A story in <i id="mwATg">New York World</i> newspaper reveals that the Imperial German government had purchased excess phenol from Thomas Edison that could be used to make explosives for the war effort and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Phenol_Plot" id="mwATk" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Great Phenol Plot">diverted it</a> to Bayer for aspirin production.