French chemist who made important contributions to industrial chemistry and discovered cellulose,…

French chemist who made important contributions to industrial chemistry and discovered cellulose, a basic constituent of plant cells.

His father's factories produced various chemicals, and refined sugar, so Payen studied science. In 1815, age 20, he was made manager of his father's plant for refining imported crude borax. There, he developed a synthesis for borax from soda and boric acid and in 1820 he created a new industry which could market the synthetic product at one-third the price of the refined natural borax. His father died in 1820, and Payen took over the family business.

By 1822, he had found the value of animal charcoal to clarify sugar solutions.

In 1833, Payen discovered the first enzyme, for which he coined the name diastase. It converts starch to sugar, and was later (1893) called amylase.

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