Its biological activity was discovered through a random screening program conducted by I.G. Farbenindustrie in Germany. Prontosil was originally prepared because it was thought that a physical property associated with this class of compounds might be of commercial importance. Identify this physical property. Well over 10,000 dyes were screened. In vivo studies in mice showed that several were active.
Chitin is a polysaccharide that occurs widely in nature.
Its structure is shown below. It is the principle component of the shells of arthropods such as lobsters and crabs. Ledderhose proceeded to do what all chemists do with unknown material - he boiled it in concentrated HCl. The structures of polystyrene and polyethylene terephthalate are shown below. Both are widely used plastics that can be recycled.