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
Dimercaptosuccinic acid with arsenic and mercury was first shown by I. Okonishnikova in 1962. In 1984, the now-defunct Bock Pharmaceutical Company requested the FDA grant approval for orphan drug status under the trade name Chemet and the FDA approved of this in 1991, providing exclusivity until 1998 which was conveyed to the successor Sanofi in 1996. Dimercaptosuccinic acid Dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA), also called succimer, is a medication used to treat lead, mercury, and arsenic poisoning. When radiolabeled with technetium-99m, it is used in a number of types of diagnostic testing. It is taken by mouth for 19 days. More than two weeks