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Synthesis of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) Using Flow Chemistry
This paper describes the nitration of 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) and its conversion to 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) at a gram scale with the use of a fully automated flow chemistry system. The conversion of DNT to TNT traditionally requires the use of highly hazardous reagents like fuming sulfuric acid...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7465666/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32781765 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules25163586 |
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author | Kyprianou, Dimitris Berglund, Michael Emma, Giovanni Rarata, Grzegorz Anderson, David Diaconu, Gabriela Exarchou, Vassiliki |
author_facet | Kyprianou, Dimitris Berglund, Michael Emma, Giovanni Rarata, Grzegorz Anderson, David Diaconu, Gabriela Exarchou, Vassiliki |
author_sort | Kyprianou, Dimitris |
collection | PubMed |
description | This paper describes the nitration of 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) and its conversion to 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) at a gram scale with the use of a fully automated flow chemistry system. The conversion of DNT to TNT traditionally requires the use of highly hazardous reagents like fuming sulfuric acid (oleum), fuming nitric acid (90–100%), and elevated temperatures. Flow chemistry offers advantages compared to conventional syntheses including a high degree of safety and simpler multistep automation. The configuration and development of this automated process based on a commercially available flow chemistry system is described. A high conversion rate (>99%) was achieved. Unlike established synthetic methods, ordinary nitrating mixture (65% HNO(3)/98% H(2)SO(4)) and shorter reaction times (10–30 min) were applied. The viability of flow nitration as a means of safe and continuous synthesis of TNT was investigated. The method was optimized using an experimental design approach, and the resulting process is safer, faster, and more efficient than previously reported TNT synthesis procedures. We compared the flow chemistry and batch approaches, including a provisional cost calculation for laboratory-scale production (a thorough economic analysis is, however, beyond the scope of this article). The method is considered fit for purpose for the safe production of high-purity explosives standards at a gram scale, which are used to verify that the performance of explosive trace detection equipment complies with EU regulatory requirements. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7465666 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-74656662020-09-04 Synthesis of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) Using Flow Chemistry Kyprianou, Dimitris Berglund, Michael Emma, Giovanni Rarata, Grzegorz Anderson, David Diaconu, Gabriela Exarchou, Vassiliki Molecules Article This paper describes the nitration of 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) and its conversion to 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) at a gram scale with the use of a fully automated flow chemistry system. The conversion of DNT to TNT traditionally requires the use of highly hazardous reagents like fuming sulfuric acid (oleum), fuming nitric acid (90–100%), and elevated temperatures. Flow chemistry offers advantages compared to conventional syntheses including a high degree of safety and simpler multistep automation. The configuration and development of this automated process based on a commercially available flow chemistry system is described. A high conversion rate (>99%) was achieved. Unlike established synthetic methods, ordinary nitrating mixture (65% HNO(3)/98% H(2)SO(4)) and shorter reaction times (10–30 min) were applied. The viability of flow nitration as a means of safe and continuous synthesis of TNT was investigated. The method was optimized using an experimental design approach, and the resulting process is safer, faster, and more efficient than previously reported TNT synthesis procedures. We compared the flow chemistry and batch approaches, including a provisional cost calculation for laboratory-scale production (a thorough economic analysis is, however, beyond the scope of this article). The method is considered fit for purpose for the safe production of high-purity explosives standards at a gram scale, which are used to verify that the performance of explosive trace detection equipment complies with EU regulatory requirements. MDPI 2020-08-06 /pmc/articles/PMC7465666/ /pubmed/32781765 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules25163586 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Kyprianou, Dimitris Berglund, Michael Emma, Giovanni Rarata, Grzegorz Anderson, David Diaconu, Gabriela Exarchou, Vassiliki Synthesis of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) Using Flow Chemistry |
title | Synthesis of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) Using Flow Chemistry |
title_full | Synthesis of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) Using Flow Chemistry |
title_fullStr | Synthesis of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) Using Flow Chemistry |
title_full_unstemmed | Synthesis of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) Using Flow Chemistry |
title_short | Synthesis of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) Using Flow Chemistry |
title_sort | synthesis of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (tnt) using flow chemistry |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7465666/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32781765 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules25163586 |
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