122: Catch the 'Wave

Even though the potential for using microwaves to do chemistry was there since 1946, it wasn't until the late 1970s that the first use of microwaves in the chemistry laboratory appeared. This episode covers the development of microwave chemistry from moisture analyzers to significant study of reactions, and then finally laboratory-standard microwave ovens appeared. We mention the controversy between Gregory Dudley and Oliver Kappe as to whether there were some special properties of microwaves that made reactions speed up. We talk of the reasons that chemists now preferentially zap their reactants with microwaves over traditional chemical methods.Support the Show. Support my podcast at https://www.patreon.com/thehistoryofchemistry Tell me how your life relates to chemistry! E-mail me at steve@historyofchem.com Get my book, O Mg! How Chemistry Came to Be, from World Scientific Publishing, https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12670#t=aboutBook