The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives - Sciencemadness Dot Org

142
AROMATIC NITRO COMPOUNDS
NOs NOs
In industrial practice the nitration is commonly carried out in
three stages, the spent acid from the trinitration being used for
the next dinitration, the spent acid from this being used for the
mononitration, and the spent acid from this either being fortified
FIGURE 46. TNT Manufacturing Building, Showing Barricades and Safety
Chutes. (Courtesy E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Inc ;
for use again or going to the acid-recovery treatment. The principal
products of the first stage are o- (b.p. 222.3°) and p-nitrotoluene
(m.p. 51.9°) in relative amounts which vary somewhat
according to the temperature at which the nitration is carried out.
During the dinitration, the para compound yields only 2,4-dinitrotoluene
(m.p. 70°), while the ortho yields the 2,4- and the 2,6-
(m.p. 60.5°). Both these in the trinitration yield 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene
or a-TNT. 2,4-Dinitrotoluene predominates in the
product of the dinitration, and crude TNT generally contains a