Nitroglycerin

Nitroglycerin (NG, GTN, Trinitroglycerol, Trinitrin, Blasting Oil, Blasting Gelatin) 

Uses Nitroglycerin (or glyceryltrinitrate) is a pale yellow, oily liquid also available in the form of rhombic crystals. It is highly explosive. It is used in combination with ethylene glycol dinitrite in the manufacture of dynamites, explosives, rocket propellants, smokeless powders, and guncotton. 

Nitroglycerin (nye-tro-GLIH-cer-in) is a pale yellow oily flammable liquid that is highly explosive. It is used primarily as an explosive by itself and as an ingredient in dynamite. Nitroglycerin also finds application in medicine as a vasodilator, a substance that causes blood vessels to relax and open up, allowing blood to flow more freely through them. 

Nitroglycerin. Red atoms are oxygen white atoms are hydrogen black atoms are carbon and blue atoms are nitrogen. Gray sticks indicate double bonds, publishers 

Nitroglycerin s medical uses were first explored in detail by Sir Thomas Lauder Brunton (1844-1916) of the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1938, the U.S. Food 

Before Nobel began studying the explosive properties of nitroglycerin, people reportedly used the compound for everyday chores, such as polishing boots and greasing wagon wheels, and even as lamp 

Although he spent most of his life developing and manufacturing explosives, Nobel was a humanitarian who wanted to see technology used for the benefit of society and the advancement of world 

Nitroglycerin ointment applied frequently over large body areas in angina pectoris patients has caused allergic contact dermatitis (Hendricks and Dee 1979 Sausker and Frederick 1978). Sensitization developed even after previous peroral use of the drug. 

If one was for some reason forced to choose a single allpurpose explosive or if one were to wish away all the explosive substances save one, nitroglycerin is the chemical to clutch close to one s heart. This popularly, and for the most part unjustly, maligned explosive is so powerful, versatile, and easy to make that it is far and away the number one choice for a Home Workshop Explosive manufacturer. 

There are a variety of reasons for this assessment. First and foremost, the materials to produce it are easily available. So long as one works with smaller size batches, the dangerousness of the process is greatly overstated. Add to that the fact that the power of a small amount of nitro can be multiplied greatly by incorporating some of it into a mixture with ammonium nitrate, then you will see my point on this matter. 

This isn t to say that a case full of spoiled dynamite isn t a very dangerous item. With a case one has the mass of the whole load grinding and jostling upon each step taken. That is a recipe for disaster. The individual stick just isn t particularly dangerous so long as it is handled gently. 

Now it is time to delve more deeply into exactly how nitro production is set up and why one should regard nitro as the explosive of choice. To answer the last question first, one only has to consider the extreme simplicity of making and purifying nitro. It was first made in the middle 1800s. This speaks volumes when you consider the crude materials and equipment available at the time. It has been my experience that anyone who is not brain damaged can easily 

Nitro is a member of the nitric ester family, and is made the same way as the rest of the family. Nitric acid is reacted with an alcohol (in this case glycerin) to form the ester nitroglycerin. 

Synonyms 1,2,3-Propanetriol trinitrate glycerol trinitrate nitroglycerol NG trinitroglyc-erol NTG trinitrin 

Physical Form. Oily liquid at room temperature colorless in pure form and pale yellow or brown in commercial form 

Manufacture of dynamite, gun powder and rocket propellants, and as a therapeutic agent primarily to alleviate angina pectoris. Note Workers engaged in the production or use of dynamite are potentially exposed to mixed vapors of nitroglycerin (NG) and ethylene glycol dinitrate (EGDN). 

Toxicology. NG is a vasodilator and has been associated with acute episodes of angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, and sudden death. 

Initial exposure to NG (or NG EGDN mixmres where exposures are considered additive) characteristically results in an intense, throbbing headache that begins in the forehead and moves to the occipital region. Volunteers developed mild headaches when exposed to NG EGDN vapor at concentrations of 0.5mg/m for 25 minutes. It has been suggested that at least some workers may develop headaches at concentrations as low as 0.1 mg/mk  

MELTING POINT = 13.2°C BOILING POINT = decomposes between 50° and 60°X DENSITY = 1.6 g/cm3 

Sample preparation 3 mL Plasma +12 mL dichloromethane ethyl acetate 1 1, shake mechanically at 250 cycles/min for 5 min, centrifuge at 550 g at 4° for 5 min. Remove the organic phase and evaporate it to about 20 p,L under a stream of nitrogen at room temperature, inject. 

