Chloropicrin "Gas Bombs".

[Red Beret]

I wasn't sure whether to post this here or in battlefield chemistry.

This idea is basically a modification of one of NBK's. In his phosgene synthesis from his first PDF, he reccomends sealing the liquid phosgene in a glass tube, so that when broken, phosgene gas is released.

This chloropicrin version (not too sure if it'll work) is similarly easy to make.

First obtain some glass test tubes, chloropicrin, something to plug the test tube and glue it in place, and a butane cannister. Put the butane cannister in the freezer overnight. When you get it out in the morning you will be able to realease butane from the cylinder in liquid form. Put the required amount of chloropicrin into and appropriate sized glass tube. Cool the chloropicrin in the freezer.

Once you have done this add the liquid butane to the chloropicrin. Add enough to completely dissolve the chloropicrin, I'd say the best bet would be to fill the tube at least three quaters full. Once you have done this, quickly seal the tube. I'm not sure if a rubber stopper would be any good, perhaps a glass plug of some sort secured in the end? Also, cooling of the tube in an icebath whilst adding liquid butane would be advantageous, possibly essential.

Once you have completed the device, the butane (hopefully) will warm and pressurise the tube so that when it is broken, the butane will quickly boil off taking the dissolved chloropicrin with it.

I haven't completed one of these it's purely theoretical, so if you know this won't work or have tried etc, please post here.

If this does work, it would be very useful as an impact/crush actived tear gas grenade.

I will be doing some work with chloropicrin over the weekend, if circumstances permit I may try this device. Please post any comments criticisms etc.

[-=HeX=-]

Good idea red beret, but I only see one problem: the butane, would it not expand into a gas when in contact with body heat and blow the Test tube up, a la dry ice bomb? Thus showering the user with chloropicrin.

Also, what he the butane evaporates in the tube and blows it to bits. And isnt butane very volatile in that sense? Correct me if I am wrong.

[Red Beret]

Good point, I did wonder about that, but wasn't sure of the vapour pressure of butane, I will look into that.

[mil&co]

How about a chloropicrin/petroleum-ether mix with small bits of white P submerged in it.

When the glass breaks the ether and chloropicrin quickly evaporate by the rapidly heating white P, and once the white P starts to burn the chloropicrin is converted to phosgene IIRC. It could make a nice gas/incendiary "grenade".

[a_bab]

The glass tube will withstand with no problems the pressure of the liquid butane (assuming is thick enough and the sealing is not too thin), as the lighters do (and they are made of plastic). In order to have a "catastrofic failure" you'd have to forget your device in the car, during a hot summer day.

The problem is sealing the glass tube; I don't think that an ice bath would be enough, as even bromine sealing in tubes is a problem, and that stuff boils at around 58C IIRC. Ideally a liquid nitrogen bath should be used, or at least some sort of freezing mixture (CaCl2+acetone, dry ice+acetone or gassoline, etc).

[Red Beret]

When I get around to doing this I will post my results. I will do a "dry run" using only butane. One could also use any CW that is solvent soluable.

I'm currently working on a single use MLRS using "sugar rockets" with incendiary and fragmenting heads, so it may be a while before I get around to it. Playing with my new mill is fun too.:D

[iHME]

...single use MLRS using "sugar rockets" with incendiary and fragmenting heads, ...
Oh wow! I'd LOVE to see some pics & plans. Trust me I spent days on trying to obtain info about palestinian "quasam" rockets when I firts read about them. Only two sites had anything of value in english language, a israeli site devoted to palestinian terror groups weapons and some semi-useless wikipedia entries. Now days I think that they ware just crude sugar rockets with a ~10kg warhead. I'd probably be able to do something similar if I wanted.

[MrSamosa]

This is a good idea. Chloropicrin vapors take one down fast. Data like "LC50" are numbers on paper; great for quantitative measurements, but sometimes we also want to know qualitative effects. In that regard: "very small amounts in air" are enough to "knock one to the ground." It takes << 1 mL in air to cause significant effects.

So yes, a small test tube of PS pressurized with butane would work great as a chemical booby-trap. Definitely experiment on a small scale, maybe with a mixture of Butane and Dichloromethane.

But why not expand on this and create an offensive weapon? Why not create a cooler version of the molotov cocktail: PS/butane in a beer bottle. It might be overkill for a chemical hand grenade, but that's why you carry a gas mask. I bet that will break up a party fast: "This party's OVER."

My only concern is using butane. Yes, it's readily available and that is the heart of this idea; but it is flammable. If somehow the PS were to ignite, it would degrade into Phosgene--which although highly toxic, does not have the same immediate effects which make PS desirable. Why not use dry ice, and calculate the proper amount so as to merely pressurize the bottle but not blow it up prematurely.

This reminds me of an idea a while back from some thread: we could scale this up even further. Chloropicrin is so easy to make, so what about using fire extinguishers? :D

Stay out of jail.