When Gerhard Schrader synthesized N, N-dimethylphosphoramidocyanidate, or Tabun, on December 23, 1936, he was lucky he did not kill himself (Salem et al., 2008). A spilled drop of Tabun in January 1937 caused both him and his assistant to experience pupillary constriction and difficulty breathing. Tabun was the first nerve agent to be discovered, and the first in a line of nerve agents dubbed the G-Series. Tabun is designated GA for German Agent A. On October 10, 1938 the second nerve agent, Sarin or GB, was also discovered by Schrader and his team (Lopez-Mufioz et al., 2008). The term nerve gas, as is often used to refer to them, is somewhat of a misnomer because nerve agents are liquids at room temperature though they differ by volatility (Tucker, 1996).
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