Quinine and the Birth of the Dye Industry

As we just learned, the 19th century brought about the practice of isolating compounds with medicinal properties from their natural sources, such as a variety of alkaloids. But one such alkaloid deserves its own chapter in this story, and that is quinine. This compound is found in the bark of the Cinchona trees native to Peru, and was discovered to effectively combat malaria. Eventually, the compound responsible for this property was isolated, and named quinine, after the local name for the tree itself, "quina-quina". Given that a supply of this substance was integral for any empire intending to expand into Africa and other territories, and that the bark itself was limited, great effort was put towards synthesizing quinine. It was futile in the 19th century, as the comprehension of chemistry just wasn't there yet. But the demand led to a series of fortuitous accidents, first by William Perkin and his discovery of revolutionary synthetic dyes, and then the development of the dye industry which eventually gave rise to the modern pharmaceutical industry. Let's get the full story now!
Script by Vittorio Farina
Animation by Cyrene Domogalla: cyrenedomogalla.myportfolio.com/
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[@allak8294]

OMG PROF. DAVE , PLEASE DO VIDEOS ON PERFUME CHEMISTRY ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@russellzauner]

Prof Dave: *teaches essential oil extraction* Internet: *cannabis has entered the chat*

[@prakashdaga]

@@russellzauner ok

[@josephbrennan370]

Sure it's a Friday. I may as well learn about the birth of the dye industry.

[@UmVtCg]

You've learnt more than that

[@Pugetwitch]

I thought I was just going to expand upon things that I had already known, but instead this video enlightened me to a ton of historical context!

[@Pugetwitch]

I have autism/Asperger's. this topic is one of my special interests along with the German corporate mergers that occured within the same industry. I really appreciate you for creating this content! I subscribed upon seeing the title and look forward to watching more.

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

Much more about the emerging German pharma biz to come!

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

Just continuing with this series as I have been, slowly but surely.

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

Well my father writes the scripts for this series, and someone else does the animation, so if you call that a collaboration then yes that will continue.

[@sakeena_2147]

@@ProfessorDaveExplains sir plz make a video on reserpine drug....

[@sciencewolf7775]

Chemistry! Drugs are cool to learn about, as they mix biology and chemistry. Thanks Professor Dave!

[@rezzer7918]

Thus the related discipline, Biochemistry.

[@lindaedvardsson4218]

Wow..,🥳🙌🏼... Thank You, Prof. Dave❣️ .. 👋🏼😌🇸🇪

[@astroadventures3559]

I really enjoy the stories when you start talking about just the chemical makeup and breaking down the different ways to create chemical makeups I don't really follow that well as I'm not too big into chemistry. But when you tell one of your stories involving chemistry I absolutely love it. I wish I understood more about chemistry so I can enjoy the other videos more as well. But in any case I just want to thank you for your hard work and time spent making these videos, I really enjoy them!

[@sly3575]

Some of his other videos are great tutorials. I've increased my knowledge of chemistry leaps and bounds with them!

[@joelmonsion1639]

Hope he doesnt abandon this series, its so good

[@GREATLORDPOOH]

Thank you for extracting thw knowledge of the printed word into a format more easily absorbed by those with leatning challenges

[@jacobdiller8140]

This was awesome.

[@eugeniebreida1583]

Perfect presentation. Riveting and relaxing simultaneously, to me your delivery style brings on very pleasant chemical reactions. (Donating!)

[@alsilverman5084]

Dave thank you! Really interesting, and timely since I’ve been watching the series about opioid addiction “Crime of the Century” the facts surrounding that are terrifying.

[@glennpearson9348]

What an incredible adventure you are taking us through, Professor Dave! It really is amazing how many advancements in science and mathematics happened entirely by accident. I guess it really does go to show that "The harder you practice, the luckier you become."

[@archivist17]

Have you heard of the series 'Connections', presented by James Burke? It shows a lot of the links between discoveries and inventions.

[@WmLatin]

This video deserves a million views!

[@xModerax]

The quality of this video is stellar. Well done!

