Following a stint as an assistant pharmacist in Trier, he went to Paris, where he worked at a pharmacy and studied chemistry at the Sorbonne in the evenings.

He earned his doctorate in 1830 from the University of Giessen with a dissertation on the chemistry of silver, which was reviewed by Justus von Liebig.

In 1834, Leverkus opened the first German factory for the production of artificial ultramarine blue in Wermelskirchen.

[1] The factory was a model plant with the latest technology and facilities, making it a big economic success.

After Leverkus' death his sons sold a portion of the factory site in Wiesdorf to the alizarin manufacturer Elberfelder Farbenfabriken vorm in 1891.