Natural rubbers, before vulcanization, tend to be sticky and soft at high temperatures, while at low temperatures they are brittle and stiff, making them difficult to process. Because of these properties as well as the difficulties associated with obtaining adequate and affordable supplies of natural rubber, the search for natural rubber substitutes began.

In 1906 Farbenfabriken of Elderfeld began to search for a viable production process. Fritz Hofmann was appointed head of the research group. He attempted to polymerize isoprene, which was known to be a component of rubber. Convinced that the purity of the isoprene was paramount, he spent two years researching methods of producing pure isoprene. Finally he developed a six-step process. He next attempted to polymerize the pure isoprene. None of the techniques discussed in the scientific journals of the time were successful. Ultimately Hofmann simply heated the isoprene in an autoclave. Various viscous...