thionyl chloride

noun

, Chemistry.

1. a clear, pale yellow or red, fuming, corrosive liquid, SOCl 2 , used chiefly in organic synthesis.

Word History and Origins

Origin of thionyl chloride¹

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

This programme was terminated around 1990, after Mobay and Occidental, the two domestic manufacturers of the key ingredient thionyl chloride, refused to supply it because company policy forbade the sale of goods for use in weapons production.

From Nature

Storerooms were filled with barrels of thionyl chloride — an industrial chemical listed under the CWC as having possible weapons uses.

From Nature

The battery was a lithium thionyl chloride non- rechargeable.

From Literature

The chemical is thionyl chloride, which is used in pesticides and plastics, but is also needed by the Army to make sarin, a lethal nerve agent.

From Time Magazine Archive