Editing Tabun (nerve agent) (section)

==History==
{{details|Nerve agent#History}}
Research into ethyl dialkylaminocyanophosphonate began in the late 19th century, In 1898, Adolph Schall, a graduate student at the [[University of Rostock]] under professor [[August Michaelis]], synthesised the diethylamino analog of tabun, as part of his PhD thesis ''Über die Einwirkung von Phosphoroxybromid auf secundäre aliphatische Amine''.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Petroianu|first1=Georg|title=Pharmacists Adolf Schall and Ernst Ratzlaff and the synthesis of tabun-like compounds: a brief history|journal=Die Pharmazie |volume=69|issue=October 2014|pages=780–784|doi=10.1691/ph.2014.4028|year=2014|pmid=25985570}}</ref> However, Schall incorrectly identified the structure of the substance as an imidoether, and Michaelis corrected him in a 1903 article in ''[[Liebigs Annalen]]'', ''Über die organischen Verbindungen des Phosphors mit dem Stickstoff''. The high toxicity of the substance (as well as the high toxicity of its precursors, [[diethylamidophosphoric dichloride]] and [[dimethylamidophosphoric dichloride]]) wasn't noted at the time,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chambers |first=Janice E. |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Organophosphates_Chemistry_Fate_and_Effe/WSkXBQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Tabun+high+toxicity+1903&pg=PA4&printsec=frontcover |title=Organophosphates Chemistry, Fate, and Effects: Chemistry, Fate, and Effects |last2=Levi |first2=Patricia E. |date=2013-10-22 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-0-08-091726-9 |language=en}}</ref> most likely due to the low yield of the synthetic reactions used.{{Speculation inline|date = March 2024}}

Tabun became the first nerve agent known after a property of this chemical was discovered by pure accident in late December 1936<ref name="nta"/><ref name=cbw/><ref>[http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/blchemical-3.htm Chemical Warfare Weapons Fact Sheets] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303185700/http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/blchemical-3.htm |date=2016-03-03 }}, about.com</ref><ref>[http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/weap.html Chemical Weapons: Nerve Agents], University of Washington</ref><ref name=shorthistory>{{cite web |url=http://www.noblis.org/MissionAreas/nsi/BackgroundonChemicalWarfare/HistoryofChemicalWarfare/Pages/HistoryNerveGas.aspx |title=A Short History of the Development of Nerve Gases |publisher=Noblis.org |access-date=2008-11-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110415075621/http://www.noblis.org/MissionAreas/nsi/BackgroundonChemicalWarfare/HistoryofChemicalWarfare/Pages/HistoryNerveGas.aspx |archive-date=2011-04-15 }}</ref> by German researcher [[Gerhard Schrader]].<ref name=shorthistory/>  Schrader was experimenting with a class of compounds called [[organophosphate]]s, which kill insects by interrupting their nervous systems, to create a more effective [[insecticide]] for [[IG Farben]], a German chemical and pharmaceutical industry conglomerate, at Elberfeld.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kaszeta |first=Dan |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Toxic/snEWEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Schrader+Elberfeld+insecticide+IG+Farben&pg=PA4&printsec=frontcover |title=Toxic: A History of Nerve Agents, from Nazi Germany to Putin's Russia |date=2021 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-757809-4 |language=en}}</ref> The substance he discovered, as well as being a potent insecticide, was enormously toxic to humans; hence, it was named ''tabun'', to indicate that the substance was 'taboo' (German: ''tabu'') for its intended purpose.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Everts |first1=Sarah |title=The Nazi origins of deadly nerve gases |url=https://cen.acs.org/articles/94/i41/Nazi-origins-deadly-nerve-gases.html |access-date=13 July 2024 |agency=Chemical & Engingeering News |issue=94, 41 |date=17 October 2016}}</ref>

During [[World War II]], as part of the Grün 3 program, a plant for the manufacture of tabun was established at Dyhernfurth (now [[Brzeg Dolny]], [[Poland]]), in 1939.<ref name=shorthistory/> Run by Anorgana GmbH, the plant began production of the substance in 1942.<ref name=shorthistory/> The reason for the delay was the extreme precautions used by the plant.<ref name=shorthistory/> Intermediate products of tabun were corrosive, and had to be contained in quartz or silver-lined vessels. Tabun itself was also highly toxic, and final reactions were conducted behind double glass walls.<ref name=shorthistory/> Large scale manufacturing of the agent resulted in problems with tabun's degradation over time, and only 12,753 metric tons were manufactured before the plant was seized by the [[Soviet Army]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Friedrich |first=Bretislav |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/One_Hundred_Years_of_Chemical_Warfare_Re/GNpCDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Tabun++12,500+tons&pg=PA320&printsec=frontcover |title=One Hundred Years of Chemical Warfare: Research, Deployment, Consequences |last2=Hoffmann |first2=Dieter |last3=Renn |first3=Jürgen |last4=Schmaltz |first4=Florian |last5=Wolf |first5=Martin |date=2017-11-26 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-51664-6 |language=en}}</ref> The plant initially produced shells and aerial bombs using a 95:5 mix of tabun and [[chlorobenzene]], designated "Variant A".{{Inconsistent|date = March 2024}} In the latter half of the war, the plant switched to "Variant B",{{Inconsistent|date = March 2024}} an 80:20 mix of tabun and chlorobenzene designed for easier dispersion.<ref name=Lohs1967/>{{verification needed|date = March 2024}}{{better source|date = March 2024}} The Soviets dismantled the plant and shipped it to [[Russia]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tucker |first=Jonathan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7MJe1wUCCo0C&pg=PA107&dq=Tabun+Dyhernfurth+Soviet+shipped+plant&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiXjOP5uueLAxUNHNAFHZNmNdsQ6AF6BAgJEAM#v=onepage&q=Tabun%20Dyhernfurth%20Soviet%20shipped%20plant&f=false |title=War of Nerves: Chemical Warfare from World War I to Al-Qaeda |date=2007-02-13 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-4000-3233-4 |language=en}}</ref> They did not inform the western allies of the discovery and as a result they did not become aware of Tabun until it was discovered in captured German ammo dumps in April 1945.<ref name=Hogg187>{{cite book |last=Hogg |first=Ian V |title=German Secret Weapons of the Second World War |publisher=Greenhill Books |date=1999 |isbn=1-85367-325-0 |page=187}}</ref>

