outside, I think we would have seen a better Charlie Taylor this season and left on better terms, if that's what's going to happen. But that's over to the club and the player now.
"The club's stance on it is very strong. Hopefully he learns from the mistake he's made."

Four charities withdrew as official partners from the Kiltwalk earlier this year and its chief executive stepped down a few weeks later.
The Kiltwalk stages sponsored walks across Scotland to raise money for leading children's charities.
Its 2013 accounts showed more was spent on costs than went to charity.
There is no suggestions regulations were broken.
Kiltwalk chairman Michael Ure said it had incurred additional costs because of a "re-structuring".
Mr Ure and the rest of the trustees have now stood down.
The Kiltwalk said a new board would oversee the continued development of the charity.
The group has also attracted support from one of Scotland's richest men, the entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter, whose foundation has committed long-term funding.
Mr Hunter said: "The Kiltwalk is a fantastic concept for raising much-needed funds for Scotland's children's charities and has our absolute support.
"We intend over the next couple of months to redefine and improve the model, building on the foundations already in place, to maximise returns for charities and turbo-charge Scotland's Kiltwalkers for 2016."
The Kiltwalk was set up in 2011 with the aim of bringing Scotland's leading children's charities together for a series of sponsored walks.
It grew from 800 walkers that year to more than 12,000 across the country in 2014.
However, earlier this year four charities - CLIC Sargent, Cash for Kids, Aberlour and Edinburgh's Sick Kids Friends Foundation - withdrew as official partners.
CLIC Sargent and Aberlour indicated to BBC Scotland that they had concerns over the amount of money reaching them from the Kiltwalk.
The most recent set of accounts for the Kiltwalk showed that from an income of just over Â£1.6m, Â£780,000 had been spent on running costs - more than the Â£776,000 which went to charity.
Police have released an image of a man they want to talk to in connection with an acid attack in east London.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Leeds United manager Garry Monk has blamed Charlie Taylor's withdrawal from the squad at Wigan on Sunday on the defender's advisors.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
A Scottish charity has replaced its entire board of trustees following concerns over the amount of money it was giving to charitable causes.