Erythritol Tetranitrate

Lab Notes:4/3/06
Please note that I started off copying a method found already tested.
Reactants used:

100ml (178g) H2SO4 (93%) (I have found that SOME H2SO4 is higher % than others.
I would digress and say that brands such as Rooto are 93 while others may be in
the 95-6 range. Remember this is surplus acid from various sources.)
61g NH4NO3 (VERY finely powdered)
20g C4-H10-O4 (Erythritol)
2000ml H2O ESU (Estimated Substance Used)
200g NaHCO3 ESU (Estimated Substance Used)

Equation:
H2SO4 + NH4NO3 --> HNO3 + NH4HSO4? (Not Sure)
C4H10O4 + 4HNO3 --> C4H6N4O12 + 4H2O

g (44.44ml) H2SO4 + 60g NH4NO3 --> 40g (28.57ml) HNO3 + 73.23g NH4HSO4? (I would
need a bit more H2SO4 since it's not concentrated therefore 50ml is good.)
19.52g C4-H10-O4 + 40g (28.57 ml) HNO3 --> 48.32g C4H6N4O12 + 11.52g H2O
-=*=-
04/10/06
---->This is the best one:
20gr Erythritol
60gr ammonium nitrate
110ml H2SO4 (93%)
Mix the solid nitrate and acid w/ magnetic stirring device until clear solution
is formed; cover with Al foil. Refrigerate. Maintain @ 20C. When COLD use
ice/water bath to maintain temp and add Erythritol about ½ gram at a time.
Solution will thicken quickly. Continue to stir w/ hand stirring. Then
refrigerate one hour. Yield will be approx 85% or about 40gr ETN !
Re-crystallize with etoh. Acetone is too soluble but both will suffice. Re-
crystallization is a major issue. What has proven itself is /14 acetone - 3/4
etoh. Methanol does not appear to be a useful solvent. Too strong is acetone;
dissolving Erythritol Tetranitrate to an extreme. When used in moderation it
will help the re-crystallization but will add a yellow when heat is applied.
Pure ethanol appears to be best but it takes a great deal of solvent to totally
dissolve the raw material. the object is to dissolve the raw Erythritol
Tetranitrate and then re-crystallize it without any acid in the crystal and with
some stabilizer such as dimethelamine. Unlike PETN, Erythritol Tetranitrate is
not as stable and needs the attention given MHN or other powdered nitric esters.
Performance wise it is on par with NG, PETN, or MHN; about 7000mps but it will
not match PETN for overall stability. It is close, if given proper re-
crystallization and stabilization. Far easier to make properly than MHN and it's
raw material much more readily available than PETN. A quick test of placing a
few milligrams on a steel anvil and striking it with a hammer will demonstrate
it's success and, of course, it's power. A bit the size of a match-head folded
in some foil and hit with a hammer will detonate with all the volume of a small
caliber pistol.

NOTE: I used differing weights of NH4NO3 and excess sulfuric acid; This had been
altered from the original percentages of this synch. The same goes with the
extra Erythritol, To improve yields should more nitric be produced, I lowered
the original weights (from 25 to 20 gr of Erythritol.

4/10 Procedure:
H2SO4 was chilled inside of a flask, in the freezer. After taking it out, the
procedure followed immediately. The chilled H2SO4 was measured out to be -10
degrees C. The flask was placed magnetic stir platform. NH4NO3 was added in
small portions, not letting the temperature jump higher than 15 degrees C. After
the full addition of the NH4NO3 I pulled out thermometer and noticed white
fumes, signifying that I had high % nitric, the addition of C4-H10-O4 (aka E)
began. The E was added slowly again not letting the temp jump over 15 degrees C
to reduce loss of possible nitric loss. The mixture was white with some NH4NO3
left over in it, but it dissolved after the addition of E. The flask was
measured at 5 degrees C right before E addition. The mix was left to nitrate for
55 minutes with stirring ever 5 minutes or so. The mix was thick and creamy.
This was dumped into a 400ml flask with water. The mix immediately became
cloudy, signs of a decent yield. This mixed solution was then poured SLOWLY into
a beaker of cold ice water. I was sure to wash the material with a solution of
baking soda repeatedly as I do not attempt to reutilize at the time of nitration
but always re-crystallize and at that time use other neutralization methods &
diphenylamine for stabilization. I added some more NaHCO3 to test for complete
neutralization (none occurred.) This was again dumped into water for removal of
any water-soluble stuffs. The ETN was then filtered through a large paper towel.
Drying was done in the free air on top of dry paper towels. There were some
problems though because the pot that held my filter was not big enough so I had
to do 3 filtrations, one of them worked very well with at least 15g of product.
The second one failed and my "neutralized mixture" ate right through the 3 paper
towels I was using for filtering. It had an estimated 15g on it. The third was a
re-filtration of the second and I got around 5-10g on it. The two filtered
products are drying. My 1st attempt w/ KNO3 was not nearly as good as the
NH4NO3. I made sure of not only the weight but ground it further in a coffee
mill. This produced a ultra fine powder that mixed very well. However it is to
be noted that even w/ a magnetic stir plate after a bit the mix was too heavy to
mix without a manual method.

