Organic pigments - the increasingly most important group of organic colorants worldwide - have never yet been treated comprehensively with respect to their industrial significance and their application properties. In this book we have tried to give an account of the chemistry, the properties, and applications of all commercially produced organic pigments.

This book is intended for all those who are interested in organic pigments, especially chemists, engineers, application technicians, colorists, and laboratory assistants throughout the pigments industry and in universities and technical colleges. We have specifically avoided an in-depth discussion of the underlying scientific and theoretical framework, but there are references to the pertinent literature.

The initial part is devoted to chemical and physical characterization of pigments and discusses important terminology connected with pigment application. This is followed by three chapters describing the chemistry and synthesis, the properties and application of individual pigments. In these chapters pigments are classified according to their chemical structure and listed by their Colour Index Name instead of their trade name. The Colour Index, published by the Society of Dyers and Colourists, lists all those pigments and dyes which have been registered by the pigment and dye manufacturers. The products are listed by their Colour Index (C.I.) Generic Name, followed by a Constitution Number, provided the chemical structure has been published. An example is C.I. Pigment Yellow 1, 11680. The last chapter discusses questions of ecology and toxicology. The literature references listed at the end of each dual-numbered subchapter have been limited to a selection covering the most important topics. The appendix shows general structural equations for the syntheses of individual groups of pigments and lists all pigments mentioned in this book, including the respective CAS (Chemical Abstracts Service) registry numbers.

The technical and fastness properties of different pigments have been assessed by unified, usually standardized test methods. Lightfastness measurements, however, had to be carried out by comparison to the Blue Scale - despite serious objections which are explained in the text. This was the only technique which made it possible to list comparative values for all pigments described in this book.

After careful deliberation we have reluctantly refrained from listing data on pigment economics. Reliable data on organic pigments have only been published in a few countries. Moreover, many of the other data turned out to be either contradictory or so incomplete that it was impossible to elicit reliable information from them.

We are pleased to present here the English version of our book, which is an update of the German edition of 1987, supplemented by all appropriate and newly published data. Also included are those commercial organic pigments which have recently been introduced to the market.

We would like to thank Mrs. Barbara Hoeksema for her work in translating this book.

We would like to express our gratitude to the management of the Fine Chemicals and Colors Division of Hoechst AG for their support and for making the scientific and technical resources available to us. We would also like to thank the numerous colleagues, both at other companies - especially at BASF AG and at Ciba/Geigy AG - and in-house colleagues, who through their stimulation, critique, and suggestions supported us considerably. We would like to express our particular gratitude to Dr. F. Glaser, who wrote Chapter 1.6.1.

Our appreciation is also extended to our families and friends, without whose consideration and patience it would not have been possible to write this book.

It is a pleasure to express our gratitude to the VCH publishing company who helped us greatly through their stimulation and their compliance with many of our wishes.

Frankfurt-Höchst

December 1992