51�Թ�

The material at Ruwagha, which included phosphorus trichloride and 2-chloroethanol, was the final remnant of a once-formidable chemical-weapons program built up by Gaddafi.

The list of chemicals in Mr. Uzumcu’s announcement included substances with both civilian and military applications such as phosphorus pentasulfide, a toxic solid that is both highly flammable and decomposes violently when wet; phosphorus trichloride, a widely used industrial compound that is also a precursor in nerve agent weapons; and dimethyl phosphate, another precursor compound that can also be used in pesticides and lubricants.

Day after day they emerged with ton after ton of chemicals--sodium cyanide, sodium fluoride, phosphorus trichloride, isopropyl alcohol, acetonitrile--some benign, but others deadly, and still others that if mixed together might create something deadlier still.

It can be easily obtained, however, in the form of transparent crystals when phosphorus trichloride is treated with water and the resulting solution is evaporated: PCl3 + 3H2O = H3PO3 + 3HCl.