By 1934, Carothers had a promising development: He combined the chemicals amine, hexamethylene diamine, and adipic acid. It created fibers! But they were weak. They had formed by the polymerizing ...

For example, Professor Stephen Wallace is using microorganisms to eat plastic bottles and produce adipic acid – a crucial ingredient in the manufacture of nylon, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

In addition to nylon 6/6, Ascend is converting used cooking oil into acrylonitrile, hexamethylene diamine (HMD) and adipic acid. The new materials are part of the firm's Bioserve-brand portfolio.