Medicines, nitroglycerin

Sulfuric acid is not all bad. In fact, it has many useful functions. One of those is to make nitroglycerin. Nitroglycerin is needed to make explosives like dynamite, but it is also used as a medicine. This dual-purpose chemical compound was discovered by Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero (1812-1888) in 1847. 

Figure 1.3 Nitroglycerin is a chemical compound used to make explosions such as the one at right, generated during a reenactment of an oil well being shot with a nitroglycerin torpedo. It can also be used as a medicine to relieve chest pain.

Nitroglycerin is also widely used in medicine to expand the blood vessels that serve the heart. This relieves the pain of a condition called angina. 

Nitromannitol is used for medicinal purposes instead of nitroglycerine, since its physiological effect is slower and longer lasting. 

Glycerol is used (l) in the manufacture of high explosives, e.g,. glyceryl trinitrate ( nitroglycerin ), which is the main component of dynamite. (2) in antifreeze solutions, especially for automobile radiators. (3) to maintain a moisi condition in fruits and tobacco, (4) in cosmetics and skin preparations, and (5) to prepare glycerol phosphoric acid, used in medicine, and "boroglyceride" used as, a preservative. See Table l... 

Nitroglycerin was first prepared late in the year 1846 or early in 1847 by the Italian chemist, Ascanio Sobrero (1812-1888), who was at the time professor of applied chemistry at the University of Torino. Sobrero had studied medicine in the same city, and in 1834 had been authorized to practice as a physician. After that he studied with Pelouze in Paris and served as his assistant in his private laboratory from 1840 to 1843. In 1843 he left Paris, studied for several months with Liebig at Giessen, and returned to Torino where he took up the duties of a teacher and in 1845... 

In the fertilizer industry, it is used to prepare ammonium sulfate, potassium nitrate and urea. It is used to prepare TNT (trinitrotoluene), nitroglycerine and nitrocellulose in the explosives industry. Nitrogen compounds are also used in the manufacture of dyes and medicines. 

Nitroglycerine A heavy, oily, explosive liquid used medicinally in tiny amounts to dilate blood vessels in treating angina pectoris. 

For several years after the discovery of nitroglycerin, the possibility of using it as an explosive attracted very little interest. Indeed, it first came into use as a medicine, and the first serious study on its preparation, after the work of Sobrero, was made by J. E. de Vrij, professor of chemistry in the Medical School at Rotterdam, and published in the Dutch journal of < pharmacy, Ti)dschrift voor wetensch. pharm., in 1865, The next... 

The Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) invented a safe way to use nitroglycerine. He mixed liquid nitroglycerine with sand to form a paste that could be shaped into rods. Nobel patented the mixture, which he called dynamite, and the blasting caps used to detonate the rods. The invention of dynamite greatly reduced the cost of drilling road and railway tunnels through rock. Nobel left most of his money to endow annual prizes in peace, chemistry, physics, medicine, and literature. These prizes are called Nobel Prizes. 

Nobel, Alfred B. (1833-1896). A native of Sweden, Nobel devoted most of his life to a study of explosives and was the inventor of a mixture of nitroglycerin and diatomaceous earth, which he called dynamite. He also invented blasting gelatin and smokeless powder. With the fortune he accumulated from his work, Nobel established the foundation that bears his name, which annually recognizes outstanding work in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and human relations. The Nobel Prize is still the world s most valued scientific award. 

Nobel s brother had been killed and his father physically disabled in a nitroglycerine explosion in 1864. Nobel willed 9.2 million to establish a fund for annual prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. The prizes were first awarded in 1901. 

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