Acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR), also known as nitrile rubber or NBR, was first developed by Konrad, Tschunkur, and Kleiner at I.G. Farbenindustrie, Ludwigshafen, then with Oppau and Hoechst as a joint development in 1930, and commercialized in

to Perbunan. The Second World War prevented export to Great Britain and the United States; hence Standard Oil Company and other companies, licensees of I.G. Farbenindustrie, began production in 1941 by Goodyear, Firestone, U.S. Rubber, and B.F. Goodrich as part of the war effort in the United States. In addition, Polymer Corporation in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, began nitrile production in 1948.