Mauve 1856: Perkin's purple and where it led

In March 1856, WIlliam Henry Perkin discovered a process that converted aniline into a pure purple colorant, later known as mauve. During his earliest experiments on aromatic amines, Perkin decided to try and make it through oxidative condensation from aniline. The result was a mixture from which an alcoholic extract was used to stain a piece of silk a brilliant purple that resisted fading from washing and exposure to sunlight. Perkin recognized the new product's potential as a dye and marketed it through his own factory. Later known as Tyrian purple, mauve was used exclusively for silk at first, and later on printers, wallpaper and postage stamps. The commercial success of mauve made Perkin's fortune and stimulated investigations into reactions of aniline that might yield other colorants. His discovery eventually permitted the discovery of dyes from alizarin and of indigo colors. These colorants were one of the first products to be derived from science-based chemical industries infusing academic and industrial chemical laboratories.