Detector Thermal energy analyzer. Thermo Electron Corp. Model 502A, furnace temp 575°, argon 15 mL/min, oxygen 25 mL/min, MeOH/dry ice slush bath 

Maddock, J. Lewis, P.A. Woodward, A. Massey, P.R. Kennedy, S. Determination of isosorbide dinitrate and its mononitrate metabolites in human plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography-thermal energy analysis. J.Chromatogr., 1983, 272, 129-136 

Column 300 X 3.9 10 pm pBondapak CIS Mobile phase MeCN MeOH water 6 6 13 Column temperature 35 Flowrate 2.8 Detector UV 210 

Driver, P.S. Jarvi, E.J. Gratzer, P.L. Stability of nitroglycerin as nitroglycerin concentrate for iiyection stored in plastic syringes. Am.J.Hosp.Pharm., 1993, 50, 2561-2563 

Molecular formula CsHsNjOs Molecular weight 227.1 CAS Registry No. 55-63-0 

This colorless oily liquid has a density of about 1.6 g/mL, a freezing point of 13.2°C, and decomposes before it boils at 1 atm. It is slightly soluble in water but much more soluble in acetone, ether, benzene, and chloroform. It is very sensitive to shock, especially when the liquid contains air bubbles. It is made by reacting glycerol with a mixture of HNO3 and H2SO4 at —20 C. 

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QHsNjO, OCCH CH.ONO ),. Formed by the nitration of diethyleneglycol. Viscous, colourless, odourless liquid m.p. — ll-5" C. Used to replace nitroglycerin as a propellant. 

We also found N-nitropyridinium salts such as C5HjN N02BF4 as convenient transfer nitrating reagents in selective, clean reaetions. Transfer nitrations are equally applicable to C- as well as to 0-nitra-tions, allowing, for example, safe, acid-free preparation of alkyl nitrates and polynitrates from alcohols (including nitroglycerine). 

Exothermic oxidation—reduction reactions provide the energy released in both propellant burning and explosive detonation. The reactions are either internal oxidation—reductions, as in the decomposition of nitroglycerin and pentaerythritol tetranitrate, or reactions between discrete oxidizers and fuels in heterogeneous mixtures. 

Nitroglycerin. Nitroglycerin (NG), glyceryl trinitrate [55-63-0] is primarily used as an explosive in dynamites and as a plasticizer... 

Pure nitroglycerin is a stable Hquid at temperate conditions. It decomposes above 60°C to form nitric oxides which in turn catalyze further decomposition. Moisture increases the rate of decomposition under these conditions. Double- and multibase propellants containing nitroglycerin have substantially shorter stabiHty Hves at 65 and 80°C than do single-base propellants. The decomposition of nitroglycerin proceeds as... 

Safety has been greatly increased by use of the continuous nitration processes. The quantity of nitroglycerin in process at any one time is greatly reduced, and emulsification of nitroglycerin with water decreases the likelihood of detonation. Process sensors (qv) and automatic controls minimize the likelihood of mnaway reactions. Detonation traps may be used to decrease the likelihood of propagation of an accidental initiation eg, a tank of water into which the nitrated product flows and settles on the bottom. 

Other Glycol Nitrates. Other Hquid nitrates have been used as explosive plasticizers for nitroceUulose (Table 8). These may be made by mixed-acid nitration using procedures similar to those used for nitroglycerin. 

Trimethylolethane trinitrate (metriol trinitrate) is not satisfactory as a plasticizer for nitrocellulose, and must be used with other plasticizers such as metriol triacetate. Mixtures with nitroglycerin tend to improve the mechanical properties of double-base cast propellants at high and low temperatures. Metriol trinitrate has also been used in combination with triethylene glycol dinitrate as a plasticizer for nitrocellulose. Its physical properties are Hsted in Table 7 (118-122). 

Military. The single-component explosives most commonly used for military compositions are TNT, RDX or HMX, nitrocellulose, and nitroglycerin. The last two are used almost exclusively to make propellants. The production volume of TNT far exceeds that of any other explosive. It is used as manufactured, as a base of biaary slurries with other high melting explosives, or ia ternary systems generally containing a biaary mix and aluminum. 

P. Naoum, Nitroglycerin and Nitroglycerin Explosives, WiUiams and Wilkins Co., Baltimore, Md., 1928. 

C. Boyars, "Sensitivity and Desensitization of Nitroglycerin," ia Proceedings of 2nd Symposium on Chemical Problems Connected with the Stability of... 

O. E. Wating and G. Krastins, The Kinetics and Mechanism of Thermal Decomposition of Nitroglycerin, Report 5746, NOL, White Oaks, Md., 1958. 

Worldwide Technology Assessment of Nitroglycerin Manufacture, 4 Vols., (Proprietary Information) Mason and Hanger, Silas Mason, 1985. 

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