glycine nitrate

[Rosco Bodine]

While browsing PATR , I found an item of interest which appears
to be a compound similar to urea nitrate , only more sensitive and powerful .
The compound is aminoacetic acid nitrate , or glycine nitrate , evidently a simple acid salt
formed by direct combination of dilute nitric acid and glycine . The compound is
described as a powerful explosive resembling picric acid in its properties .
The chemical formula is
H2N-CH2-COOH + HNO3 , mw 138.08 ,
mp ca 145 with evolution of gas .

The detonation proceeds according to
the equation H2N-CH2-COOH-HNO3 ----> 2CO + 3H2O + N2 ,
releasing significant amounts of carbon monoxide .

See PATR vol. 1 page A178

Has anyone ever experimented with glycine nitrate ? It would seem to have
usefulness because of its relatively easy and cheap manufacture , and may be of interest
in eutectic nitrate mixtures with things like urea nitrate or ammonium nitrate ,
methylamine nitrate , calcium nitrate , ect .

[The_Rsert]

Link: http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=2642&page=1

This schould work for preparation:
1.)Add and mix 14g glycine(0.25mol) to 15ml destilled water. (it will not completly dissolve). Cool this to 5°C
2.)Add 24g 65% nitric acid(0.25mol). The glycine will dissolve.
Hold the temparature under 30°C
3.)When addition is complete, cool the solution to under 0°C an filter the crystals (sugar crystals size).
4.)Wash the crystalls sveral time with much colt ethanol.
5.)Then dry the crystals. Yield should be over 15g glycin nitrate.
I hope this will work. I have no glycine to test it by myself.

[Joeychemist]

The_Rsert

Luckily I have some glycine.

I tried it you’re way Rsert and it dose work. I could not get the crystals to form until I almost froze the mix, and my HNO3 is about 70% and not watered down so I added 14g of glycine to 15½ml water. But it dose work!

I did make 15 ¾ g of washed GN though. I didn’t have too much glycine nitrate to toy around with so I did not bother to test friction or anything I just detonated all of what I made. I used 1½ g of PETN and ½ g of lead azid to initiate the GN. (I don’t like to waste time or product on misfires) I buried the charge under a foot of dirt in tight confinement. Upon very close inspection of the crater there was some glycine nitrate crystals sparkling on bottom and sides so I think it was only a partial detonation. I can’t report anything too great about this explosive except that there was a sharp report even though the charge was buried and the Glycine nitrate yield wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. :)

I will try this again sometime soon to gain more inforamation about this explosive.

[Sarevok]

Joeychemist, how did you make glycine nitrate from
glycerin? By "glycerin" I suppose you meant "glycine,"
right?

Be careful with names. There is a difference between
glycerin and glycine, just like there is a difference
between nitrates and nitrites, and so on; and knowing
the difference is important. For example: Think of
NH4ClO3 as being NH4ClO4 (the difference is only one
number) and you will meet death.

[Joeychemist]

ARG!!! You’re right Sarevok I did mean and write down Glycine but when I used my Microsoft spell check I didn’t notice and I changed it to glycerin and without noticing I copy and pasted my post.

I have edited the post and all is well again, thanks for the heads up and the Primaries PDF too!

[The_Rsert]

Joeychemist: Have you tested it's solubility in acetone, ethanol, etc. before det?

A new Idea:
Is glycine nitrate acescent ? Will it form explosive salts?
Because glycine itself is acescent, it's salts are amino acetates,
if I remember right.

Thanks!

[knowledgehungry]

Does anyone have a synthesis of Glycine or an OTC source of it? I found these (http://orgsyn.org/OrgSyn/default.asp?formgroup=basenpe_form_group&dataaction=db&dbname=orgsyn) synths of it but neither uses particularly OTC precursors.

[Mr Cool]

It is available as a health supplement, but I haven't found a cheap place selling it yet. I'm sure there are cheap sources though.

[The_Rsert]

Europeans can buy it here for 6.50€/100g and 29.50€/kg:
http://www.omikron-online.de/cgi-bin/cosmoshop/lshop.cgi
Type "Glycin" and not "Glycine" in the search engine, that's important!

My local phamarcy does sell it, too. But it costs 14.40€/100g.

Now again(don't forget the question).
Is glycine nitrate acescent? Will it form explosive salts?
Yes, right? Or?
Because glycine itself is acescent, it's salts are amino acetates,
if I remember right.

Can someone try to make the lead salt of it? But be careful!

[Mumble]

I personally find that first synthesis quite possible. The hardest to get reagent is the NaCN, which is fairly easy to synthesize if you have access to urea, as most do. I've personally been looking for a better synthesis for glycine for a school ordeal. That one very well could be it. All the others I've seen are similar to the second one using Monochloroacetic acid, which wouldn't be my first choice of compounds to be using. In the synthesis of the methyleneaminoacetonitrile, if you look at note 7, there is a much faster synthesis that does not require nearly as much precise dripping of reagents.

There is a company that sells glycine quite cheaply that I have been eying for a while. It is $22/kilo, and seems as if they may not require you to belong to a company which is odd. I'll post the link, and let you be the judge. I do not even know if it is a valid company. As a side note, they have many other useful reagents.
http://www.bio-world.com/MoreInfo.asp?ItemCode=710039

There are a few places that sell pills. Assuming 100% extraction it is about $7 per 100g. Just do a search on Froogle(spelt correctly) for Glycine. The best extraction I can find is open the caplets and dissolve the glycine out in water. If the gelatine is mixed in(which I doubt) extract with several portions of cold water and filter off the excess. The cheapest brand seems to be made by "Source Natural". It can be found here http://store.yahoo.com/smartbomb/sn1605.html

Another thing I found is this: http://www.bulknutrition.com/?products_id=601
A supplier of 1 pound containers of seemingly pure Glycine. It is L-Glycine, which shouldn't make a difference, and it is only $9. Of all the options I see this last one to be the most promising. It seems as if they would be much more likely to deal with individuals, and there is no extraction to worry about(cheaper than extraction too). This last company also ships world wide so eveyone can take advantage of it. All the other links are to american companies. I see no reason for the pills not to go overseas though.

[knowledgehungry]

Well NaCN is not particularly hard to make, but I try to stay away from those type of chemicals.

[Mumble]

I see your point. Not something I'd want to make either, but there are worse chemicals on my list. That also doesn't seem to be a proceedure you'd want to do outside of a fume hood/manually, as there will most likely be some HCN generated.

I may see about doing it in the lab at my place of education. If it wasn't for that NaCN(and not having formaldehyde there) it would be no problem, but it may need a bit of convincing/creative wording on my part now. I'll attempt the proceedure in the safety of a modern lab, and report anything to be worried about.

[K9]

In PATR, it makes mention of nitroglycine in the next section after glycine nitrate. Has anyone had any experience with this?