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View Full Version : Nitration with polyphosphoric acid and KNO3?

CodeMason
October 29th, 2001, 06:41 AM
Does anyone know about nitration that occurs with potassium or sodium nitrate and polyphosphoric acid as the dehydrating agent? Polyphosphoric acid has the general formula of H<sub>n+2</sub>P<sub>n</sub>O<sub>3n+1</sub>. It can be made by heating phosphoric acid (30% at hardware stores for treating rust) to dehydrate: 2H<sub>3</sub>PO<sub>4</sub> -> H<sub>4</sub>P<sub>2</sub>O<sub>7</sub> + H<sub>2</sub>O. It is known that nitrostyrene can be made in this way. Thanks.

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mongo blongo
October 29th, 2001, 03:31 PM
That sounds cool! Do you think RDX could be made this way? This would be much more easy than making HNO3!

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CodeMason
October 29th, 2001, 07:10 PM
I don't think so, because the hexamine + nitric acid reaction is different from the usual ones, and is very fragile. Sulfuric acid rapidly decays intermediates (and doesn't like RDX itself much either), so I'm guessing polyphosphoric wouldn't have much of a chance.

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