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The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives - Sciencemadness Dot Org

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196 NITRIC ESTERS<br />

built <strong>and</strong> equipped a modest laboratory <strong>of</strong> his own. <strong>The</strong> earliest<br />

printed account <strong>of</strong> nitroglycerin appears in a letter which Sobrero<br />

wrote to Pelouze <strong>and</strong> which Pelouze caused to be published in<br />

L'Institut <strong>of</strong> February 15, 1847. 6 In the same month Sobrero presented<br />

to the Academy <strong>of</strong> Torino a paper, Sopra alcuni nuovi<br />

composti fulminanti ottenuti col mezzo dell'azione dell'acido<br />

FIGURE 51. Ascanio Sobrero (1812-1888) First prepared nitroglycerin,<br />

nitromannite, <strong>and</strong> nitrolactose, 1846-1847.<br />

nitrico sulle sostanze organiche vegetali, 1 in which he described<br />

nitroglycerin, nitromannite, <strong>and</strong> nitrated lactose. Later in the<br />

year he presented another paper, Sulla Glicerina Fulminante o<br />

Piroglycerina, before the chemistry section <strong>of</strong> the Ninth Italian<br />

Scientific Congress at Venice. 8<br />

Sobrero found that, if concentrated nitric acid or strong mixed<br />

acid is added to glycerin, a violent reaction ensues <strong>and</strong> red fumes<br />

6 L'Institut, IS, 53 (1847).<br />

T Mem. Acad. Torino, [2] 10, 195 (1847).<br />

s Proc. Ninth Hal. Sci. Congr., 3, 105 (1848).

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