UNSPSC 12131510: White phosphorus

A material made from a common allotrope of the chemical element phosphorus that is used in smoke, tracer, illumination and incendiary munitions. White phosphorus is a translucent waxy solid that quickly becomes yellow when exposed to light. For this reason it is also called yellow phosphorus. It is highly flammable and pyrophoric (self-igniting) upon contact with air as well as toxic (causing severe liver damage on ingestion and phossy jaw from chronic ingestion or inhalation). The odour of combustion of this form has a characteristic garlic smell.

White phosphorus is only slightly soluble in water and it can be stored under water. Indeed, white phosphorus is only safe from self-igniting when it is submerged in water. It is, however, soluble in benzene, oils, carbon disulfide, and disulfur dichloride

UNSPSC 12131510 White phosphorus (Commodity) shows no recent state and local procurement activity aligned with the code's nominal scope. The four recent opportunities tagged under this code involve used and confiscated firearms trading, wastewater phosphorus control systems, shock tube lead line for fire investigation, and law enforcement body armor and equipment — none of which represent white phosphorus procurement or use. The mismatch between the code's chemical-compound scope and the actual work being solicited suggests either systematic miscoding in the source data or that state and local buyers do not procure white phosphorus through standard public competitive mechanisms.

Geographic activity across the four unrelated opportunities spans Texas (Dallas Fire Department), Utah (City of Orem), North Carolina (City of Charlotte), Georgia (Columbus Consolidated Government), and Minnesota (Sourcewell cooperative), with response deadlines from September 2026 through July 2026. Given the absence of white-phosphorus-specific opportunities and the clear divergence between code taxonomy and recent solicitation content, this code warrants close monitoring to confirm whether activity will align with procurement substance or continue to reflect misclassification.