The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives - Sciencemadness Dot Org

242 NITRIC ESTERS
Lactose hexanitrate, Ci2Hi6O5(ONO2)e, has been found in
the alcoholic mother liquors from the crystallization of the
octonitrate, white, amorphous material melting not sharply at
about 70°.
Crater " in 1934 described explosives containing nitrolactose,
one consisting, say, of nitrolactose 25%, ammonium nitrate 65%,
sodium nitrate 6%, and vegetable absorbent material 4%, another
made by treating wood pulp with an acetone solution of
nitrolactose and dinitrotoluene and containing about 78% nitrolactose,
about 9% DNT, and about 13% wood pulp. For this use
the nitrolactose ought to be stabilized with diphenylamine.
Nitrosucrose (Sucrose octonitrate), C^HuC
The nitration of cane sugar 69 - 73 yields sucrose octonitrate,
white glistening needles, which melt at 85.5°. If heated slowly,
nitrosucrose decomposes at about 135° and if heated rapidly deflagrates
at about 170°. The fused and solidified material has a
specific gravity of 1.67. It is readily soluble in methyl alcohol,
ether, and nitrobenzene, difficultly soluble in ethyl alcohol and
benzene, and insoluble in water and in petroleum ether. It reduces
Fehling's solution on warming. It is relatively stable when pure.
Monasterski reports that it gives a feeble puff under a 20-cm.
drop of a 2-kilogram weight, a puff with one of 25 cm., and a
detonation with one of 30 cm. He states that samples of 10 grams
in the Trauzl test gave average net expansions of 296 cc.
Other Nitrosugars
The nitration of d-xylose 69 yields d-xylose tetranitrate, C5H6O
(ONO2)4, an oily substance insoluble in water, and a crystalline
by-product, m.p. 141°, insoluble in water, which is evidently the
trinitrate, C5H7O2(ONO2)3. Xylosan dinitrate, CsH6O2(ONO2)2,
has been prepared by the action of mixed acid on d-xylose. It
consists of little spherical crystal aggregates, soluble in alcohol
and melting at 75-80°.
l-Rhamnose tetranitrate,, 69 C6H8O(ONO2)4, crystallizes in compact
short rhombs which melt with decomposition at 135°, It is
72 U. S. Pat. 1,945,344 (1934).
73 Hoffman and Hawse, J. Am. Chem. Sec, 41, 235 (1919). Monasterski,
Z. ges. Schiess- u. Sprengstoffw., 28, 349 (1933). Wyler, U. S. Pats. 2,081,161
(1938), 2,105,390 (1938), 2,165,435 (1939).