Unlike latex which is a sap-like fluid that can be found in over 20,000 plants, nitrile is a petroleum by-product that is produced in a lab.

The major reason that synthetic rubbers like nitrile have become popular today is, in large part, due to the two World Wars. A shortage of natural rubber during World War I encouraged Russian scientists to begin experimenting with synthetic rubber. When the war came to an end in 1918 and natural rubber was once again available, demand for synthetic rubber diminished. However, during the following decades, German, American and Russian scientists continued to explore to possibilities and uses of synthetic rubber.

By 1940, a scientist at B.F. Goodrich Company developed a new and cheaper synthetic rubber wot meet the United States’ needs during World War II. Since the Axis Power controlled much of the world’s supply of latex rubber by 1942, an alternative was needed.

Both sides once again began experimenting with synthetic rubber. In America, chemist Calvin Souther Fuller examined the elasticity and tensile strength of polymers. By 1944, 50 factories were manufacturing synthetic rubber at twice the volume of the world’s natural rubber production prior to the war. In Nazi Germany, 8 plants were producing over 120,000 tons per year.

Click here to read more about the history of synthetic rubber by Bio-Materials expert, Doris de Guzman.