irst Nerve AgentThe history of nerve agents begins on 23 December 1936, when Dr. Gerhard Schrader of the I. G. Farbenindustrie laboratory in Leverkusen *big_german.jpg* first prepared Tabun *../agents/tabun.html* (ethyl dimethylphosphoramidocyanidate, GA). Schrader had been in charge of a program to develop new types of insecticides since 1934, working first with fluorine-containing compounds such as acyl fluorides, sulfonyl fluorides, fluoroethanol derivatives, and fluoroacetic acid derivatives. In 1935, he prepared dimethylphosphoramidofluoridic acid as a continuation of the previous line of research. He obtained patents for this compound in Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and the United States, and he began to investigate systematically the dimethylphosphoramides, eventually leading to the preparation of Tabun. Schrader found that Tabun was extremely potent against insects; 5 ppm of Tabun killed all the leaf lice he used in his initial experiment. In January 1937, Schrader was the first to observe the effects of nerve agents on human beings when he and a laboratory assistant began to experience meiosis (contraction of the pupils of the eyes) and shortness of breath because of their exposure to Tabun vapor in the laboratory. As Harris and Paxman noted, Schrader and his assistant "were luck to escape with their lives."*nerve_history.html*In 1935, the Nazis had passed a decree which requiring all inventions of possible military significance to be reported to the Ministry of War. A sample of Tabun was sent to the chemical warfare (CW) section of the Army Weapons Office at Berlin-Spandau *big_german.jpg* in May 1937, and Schrader was summoned to Berlin to give a demonstration. At that time Schrader's patent application was made secret. Colonel Rdriger, head of the CW section, ordered the construction of new laboratories for the further investigation of Tabun *../agents/tabun.html* and other organophosphate compounds. Schrader so...
