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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: NEW-NUM |
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NITROGLYCERIN, C3H ,(NO3)3 or CH2NO3 CHNO3 CH2NO3 glyceryl trinitrate, an explosive first obtained in 1846 by Ascanio Sobrero (Mem. Acad. Torino, 1847) by acting with a mixture of strong nitric and sulphuric acids on glycerin at the ordinary temperature. The reaction proceeds in several stages, mono-, di- and finally tri-nitrate being produced, the final stage requiring sulphuric acid as a dehydrator. When pure it is a very pale yellow oil of sp. gr. 1.614 at 4 C. and 1.6o at 15 C. One gram requires for solution between 800 and I000 c.c. of water, 4 C.C. of absolute alcohol or 18 c.c. of wood
acetone
In the manufacture glycerin is dropped in a very thin stream into a mixture of 3 parts of nitric (sp. gr. 1.5) and 5 parts of sulphuric acid (sp. gr. 1.84), the containing vessel being cooled by a water jacket and the acid mixture agitated by a stream of cooled air, the temperature being kept at about 15 C. A considerable excess of acids is necessary for the completion and safety of the reaction, usually about 8 parts of the acid mixture to i of glycerin. The higher the strength of the acids the higher the yield of nitroglycerin and the smaller the loss by solution in the waste acids. In recent
dried, after being separated from the wash
Under ordinary pressure it boils at above Zoo C. (L. de Bruyn). If gradually heated it begins to vaporize and decompose at about 130, and as a rule it detonates when heated slightly above this temperature, previously giving off some red fumes. A little vapour is given off at ordinary temperatures and pressures, and when under a few millimetres pressure only it rapidly vaporizes below zoo C. The freezing-point is uncertain, owing perhaps to the existence of two modifications, as suggested by Kast (Zeits. f. ges. Schiess- u. Sprengstoff, 1-225; see also S. Nauckhoff, Zeits. f. ang. Chem., i8, Heft i and 2). It is frequently given as 43 to 46 F. (about 6 to 8 C.), and it is stated to be more sensitive to percussion when frozen (Beilstein). It crystallizes (in long needles) more easily when gently agitated during the cooling, or when mixed with such substances as kieselguhr. At one time it was transported all over America in a frozen condition without serious accidents, and according to Sir F. Nathan (Jour. Soc. Chem. Ind., 1908, 27, p. 5) it is safer to export in the frozen state. To prevent the freezing of nitroglycerin in dynamite it has been proposed to add various substances, such as chlordinitroglycerin, nitrated diglycerin or tetranitrodiglycerol, and also mono-and di-nitroglycerin. The latter two have been studied by C. W. Will (Bee., 1908, 7, p. 407), who obtained two isomeric dinitroglycerins, one of which is eminently crystallizable and the other fluid. Both are sensitive to percussion, but a little less so than nitroglycerin. The mononitroglycerin also exists in two forms, neither of which is strictly speaking explosive. It appears that an addition of dinitroglycerin to nitroglycerin would materially retard its freezing or lessen its sensitiveness (see also C. Claessen, Ger. Pat. 210990 (1909)).Mono. Di. Tri. Specific gravity 1.40 1.47 1.6 Melting-point . a 58 a hydrate, 26 labile, 2.2 R 54 $ hydrate (fluid) stable, 12.2 Boiling-point 18 mm. 155-16o 145 about 16o Solubility 70 % 7.7 % -16% The liquid when soaked into a porous combustible substance like blotting- paper burns rapidly and quietly, and when struck with a hammer
hammer
scattered. Some solutions of nitroglycerin (in ether, acetone
Strong sulphuric acid dissolves nitroglycerin, and this solution on being poured into water yields dinitroglycerin (see Will, loc. cit.) and also some mononitroglycerin. When the solution in the strong acid is allowed to stand, some nitric acid is first evolved, and as the temperature rises this is followed by a general decomposition of the substance, though not necessarily an explosive one. Shaken with mercury and sulphuric acid, nitroglycerin yields its nitrogen as nitric oxide
sulphur
oxide
The first attempts to utilize the explosive power of nitro-glycerin were made by Nobel in 1863; they were only partially successful until the plan, first applied by General Pictot in 1854, of developing the force of gunpowder in the most rapid manner and to the maximum extent, through initiative detonation, was applied by Nobel to nitroglycerin. Even then, however, the liquid nature of the substance, though advantageous in one or two directions, constituted a serious obstacle to its safe transport and storage and to its efficient employment; it was therefore not until Nobel produced plastic solid preparations by mixing the liquid with porous substances, such as gunpowder, or carbon and sulphur
Therapeutics.Nitroglycerin has a sweet burning taste and is decidedly poisonous. Its vapour produces violent headache, and the same effect is often caused by handling compositions containing it. Prior to its use as an explosive, its alcoholic solution found application in medicine under the name of glonoin. Although a nitrate, its pharmacological actions resemble those of nitrites such as amyl nitrite, taken internally. The explanation is that in an alkaline medium at body
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