Nitration Starch Nitrates and Nitrites

The great success of cellulose nitrates ( nitrocelluloses ), being esters of cellulose with nitric acid, had major impact on parallel studies on the nitration of starch. Celluloid and cellophane as cellulose products of low esterification, and highly esterified cellulose—nitrocellulose—were in common use as construction materials, wrapping foils, and explosives even after World War II. The chemical similarity of cellulose and starch motivated chemists towards studies of starch esterified with nitric acid. 

Nitrated starches having a nitrogen content below 9% are not classified as explosives, although species of higher nitrogen content have explosive properties similar 

Other earlier applications of nitrated starch included propellants,1468 nitrogen fertilizers used together with ammonium salts,1469 a component of ignition preparations,1470 and a lacquer component.1471-1473 It has been used as a lacquer component because of its resinous properties, its ability to combine physically with synthetic resins,1474 and also because of its solubility in alcohols and aromatic hydrocarbons. 

The treatment of starch with dinitrogen tetraoxide or nitrosyl chloride gives a corresponding triester, starch trinitrite, which could be isolated at low temperatures in the form of a wet fibrous material that is immediately decomposed in protic solvents under acid catalysis, regenerating starch and nitrous acid.1475 

Alkaline hydrolysis of starch nitrate produced ammonia, cyanides, nitrites, and nitrates.1478 Starch nitrate could be denitrated by use of diluted solutions of ammonium sulfite followed by the addition of hydrogen peroxide to remove colloidal sulfur.1448 The strong nitrate band absorption in the infrared between 730 and 960 cm-1 complicates the identification of polysaccharides. The region suitable for identification of starch nitrates is between 900 and 1350 cm M479 Nitration of glyceryl starch into a trinitrate was also reported.1480 Starch nitrates readily react with an TV.TV-dimethylformamidc-SO complex to give trisulfates.1481 

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