CS is synthesized by the reaction of 2-chlorobenzaldehyde and malononitrile via the Knoevenagel condensation:
::ClCHCHO + HC(CN) → ClCHCHC(CN) + HO
The reaction is catalysed with a weak base like piperidine or pyridine. The production method has not changed since the substance was discovered by Corson and Stoughton. Other bases, solvent free methods and microwave promotion have been suggested to improve the production of the substance.
The physiological properties had been discovered already by the chemists first synthesising the compound in 1928:
"Physiological Properties. Certain of these dinitriles have the effect of sneeze and tear gases. They are harmless when wet but to handle the dry powder is disastrous."