Chemical warfare agents during World War

Table 1 Production of chemical warfare agents during World War I (in tons) ...

It is not widely known that British interest in mustard gas preceded its use by German forces. Sir Charles Lovatt Evans worked on chemical warfare agents during World War I and it has been recorded in a biographical memoir (Lovett Evans, 1970) that ... 

Phosgene is a very important chemical intermediate. It is used to make the isocyanate monomers that go into products such as polyurethane foams and coatings. It also is used to make polycarbonate polymers. However, it is extremely toxic, so much so that it was used as a chemical warfare agent during World War I. ... 

Sulphur mustard (mustard gas) was first synthesized in the mid nineteenth century and developed as a chemical warfare agent during the First World War. For the chemical properties of sulphur mustard see Marrs et al. 1996, pp. 139—73. 

Although the United States did not employ toxic agents during World War II, the money and time that went into the research, development, field tests, and production was not wasted. The armed forces had supplies of agents and equipment with which they could have waged warfare energetically if necessary. In this sense the work of the CWS was America s insurance against chemical warfare. 

For those with a strong stomach, an interesting discussion of the use and potential use of chemical warfare agents during the first World War can be found in Vilensky, J. A. and Sinish, P. R., Blisters as Weapons of War The Vesicants of World War I, Chemical Heritage 24 2 (Summer 2006), pp. 12-17. 

Chemical warfare agents, such as soman and sarin, sometimes termed nerve gases, are powerful anticholinesterases, which bear some resemblance in structure and properties, to the OP insecticides. A major difference from most insecticides is their high volatility. These agents were possessed by the major powers during World War II, althongh they were never employed in warfare. 

Uses/Sources. Intermediate in organic synthesis, especially production of toluene diisocyanate and polymethylene poly-phenylisocyanate in metallurgy to separate ores by chlorination of the oxides and volatilization occurs as a product of combustion whenever a volatile chlorine compound comes in contact with a flame or very hot metal originally manufactured as an agent for chemical warfare during World War I... 

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