TYPE OF AGENT – Lacrymatory/Smoke agent(Toxic)

NAME (CHEMICAL) – Stannic Chloride

NAME (COMMON) – KJ (US, Britain), Opacite (France), Tin Tetrachloride, Tin (IV) Chloride

DATE OF DISCOVERY – 1550-1616

MOLECULAR FORMULA – SnCl₄

MOLECULAR WEIGHT – 260.50 g/mol

PHYSICAL STATE @ 20° C. (68° F.)  – Liquid

VAPOR DENSITY (AIR = 1.0) – 9

FREEZING/MELTING POINT – -33° C. (-27° F.)

BOILING POINT – 114.1° C. (237° F.)

DECOMPOSITION TEMPERATURE – 56° C. (133° F.)

LIQUID DENSITY – 2.34 g/cc

VAPOR PRESSURE (mm/Hg) – 18 mm/Hg @ 20° C. (68° F.)

ODOR – Pungent, like Hydrochloric acid

APPEARANCE – Colorless or slightly yellow liquid, fumes on contact with moisture in air

SOLUBILITY – Decomposes

MEDIAN INCAPACITATING DOSAGE (ID50) – 1.35 mg/m³/4 hours

MEDIAN LETHAL DOSAGE (LD50) – 2,300 mg/m³ 10 min

PERSISTENCY – Considered non-persistent

INHALATION TOXICITY – Severe respiratory irritant

SKIN TOXICITY – Can cause severe chemical burns

EYE TOXICITY – Can cause severe eye damage

RATE OF ACTION – Instantaneous

SYMPTOMS (PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION) – Redness, pain in eyes, redness and pain on skin, skin chemical burns, Cough, sore throat, burning sensation in throat and lungs, shortness of breath, wheezing.

TREATMENT – Remove to fresh air, wash with copious amounts of water, supplemental oxygen may be necessary, remove contaminated clothing

DURATION OF EFFECTIVENESS – Up to 30 minutes

PROTECTION – Gas mask

DECONTAMINATION – Flood area with water, neutralize spilled agent with crushed limestone, soda ash, lime, or sodium bicarbonate

USE – Grenades

     This is a simply made material, produced by the direct chlorination of tin metal at 110-115° C. (230-239° F.). Stannic Chloride is in common use by the glass industry where it is used to make an external coating on glass, greatly toughening it. It is used as a chemical agent both for its irritating and smoke creating characteristics. As it was much safety top use than White Phosphorus, Stannic Chloride was the first metallic chloride smoke agent employed by the Allied forces. The smoke produced by Stannic Chloride was not as dense as that produced by other agents, but it had a penetrating quality against the gas masks of the era. Stannic Chloride was often mixed with other chemical agents, such as Chloropicrin to increase the visibility and penetrative properties of the gas clouds they generated. Its relative expense limited the employment of Stannic Chloride. The agent was used in the United States as a filler for a gas grenade used against dugouts in mopping-up operations. The explosion of a chemical grenade filled with Stannic Chloride would create a dense, toxic smoke cloud within the dugout, choking and confusing the men exposed. Such a grenade was found to be the most effective means of forcing them to evacuate the position. The cost of the Stannic Chloride caused the United States to investigate other fillers for the KJ Gas Hand Grenade M-II (Dugout Grenade).