1. Introduction

The title of this book is selected appropriately to describe a century of progress for phenolic resins. The contributions of Leo Hendrik Baekeland are immense! He was not easily discouraged as he attempted to harness the reaction of phenol and formaldehyde into a manageable, commercial product. In spite of some of the great organic chemists who examined the reaction of phenol and formaldehyde and obtained intractable, useless materials, he prevailed. The legacy of Leo Hendrik Baekeland and his development of phenol formaldehyde resins are recognized as the cornerstone of the Plastics Industry in the early twentieth century whereby phenolic resins and other polymeric systems continue to flourish after a century of robust growth. On July 13, 1907, Baekeland filed his “heat and pressure” patent related to the processing of phenol formaldehyde resins and identified their unique utility in a plethora of applications. Bakelite as coined by Baekeland was considered “the material of a thousand uses!” Phenol formaldehyde resins or Bakelite as they were commonly referred to became the first truly synthetic polymer to be developed. The perseverance and diligence of Baekeland and those who followed him in the ensuing years attest to their significant contributions that are identified with a variety of thermosetting and thermoplastic polymeric materials within the Plastics Industry. Further, it is remarkable that after a century of existence phenolic resins continue their preferred status in a number of applications that were developed during Baekeland’s era to this very day.