[@pansepot1490]

I don’t know if the original mauvine was actually light resistant but unfortunately most synthetic dies aren’t. They discolor with light, purple red and yellow tones in particular. As an artist working in oil and acrylic I learned that the hard way. Hell, had the same problem even with house paint. Fascinating video. 👍

[@Lou.B]

My first viewing of your work, and I love it! (especially the humor at 9:50) New subscriber! Keep it up!

[@11kele]

This channel deserves much more views and subscribers...

[@davew6949]

Hoffman may have been wrong, because he was working with incorrect theoretical tools, but he still stepped forward, attempting to produce new results, RECORDING those results and adding to knowledge in this way.

[@rikiyul]

Very happy I found you.🎉 You are super awesome.

[@jeroenzomer7516]

Very, very interesting. Thank you!

[@Christian-ve1wi]

Great content as always thanks Professor Dave.

[@GCharlesLangisChip]

Hey professor Dave I'm a regular visitor to your content. I think it's good stuff. At any rate I was watching a video by the state of Washington on a one pot synthesis and I was wondering if you were the chemist ?

[@funnymonke2275]

This is a very cool video. Keep up the amazing lessons!

[@markshort9098]

Professor Dave awsome vid as always 👍

[@vivianavilchis3186]

thank you for these awesome videos

[@dopa_explainz0080]

Proud to be a chemistry student❤️

[@willimasjohanson9926]

I contracted herpes' I was told there is no Herpes cure except treatment to control it. I totally lost hope. All I could think was losing my life because it was so embarrassing to have this virus, few weeks ago I read about a possible natural cure which was guaranteed. And I ordered the treatment after some weeks I got 100% cure. Now I'm so excited to share this testimony thanks Dr okougbo Email:[e-mail].

[@graceisawesome539]

HOW AM I ONLY JUST NOW DISCOVERING THIS SIDE OF PROFESSOR DAVE’S CHANNEL!?!

[@alexstewart9747]

Very interesting. Thank you.

[@Atlas6355_]

Excellent! Thanks

[@lindaedvardsson4218]

Cool.. quinine is amazing but artemisin helped us overhand of this disease.. thus..malaria is still like a big bleeding, infectious(🙄) sore in our world. I hope We can use all our knowledge We HAD to take in the pandemic story too.. Then We start talking. This is in ALL ways so interesting and opens up so much.. 😐.. Thank You for another one incredible and well done vid in all of its aspects, Prof. Dave.. 👋🏼😌🇸🇪

[@FreemanVashier]

Great content

[@backstreetfan2887]

very good information

[@maya.amro26]

Dr shaimaa fayez in our AIN SHAMS UNIVERSITY used your whole video as lecture and put it into PowerPoint slides thank you

[@full_regalia8649]

Great video!!

[@mohammedal-taie8696]

Really good

[@adilalbayati2874]

You are the best bro

[@LiborTinka]

Extraction of quinine from Cinchona bark was always my planned hobby project, not for its pharmaceutical properties, but for its intense blue fluorescence.

[@kemalkemal9130]

Good job 👍

[@oddviews]

I was transfixed by this remarkable account of SCIENCE, influencing the world in so many important ways

[@osinachiihediohanma6549]

This is Great! I enjoyed every bit of it. Your presentation style is awesome. Was looking for a perfect introduction to Pharmacology. Please where are the remaining videos.. not produced yet?

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

Sorry these are very slow to produce as the animator is very busy but there will be about 20 more over time!

[@fromaggio7654]

Humble beginnings

[@RedPhantom307]

I was forced to watch this video in a high school class and it was made into homework

[@psionic111]

14:32 And by the end of the 19th century, the dye market was "saturated"... well played, sir, well played. ;)

[@tosoledo]

I would like to know what book you use to make this video series? I want to learn more about he history of medicine.

[@vittoriof4871]

No books, mostly specialized literature. Many chemistry and pharmacy journals publish historical accounts, which are always good sources of well-researched information.

[@oscarappleby2085]

Hi bro big fan

[@s0urfru1t]

Could you make the time line available for printing?!???!

