Pentaerythritol tetranitrate solubility

Solubility of Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate Values of PETN solubility in ethyl acetate and... 

Solubility of Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate in Acetone-Water Mixtures [Aubertein (Ref 11)]... 

Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) is a colorless crystalline solid that is very sensitive to initiation by a primary explosive. It is a powerful secondary explosive that has a great shattering effect. It is used in commercial blasting caps, detonation cords, and boosters. PETN is not used in its pure form because it is too sensitive to friction and impact. It is usually mixed with plasticized nitrocellulose or with synthetic rubbers to form PBXs. The most common form of explosive composition containing PETN is Pentolite, a mixture of 20 to 50% PETN and TNT. PETN can be incorporated into gelatinous industrial explosives. The military has in most cases replaced PETN with RDX because RDX is more thermally stable and has a longer shelf life. PETN is insoluble in water, sparingly soluble in alcohol, ether, and benzene, and soluble in acetone and methyl acetate. 

The recently published solubility data of Roberts and Dinger [14] agree well with those reported by T. Urbanski and Kwiatkowski. The differences are only apparent, owing to the fact that the solubility is reported by the latter authors as grammes of pentaerythritol tetranitrate dissolved in 100 g of solvent (Table 31). 

Solubility of pentaerythritol tetranitrate in acetone-water MIXTURES (AUBERTEIN [13])... 

The action of PETN on the human system is the same as that produced by all other nitric esters. Nevertheless inhalation of PETN is not dangerous, as its vapour pressure is negligible. Similarly, breathing small amounts of penthrite m the form of dust causes no deleterious effect owing to its low solubility. Lazarev [23] reports the toxicity of pentaerythritol tetranitrate to be lower than that of nitroglycerine. 

Solubility of pentaerythritol tetranitrate (after Roberts and Dinoer [14])... 

The pentaerythritol was introduced into the acid in finely divided and well-dispersed particles and not in large unitary quantities. The entire 92 parts of pentaerythritol tetranitrate was introduced in 35 to 40 minutes. The pentaerythritol thus obtained was separated from the spent acid by filtering or drowning in water. To recover the spent acid the charge was passed onto a nutsch and filtered. The crude product was washed with water, then with a weak water-soluble alkali solution, such as sodium carbonate for example, and subsequently with water in order to remove the acid. 

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