During the [[Nuremberg Trials]], [[Albert Speer]], Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich, testified that he had planned to kill [[Adolf Hitler]] in early 1945 by introducing tabun into the [[Führerbunker]] ventilation shaft.{{sfn|Speer|1970| pp=430–31}} He said his efforts were frustrated by the impracticality of tabun and his lack of ready access to a replacement nerve agent,{{sfn|Speer|1970| pp=430–31}} and also by the unexpected construction of a tall chimney that put the air intake out of reach.{{verification needed|date = March 2024}}

The US once considered repurposing captured German stocks of tabun (GA) prior to production of [[Sarin]] (GB).<ref>{{cite journal | author = Kirby, Reid | date = 2006 | title = America's Fifteen-Year Struggle for Modern Chemical Weapons | journal = Army Chemical Review | issue = Jan.–Jun |  pages = 42–44 | url = http://www.wood.army.mil/chmdsd/images/pdfs/Jan-June%202006/Kirby-Nerve%20Gas.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170211021417/http://www.wood.army.mil/chmdsd/images/pdfs/Jan-June%202006/Kirby-Nerve%20Gas.pdf | archive-date = 2017-02-11 | access-date = 31 March 2024}}</ref> Like the other [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] governments, the Soviets soon abandoned tabun (GA) for [[Sarin]] (GB) and [[Soman]] (GD).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Burke |first=Robert A. |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Counter_Terrorism_for_Emergency_Responde/6xPNBQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Soviets+abandoned+tabun+Sarin&pg=PA78&printsec=frontcover |title=Counter-Terrorism for Emergency Responders, Second Edition |date=2006-07-25 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-4200-0990-3 |language=en}}</ref> The German magazine Spiegel reported in 2007 that after World War II, "the United States dumped around half a million Tabun bombs in the Skagerrak in the northern Baltic" sea.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bojanowski |first=Axel |date=2007-04-04 |title=World War II Munitions Dumps: A Rusting Timebomb in the Baltic |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/world-war-ii-munitions-dumps-a-rusting-timebomb-in-the-baltic-a-475520.html |access-date=2025-02-09 |work=Der Spiegel |language=en |issn=2195-1349}}</ref><!--Content of these two sentences not in the Kirby source just cited.-->

Since GA is much easier to produce than the other G-series weapons<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pichtel |first=John |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Terrorism_and_WMDs/RRzSBQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=GA+much+easier+produce+G-series+weapons&pg=PA51&printsec=frontcover |title=Terrorism and WMDs: Awareness and Response |date=2011-04-25 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-4398-9536-8 |language=en}}</ref> and the process is comparatively widely understood, countries that develop a nerve agent capability but lack advanced industrial facilities often start by producing GA.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pichtel |first=John |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Terrorism_and_WMDs/WkRnDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=countries+nerve+agent+often+start+GA&pg=PA47&printsec=frontcover |title=Terrorism and WMDs: Awareness and Response, Second Edition |date=2016-09-15 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-4987-3899-6 |language=en}}</ref>

During the [[Iran–Iraq War]] of 1980 to 1988, [[Iraqi chemical attacks against Iran|Iraq employed quantities of chemical weapons against Iranian ground forces]]. Although the most commonly used agents were [[mustard gas]] and [[sarin]], tabun and [[cyclosarin]] were also used.<ref name=ency/><ref>{{Cite web | author = ABC News Staff | date = April 7, 2003 | title = Facts About the Nerve Agent Tabun | work = ABCNews.go.com [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] | url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=90722&page=1 | access-date = 31 March 2024}}</ref>{{better source|date = March 2024}}

Tabun was also used in the 1988 [[Halabja chemical attack]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/16/newsid_4304000/4304853.stm|title=1988: Thousands die in Halabja gas attack|date=March 16, 1988|via=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref>

Producing or stockpiling tabun was banned by the 1993 [[Chemical Weapons Convention]]. The worldwide stockpiles declared under the convention were 2 tonnes, and as of December 2015 these stockpiles had been destroyed.<ref>{{cite report | author = Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons | date = 30 November 2016 | title = Report of the OPCW on the Implementation of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction in 2015 | chapter-url = https://www.opcw.org/documents-reports/annual-reports/ | chapter = Annex 3 | page = 42 | access-date = 8 March 2017}}</ref>