Estimated (before filtration Yield):35+g of ETN

NOTES: Recrystalization issues

DATE: 4/12/06
The need for re-crystallization is undisputed. What was a question was if
another stabilizer besides dimethylamine is effective. DMA has been used
commercially with nitric esters for decades. Would another stabilizer produce
results similar? My options were betaine & Urea. The use of either introduced
impurities as my sources were not reagent to begin with. What became necessary
was to re-crystallize twice. The initial re-crystallization produced a product
that was off white in colour. Using the above “4/10 procedure” a yield of well
over 85% was easy time and again. The 4/10 procedure was scaled up 100% to a 40
gram Erythritol starting point. The dry weights were fantastic but the colour
was a question. Notice the copper penny against the white background to
understand hue (and bulk) of dry product. Understand that this is course, grainy
crystals. Not light and fluffy in any way. Similar in texture to rough raw
sugar. An EXCELLENT yield!
Although out of focus the colour indicates some need for refinement. What was
used for a simple impact test was a 3-5 mg amount placed inside of a fold of Al
foil and struck with a falling hammer on a steel anvil. The report was
shattering. Indicating a well nitrated product. ETN is very impact sensitive. I
believe it is well more sensitive that PETN but it’s initiation properties may
be somewhat less (DuPont, 1931). This was exposed to a warm environment for a
protracted period of days in an enclosure with a DMA patch used as a blue
indicator for nitrate loss. It appeared stable for 14 days @ 60C. It appeared
stable for 6 days @ 75 C.
Same material (ETN) after protracted temp exposure. Product appears stable and
maintains the same sensitivity. 3 – 5 mg when allowed a hammer fall (1.5 hammer)
produced the same results. Seemingly no more or less.
Weight for a 40 grams batch of Erythritol was 62.5 grams of ETN using the 4/10
procedure. After exposure to temp testing the weight was the same. (+ or - .001
gram). Care was maintained to use dry crystals to begin testing / measurement,
etc.
There are some important issues to remember – The nitrating acid was totally
mixed in a covered beaker until completely clear and then chilled to 0 C to
begin with. Thus the nitration was the dynamic that brought the material up to
20 C as the Erythritol was added. The Erythritol was added at .5 gr at a time
every 60 seconds during nitration. This whole set of experiments was held under
lab conditions with a magnetic stirring device in a salt / ice bath. After the
whole of the Erythritol was added the material was then chilled for 2 hours
prior to drowning. The drowning was the point wherein the Urea was added to the
drowning solution. With Urea it was mixed with the drown water. If DMA was used
it was mixed with ethyl acetate and that was added to the drown as it was
miscrable with water. However etoh could be substituted as could acetone which
is also miscrable with water.
Re-crystallization is perhaps one of the most important issues to the stability
of a solid nitrated material. With ETN acetone, Ethyl alcohol and methanol may
be used. Acetone is just too strong of a solvent. The acetone that is available
OTC is too impure to provide results that are not impaired by extraneous
material in the final product. Acetone re-crystallization is not a productive
effort. Mixing OTC (technical-industrial grade) acetone with alcohols adds
hydrocarbons to the final product. Alcohols appear to be the best solvent. When
a comparison of etoh to methanol is made the results appear to be in crystal
shape. Ethyl appears to make for platelets and some tiny needles but the
variance is wide. Comparison is made under a microscope @ 100x. methanol shows
more consistency and the crystals show a density not seen with ethanol. Both
provide crystals that are easily shaved in handling to the point of 1.6 – 1.8 gr
/ cc density levels. Higher density could easily be achieved via shaving. Below
is a double re-crystallization. That is the final product has been re-
crystallized twice; bringing about an almost clear crystal whose density is
fractionally higher and response is the same to that which has been re-
crystallized once. It appears to be of near total purity.

Loss level was .75 grams which may be completely appropriate to the impurities
contained in the original material.
Unfortunately the photographs are poor but the pictured material is course and
dense. During the experiments many pictures were taken of the material at
differing stages of it’s refinement. A note of interest is that the response to
impact stimuli did not change during it’s refinement. However when tested for
decomposition at it’s final stages it seems that the higher levels of purity
allow it to maintain it’s stability at longer levels of temp variance exposure.
Final test results indicate that the “white” product that had been re-
crystallized twice would withstand temps of 75 C + for a period of weeks. A far
greater exposure level than would occur in normal handling of this product.
The following pages are US patents 1691954 (original production ETN Frank Bergeim’s
work in 1928) and US patent 1744693 (DuPont’s pirate piece). I can have studied these
for quite awhile and believe that the only reason that ETN did not find a stronger place in
history is the price of Erythritol due to production methods of that era placed it out of
reach for industry to capitalize on what is essentially a more sensitive and more reactive
PETN. ETN’s reaction to electrical stimuli may make it a material of choice for a
secondary only det cap. Or an impact primer for small arms, etc, etc.