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
Chlorosulfuric acid Chlorosulfuric acid Chlorosulfuric acid (IUPAC name: sulfurochloridic acid) is the inorganic compound with the formula HSOCl. It is also known as chlorosulfonic acid, being the sulfonic acid of chlorine. It is a distillable, colorless liquid which is hygroscopic and a powerful lachrymator. Salts and esters of chlorosulfuric acid are known as chlorosulfates. Chlorosulfuric acid is a tetrahedral molecule. The formula is more descriptively written SO(OH)Cl, but HSOCl is traditional. It is an intermediate, chemically and conceptually, between sulfuryl chloride (SOCl) and sulfuric acid (HSO). The compound is rarely obtained pure. Upon standing with excess sulfur trioxide, it decomposes to pyrosulfuryl