Anselme Payen Award

ANSELME PAYEN AWARD

The Anselme Payen Award, is given by the American Chemical Society (Renewable Materials Division), to honor and encourage "outstanding professional contributions to the science and chemical technology of cellulose and its allied products". It is the most prestigious and internationally recognized award in the field of cellulose research and wood chemistry.  
The next Anselme Payen Award Symposium honoring the awardee of 2014 will be held at the 249th Meeting of the American Chemical Society, March 22-26, 2015, in Denver, Colorado.

The Anselme Payen Award (Anselme Payen (1795 - 1871) is an annual science prize, named in honor of the distinguished French scientist who discovered cellulose, and pioneered in the chemistry of both cellulose and lignin. In 1838,^[1] he discovered that treating successively wood with nitric acid and an alkaline solution yielded a major insoluble residue that he called "cellulose", while dissolved incrustants were later called "lignin".^[2] He was the first to attempt separation of wood into its components. After treating different woods with nitric acid he obtained a fibrous substance common to all which he also found in cotton and other plants. His analysis revealed the chemical formula of the substance to be C6H10O5. He reported the discovery and the first results of this classic work in 1838. The name "cellulose" was coined and introduced into the scientific literature next year, in 1839.^[3]

(text: http://cell.sites.acs.org/anselmepayenaward.htm)

^[1] Payen A., Memoire sur la composition du tissu propre des plantes et du ligneux. Comptes Rendus 1838, 7, 1052-1056.

^[2] Schulze F., Beiträge zur Kenntnis des Lignins. Chemisches Zentralblatt 1857, 21, 321-325.
 
^[3] Payen A., Composition de la matière ligneuse. Comptes Rendus 1839, 8, 51-53.