HNO3 purification via decanting with acetone, and the runaway nitration which ensued

[knowledgehungry]

Well I had the "brilliant" Idea to follow Nbks idea of decanting the mixture of HNO3 and DCM then allowing the DCM to evaporate. Except I had no DCM, so being the dumbass that I am i decided to use acetone, i mean sulfates are insoluble in acetone and it evaporates fast. BAD idea, at first i used very small amounts and the whole thing went off with out a hitch. Then i decided to try about 150 mls of the stuff. At first the acetone wasn't mixing it was separated by a layer of sulfate so i decanted the acetone and added some more. I stiirred the mixture to try to let the sulfate settle. As i let the mixture sit the liquid started to bubble, i figured that it was only Acetone boiling since the mixture was relatively warm. It started to bubble faster and faster and i got runaway nitration of acetone i think. Lots of NO2 and foam, I quicly dumped my mixture down my sink with lots of water :rolleyes: . So my questions are... Can you nitrate acetone And Why did the first one work and the second one not.

[nbk2000]

Very small amounts don't retain heat. They get hot (and cold) very fast. Whereas, larger amounts take time to heat up, and retain that heat longer.

So, when you had the large amount of acetone, it was getting warm. When you stirred it up, it reacted even faster, getting warmer still. Finally, once it reached a certain point, the heating became self sustaining, and then you get a runaway because the speed of a reaction doubles for every 10C increase in temperature.

Of course acetone can be nitrated. You can nitrate benzene, toluene, xylene, and other solvents, right? Don't know if it'd be called nitroacetone (never heard of it), but it might be useful somehow.

Did you have success in the extraction using small amounts of acetone? As far as I know, it has to be a chlorinated solvent to work.

But hey, more power to you for trying. You learn from your failures as well as your successes. :)