Perhaps not as interesting as ammonia...wait, what am I saying, it's phenol!
From The Generalist Academy:
In World War I, phenol was a key ingredient in aspirin, explosives, and phonograph records. German agents secretly redirected Thomas Edison’s excess phenol supply to prevent it being used for British bombs.
In 1915, the United States was not a formal part of World War I – officially, they maintained neutrality in the European conflict. But there was a lot of pro-British sentiment in the country and US banks were loaning large amounts of money to Britain and France to support their war effort. While the country’s neutrality allowed them to trade with both Britain and Germany, both sides attempted to block ships going to the other side. Britain’s blockade of Germany was enormously successful, whereas Germany had limited capacity to prevent American supplies from reaching Britain. (The German use of submarines to enforce their own own blockade was one of the triggers that led to the United States joining the war in 1917.)
Back to 1915, unable to prevent American supplies making their way to Britain, the German government explored more clandestine ways to disrupt this supply chain. Here’s where phenol comes in. This chemical, derived from coal processing, was a key ingredient in salicylic acid (used to make aspirin)....
