What's your Pet Compounds' Name?

My assignment, should I choose to accept it, is to pick two "pet" compounds that were part of the timeline of the human race (or something fairly similar to that statement) that you would like to learn more about, also I believe we are supposed to talk about what makes these things so interesting.

My Compounds:

PETE
PETE stands for polyethylene terephthalate, a plastic resin and a form of polyester. Polyethylene terephthalate is a polymer that is formed by combining two monomers: modified ethylene glycol and purified terephthalic acid.
PETE is the type of plastic labeled with the #1 code on or near the bottom of bottles and containers and is commonly used to package soft drinks, water, juice, peanut butter, salad dressings and oil, cosmetics and household cleaners.
PETE is a popular package for food and non-food products. Manufacturers use PETE plastic to package products because of its strength, thermo-stability and transparency. Customers choose PETE because it is inexpensive, lightweight, resealable, shatter-resistant and recyclable.
Recycled polyethylene terephthalate (RPET) can be used to make many new products, including fiber for polyester carpet; fabric for T-shirts, long underwear, athletic shoes, luggage, upholstery andsweaters; fiberfill for sleeping bags and winter coats; industrial strapping, sheet and film; automotive parts, such as luggage racks, headliners, fuse boxes, bumpers, grilles and door panels; and new PETE containers for both food and non-food products.

This interests actually stems from my childhood. From the time I was born to about thirteen years of age, my dad worked for R & D Tooling and Engineering. A very large company based out of Lee's Summit, MO and they made all sorts of plastic bottles. On take your daughter to work day I was finally able to visit the non cubicle part of my dad's job. The machine floor was a large building with huge machines in it that not only smelled really weird but had these piles of small plastic bits being poured into it, I was also able to see a 2-liter bottle blown up into an actual bottle . The experience was one of the coolest things in my life.

http://www.rdleverage.com/public/rd_home.html


Kevlar
Kevlar is the registered trademark for a para-aramid synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed at DuPont in 1965, this high strength material was first commercially used in the early 1970s as a replacement for steel in racing tires. Typically it is spun into ropes or fabric sheets that can be used as such or as an ingredient in composite material components.
Currently, Kevlar has many applications, ranging from bicycle tires and racing sails to body armor because of its high tensile strength-to-weight ratio is 5 times stronger than steel on an equal weight basis. When used as a woven material, it is suitable for mooring lines and other underwater applications.
A similar fiber called Twaron with roughly the same chemical structure was developed by Akzo in the 1970s; commercial production started in 1986, and Twaron is now manufactured by Teijin.
Kevlar is synthesized in solution from the monomers 1,4-phenylene-diamine (para-phenylenediamine) and terephthaloyl chloride in a condensation reaction yielding hydrochloric acid as a byproduct. The result has liquid-crystalline behavior, and mechanical drawing orients the polymer chains in the fiber's direction. Hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA) was the solvent initially used for the polymerization, but for safety reasons, DuPont replaced it by a solution of N-methyl-pyrrolidone and calcium chloride. As this process was patented by Akzo in the production of Twaron, a patent war ensued.

So Kevlar, I have chosen Kevlar because who doesn't want a bullet proof shirt ? I mean come on, that stuff is really cool. Another reason is because my uncle who has served in the military for many years has his own Kelvar vest that he received from some unknown source, but upon my examining of this vest I discovered it was a plastic polymer. I guess I really never considered what was inside these life saving devises but to find out that a material that can prevent a bullet from killing you is polymerized plastic is really cool! With the plastic actually looking more like silk woven threads the material is more strand like than the normal plastic I encounter in everyday life.