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
Erucic acid surfactants or lubricants, and can be used as a precursor to biodiesel fuel. Derivatives of erucic acid have many further uses, such as behenyl alcohol (CH(CH)OH), a pour point depressant (enabling liquids to flow at a lower temperature), and silver behenate, for use in photography. The name 'erucic' means: of or pertaining to "Eruca"; which is a genus of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae. It is also the Latin for colewort, which today is better known as arugula. Erucic acid is produced naturally (together with other fatty acids) across a great range of green plants, but especially so in