Sciencemadness Discussion Board

bullshit or fact?

goblok - 14-4-2014 at 08:42

SOURCE: http://williestop.tripod.com/Highexplosivespictorials/HDN.ht...

Measure out 50ml of water and pour it into a 200ml flask (or similar device). Weigh out 15g of hexamine and add it to the flask with water. Swirl the flask until all of the hexamine is dissolved in the water. Prepare and ice bath and stick the flask containing the hexamine solution in it. Measure out 15ml of 70% nitric acid in a graduated cylinder, then pour it into a 20mm x 150mm testtube. Place this in the ice bath as well. Once the hexamine solution and nitric acid are cold, pull the hexamine solution out of the ice bath and dump in the nitric acid. Begin swirling. Once it reaches room temperature, place it back into the ice bath and swirl it around in there for a good 60 seconds. Quickly filter it out. While you're waiting for the liquid in the filter to drain, add ~100mls of water free acetone to the 200ml flask. Swirl it around to grab the remaining crystals of HDN. Once all of the water is out of the filter, pour the acetone into the filter. This is to remove the water and excess acid. Place the filter some place to dry and then store this in a tightly closed container perferably with a dessicant. I used this synthesis 5 times and averaged out the yeild. Getting an average of 14.58g which comes to a 51% yeild

everyone said if we could not nitrating hexamine with dilute nitric acid because of the water contained in it, then why is there an article like this?

Zyklon-A - 14-4-2014 at 08:55

Quote: Originally posted by Bot0nist  
Forum Stuff:

I hate when members make new threads with ambiguous or meaningless titles that have nothing to do with the topic. Titles like "Help," "Noobie question," or "Check this out!" The title should be relevant to the thread, as I really doubt most users read every thread, but instead rely on the title of the thread to give at least an inkling to the contents.

Could you not have put this in one of many of the hexamethylenetetramine dinitrate threads?

VladimirLem - 14-4-2014 at 09:10

Quote: Originally posted by goblok  

everyone said if we could not nitrating hexamine with dilute nitric acid because of the water contained in it, then why is there an article like this?


who said that ?

of course you can "nitrate" hexamine with watercontainig HNO3 - if it doesnt contain water you failed at the synthesis :D and get RDX :cool:
...for the hexamine MONOnitrate you just need around 30-50% HNO3 (afaik)

and yes HDN reacts with water (decomposition)...but the acid is strong enough to nitrate the HDN and the hydrolysis (?) is slow enough that you can nitrate HDN and wash it with water without having high losses in yield...

btw is seems that your synthesis doesnt work really good for you...i read much texts where it was 1g hexamine + ??g 70% hno3 = 1.5<2g HDN...dont know if thats correct....

goblok - 14-4-2014 at 09:17

@Zyklonb

forgive me, This will never happen again
may be awhile again this thread will enter into inside detritus

goblok - 14-4-2014 at 09:18

@VladimirLem
thank you for your willingness to give me an explanation

Zyklon-A - 14-4-2014 at 09:23

No problem, You can still change the title, just click "edit", at the top is your current title, and change it.

[Edited on 14-4-2014 by Zyklonb]

Fantasma4500 - 28-4-2014 at 09:04

oh man, im laughing you and im abit sorry about it

its a synthesis, you want to use just enough water for the hexamine to be dissolved in it
much easier to just dump the solutions in 2 plastic bags in the fridge and have it laying around for a day, then pour it together in a beaker in a ice bath, wash, and perhaps wash with acetone aswell.. recall something about this makes drying much easier