I tried to post this before, but something went wrong.
Anyways, why don't you do it the nitroway n'til the end?
It's easy and troubleless.
It may be a bit more exotermic than expected, but if you live in the northern hemisphere you have lotsa snow to keep it contollable with.
All in all, a very nice and useful reaction.
(just think about where you're putting that mercury waste, otherwise your karma goes to hell, and that we don't want, do we?)