[@saucer1017]

Thank you Chemistry Jesus you have saved me once again

[@willimasjohanson9926]

I contracted herpes' I was told there is no Herpes cure except treatment to control it. I totally lost hope. All I could think was losing my life because it was so embarrassing to have this virus, few weeks ago I read about a possible natural cure which was guaranteed. And I ordered the treatment after some weeks I got 100% cure. Now I'm so excited to share this testimony thanks Dr okougbo Email:[e-mail].

[@sakeena_2147]

Hello sir plz make a video on reserpine drug........✌️

[@UtraVioletDreams]

I'm not sure if this type of soda is worldwide available. Here in the Netherlands it is. Quinine is added to Bitter Lemon to give it it's bitter taste.

[@eugeniebreida1583]

I believe you’re describing what we call ‘tonic water’ in usa? We often enjoy it w/vodka, on ice!

[@sjholmesbrown]

@@eugeniebreida1583 This is the origin of the classic 'Gin & Tonic' cocktail. The sweet gin was added to cover the bitter taste of quinine in the tonic water.

[@eugeniebreida1583]

@@sjholmesbrown Thank you for the correction, g&t's are obviously infinitely superior to vodka tonics. I'd forgotten, as ethanol is no longer on my 'list', age has a way of defeating alcohol metabolism for some of us, sadly. And now I see that your lesson alerts me that gin was added to get medicinal quinine down, for the soldiers?? And similar? Interesting back history.

[@core6108]

will you make a zoology tutorial professor ?

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

Yep the zoology series is being written currently.

[@taylorlibby7642]

Quinine is why gin and tonics w lime are the perfect health drink.

[@donchristie420]

Yup- Tanqueray in particular😉

[@taylorlibby7642]

@@donchristie420 I've been drinking the Tanqueray Rangpur lately. Highly recommended. 👍

[@MarvinMonroe]

Ehh almost all tonic water nowadays has basically zero quinine. Few years ago searched for a one that had decent levels. I love straight tonic water. It's like bitter Sprite

[@ajhieb]

James Burke would be proud.

[@UltraRik]

an ENTIRE video where Dave doesn't call anyone 'idiotic'? impossible!!!

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

I have 1,000+ academic tutorials, bud. Familiarize yourself with my channel a bit.

[@UltraRik]

@@ProfessorDaveExplains 1000+?!? these are really well made, youtube seems to only recommend the beef

[@asylumskp4391]

I swear half of the knowledge we know of wouldn't exist without drug use

[@adissentingopinion848]

14:30 I heard that. Now I will give you one and a half chuckles. Ha h-

[@wolfsbaneandnightshade2166]

My only complaint is the picture you chose for 1850 was WAY off. Like... nearly 75 years off minimum. Wigs like that stopped being fashionable by the 1790s

[@MatheusCampos-ex8et]

Would you mind giving a shot at debunking spiritism and mesmerism? Asking for a friend.

[@whatsagoodusername823]

Unu per l'algoritmu

[@oitubeman1019]

Hello

[@Thaumius]

The best inventions of all time have one thing in common, created accidentally.

[@Aengus42]

Mauve rhymes with drove or trove. So mauveine is just mauve with long "een" sound after it. Mauveine. Much the way quinine sounds, with the "een" as a suffix.

[@cambridgemart2075]

Thank you for saving me from having to make the same explanation.

[@Aengus42]

@@cambridgemart2075 My pleasure. I don't think they use "mauve" in the states. They just use "purple" for all those colours. And even if they did Webster & his "simplified English for semi literate cow pokes" would've... Oooh, difficult! "Move" is already a word. Well, that explains it's exclusion from his dictionary & thus it's disappearance from American English! I wonder if that's the case?

