Schrader, Gerhard

Methane sulfonyl fluoride

In 1936, Gerhard Schrader began work on sulfuric and phosphoric acid fluorides, discovering methylsulfonyl fluoride, which was used as a fumigant . From 1938 to 1944, a number of fluorine-containing esters were synthesized: DFP, TEPP, OMPA, sarin, pyrophosphate esters, etc., which were intended for use as insecticides. The military noted their toxic properties and took them into service.

Many German industrial and scientific archives fell into the hands of the Allies. The most important documents, which contained the results of the work of the Schrader group, were examined in 1946 at the British Information Promising Subcommittee, and then at the Longaston Research Station.

Tabun

On December 23, 1936, Schrader, searching for a pest control agent, discovered an incredible for its lethal force drug, which he called “substance 9/91”, was later renamed “ Tabun ”. It was an incredibly deadly drug and dangerous poison: even in a highly diluted form, it successfully destroyed a wide variety of harmful insects, but the military decided to use this discovery for their own purposes. Herd killed in a few minutes. The German military leadership paid Schrader and his colleagues a reward of 50,000 marks for the discovery of a new poison. ^[3] In the summer of 1942, the mass production of "herd" begins. It was planned to produce a thousand tons each month, but due to technical difficulties by the beginning of 1945, Germany had only 15 thousand tons of this substance at its disposal.

Although at first the herd seemed unsurpassed in lethal force, another drug was soon invented - sarin, which was 10 times superior to the herd

Zarin and Soman

In 1939, Schrader synthesized an even stronger and more toxic compound, calling it “substance 146,” which was twice as deadly for animals and humans as the previously discovered herd. The military immediately took samples of the drug and began to develop new methods for the rapid production of toxic substances on an industrial scale. Created by Gerhard Schrader, “substance 146” was renamed sarin . ^[4] In 1944, a soman was invented, leaving behind even sarin. These two substances proved to be so effective that for many decades they were the main agents, and now they remain in the arsenal of the largest armies.

The production of the last two drugs was very difficult, so the soman did not go beyond the laboratories. Estimates of how much sarin was produced, range from 500 kg to 10 tons.