Picric acid converted it to acetylsalicylic acid, i.e., aspirin, to keep it from the Allies. See Great Phenol Plot. At the time, phenol was obtained from coal as a co-product of coke ovens and the manufacture of gas for gas lighting. Laclede Gas reports being asked to expand production of phenol (and toluene) to support the war effort. Both Monsanto and Dow Chemical undertook manufacture of synthetic phenol in 1915. Dow was the leading producer. Dow describes picric acid as “the main battlefield explosive used by the French. Large amounts [of phenol] also went to Japan, where it was made into picric
Polyacrylic acid of PAA have been prepared that are responsive to pH and temperature stimuli, demonstrating the possibility to be used for drug delivery purposes. ATRP has been used to growth PAA brushes from the surface. One reported approach was with surface-initiated ATRP of tert-butyl acrylate that was subsequently deprotected through pyrolysis to form the carboxylic acid. These PAA brushes can form chelate complex with silver and can therefore exhibit antibacterial activity. Polyacrylic acid Poly(acrylic acid) (PAA; trade name Carbomer) is a synthetic high-molecular weight polymers of acrylic acid. The IUPAC name is poly(1-carboxyethylene. They may be homopolymers of acrylic acid, or