[@eugeniebreida1583]

@@Aengus42 Not the case! Mauve is alive and well in the US, tho rarely a color favored by me ; )

[@Aengus42]

@@eugeniebreida1583 Oh! Thank you. I was obviously wrong. Thank you for putting me straight. I discovered that "Mauve" comes from the French word for "Mallow". A wild flower here with purple petals. And the "ine" just means that the substance is a basic alkaloid So Mauveine is "the basic alkaloid that dyes things the same colour as the petals of the plant Malva sylvestris or Mallow". Words fascinate me! :o)

[@eugeniebreida1583]

@@Aengus42 I love words as well, though as an architect I tend to wander more around my pencil's end in the act of sketching. However, being a gardener, I'm with you on the mallows, and can attest to missing the very popular 'barnaby'?? Malta sylvestris, which graced a couple outer corners of my former urban 'farmhouse'. SO beautiful. I loved the soft light pink petals which were so profuse and yet delicate, like large snowy butterflies lighting upon the vertical stems. Maybe you can find the real name 'barnaby' is your first clue! : ) And thankfully I can say with confidence the petals' color is so comfortably distant from 'mauve' that the thought of 'it' would never enter my head! ; )

[@rajalakshmisabarirajan2280]

First comment

[@patricksarama4963]

... *literally nobody cares*

[@1jotun136]

And Artemisia Aunnua has kicked it's butt and replaced it. Substantially easier to grow and simpler to extract.

[@blakeanderson5011]

Sorry David Blaine, I’m tryna watch Davex Plain.

[@jalapenoandbanana]

Color

[@ImnotSteven3]

I have a question professor of "science" is there a god or what will you say we as humans come from?

[@aleisbarrett13]

Ken ham alt timeline thumbnail

[@miroslavzderic3192]

14:34 The dye market was saturated, eeeeeeeeeee good meme

[@Rayzersword]

"When the marsh fever spreads from our swamps to our homes."

[@Bruski1988]

The standard American pronunciation of quinine is kwī-nīn, with the long I sound. Professor Dave is using the British pronunciation. Not wrong, but different from what I ever heard (and I heard a lot about malaria, since my father had contracted it on Guadalcanal).

[@vittoriof4871]

True, but I have never heard the statement that the British pronunciation is "not wrong" vs. the American one. It is usually the other way around. Most people acknowledge that, in the English language, the English pronunciation is the standard one, but the American one can also be...acceptable.😊

[@Bruski1988]

@@vittoriof4871 Touche.

[@davew6949]

The dye market was saturated. What you did there.... hmmmm!

[@oddviews]

In ordinary daily life, how many folks here have found something thought to have been lost, but was found when looking for something else?

[@troy-go8qk]

w

[@SarahMohammedAli7]

Search for truth and follow it ❤🌿 #GazaUnderAttack #SaveSheikhJarrah

[@garimaa5311]

❤️❤️ from 🇮🇳🇮🇳

[@tonystark6997]

Dot.

[@rebirth_mishap]

You pronounced A.D. wrong

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

Historians say CE.

[@rebirth_mishap]

@@ProfessorDaveExplains and they too mispronounce A.D. Don't get me wrong, I love your work. You're one of my favorite KZbinrs

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

I'm not sure how one can mispronounce letters.

[@eugeniebreida1583]

@@ProfessorDaveExplains Me neither...and I would add it’s hard to find fault in your excellent research, and even better presentation. A Class, this one!

[@Rayzersword]

"Rather predictably, Europeans fucked everything up." XD

[@maxine3978]

4:06 classic europeans

[@rezzer7918]

1. It's pronounced QUI-nine not qui-NINE. 2. It's pronounced NAPH-thyl-a-mine not naph-thyl-AM-ine.

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

American vs European pronunciation

[@rufusthehunalprophet6648]

Can't believe you used a picture of tea for caffeine. Sure, you're right in doing so, but I'm afraid I have to unsub.

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

You have to unsubscribe because you're angry that tea has caffeine?

[@lrdpacific3328]

To everyone whos reading this i dont care about you just dont die

[@taylorlibby7642]

So then you do kinda care........

[@smizmar8]

The dye market was saturdated? haha... stop it

[@mariooldani9545]

Gross.

[@kishaandrea9533]

First

[@funnymonke2275]

I think that purple r man was first

[@josephbrennan370]

@@funnymonke2275 he was.

[@snewp_e2139]

Nobody gives a fuck lmao