RDX by acetic and para

[Nevermore]

Did anyone perform RDX synthesis using acetic anydhride and para as described in mega website?
If yes, i wish to know about the yelds, i've to buy acetic and para, since hno3 is a lil tricky to get...

[knowledgehungry]

HNO3 is tricky to get:confused: Try getting acetic anhydride.

[Nevermore]

I got 5 liters of 55-58% HNO3, industrial grade, the most concentrated i can get not showing my id and getting listed.
The biggest problem for me is Hexamine, absolutely impossible to get here, i found another name for hexamine is urotropine, but damn, no chemistry still holds that, and even if it will have too high price since for medical use.
So i was thinking about following Mega way, making hexamine from acetic anydride and paraformaldehyde, however, acetic anidryde is still possible to get, para is not, since is registered over here...
Is there any other way to get hexamine?

[Rhadon]

Nevermore, I'm sure that you mixed some things up here: The acetic anhydride / paraformaldehyde process isn't supposed to yield hexamine, for the latter you would use formaldehyde and NH3. Would be nice if you could give me a link to the page you're referring to, perhaps that can clear things up.

If getting hexamine is what you want, doing a SEARCH on the forum could have taught you that hexamine is sold under the brand name Esbit, and a search on Google could have revealed that this particular product is sold in Italy. I did the work for you and searched www.google.it for "esbit". The top-ranked result is this (http://www.campershop.it/product209.html). Next time you can do it yourself, okay?

[Nevermore]

Thank you very much Rhadon, i didn't even have a clue about a hexamine fuel brand, and if you didn't help for sure i was still searching for it..now that i know the brand name, i found who is the reseller in my town, so i don't have to buy online, i can just go there and pick them up.
Since you know already about that, do you know if the sticks are wax covered or they are pure, since if wax covered i will choose the bigger ones for easier cleaning.
Well, thank you again.
:rolleyes:

[Rhadon]

Since you know already about that, do you know if the sticks are wax covered or they are pure,... Esbit contains a small amount of wax as a binder. For details on purification do a search. I was able to find it, so you are either.

[Nevermore]

yep no problem, my first idea: hex is soluble in water, wax no.
anyway i will search right now!

[zeocrash]

does the wax even matter in the nitration, it's pretty inert stuff, i'm not sure NA would have any effect on it.

[Nevermore]

i don't think the NA can penetrate the wax so, or you'd get a incomplete nitration.
however i didn't realize that i've only 58% HNO3 and is not enough...

[tatiana]

Nevermore.
I've successfully made hexamine in large quantities using 37% formalin solution and 25% ammonium hydroxide solution. Formalin used to preserve dead animal matter in bio labs, and common ammonia, these should be commonly available and cheap! Just throw them together, it'll heat up a little and apply heat to boil it down, not too hot, to get a crystalline paste and leave to dry. There's your hexamine.

On another note, I've read one can azeotrope water away from a nitration on the TNT synthesis thread from the HE forum without using H2SO4. (posted by Rosco Bodine) Anybody know if this concept could be applied to RDX synth??

[Rosco Bodine]

The instability of the nitrolysis by products would complicate
azeotroping water from an RDX synthesis . The scheme by
which a nitrolysis proceeds is the reverse of what is needed
for nitrations , that is a nitrolysis operates according to first
reactions which are favored by anhydrous acid at the very beginning ,
whereas the reverse is true for nitrations . So my guess is that
no the technique would not be useful for nitrolysis of hexamine .

[chemistr1]

Why are so many people having problems getting hexamine when it s commonly available from all online Uk army and navy shops as surplus British Forces solid fuel stoves at around £2 for 8 ounces. (8X1 ounce wax covered blocks) and they are almost pure wax covered blocks of hexamine. And what are esbit blocks? I have about 7 kilos of Hexi blocks I picked up at a Sunday market for about 25pence per half pound pack:)