dinitrophenol

     Dinitrophenol is a very stable high explosive similar to TNT. There are several isomers of dinitrophenol, but the most useful and easiest to make is 2,4-dinitrophenol. Dinitrophenol is rarely used alone as an explosive, but rather it is used in compositions with other high explosives, mostly for shells. While more stable than TNT it has a lower detonation velocity. Dinitrophenol forms many explosive salts with certain metal compounds that are described herein. Dinitrophenol is also an extremely deadly compound. It can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin. It raises the body temperature and will kill you. This interesting side effect is due to a massive increase in metabolism that forces the body to burn fat. For this reason it was the first prescribed drug for obesity starting in the 1930’s, but was banned shortly thereafter. It made a resurgence in the 1990’s among body builders, and is still used today. The problem is because it raises metabolism so much your body produces an excessive amount of heat, and this is what kills you. Take too much and you will fry your organs. However, one can lose over 2 pounds of fat a day or more if you are careful and drink lots of water. Dinitrophenol is also a pesticide and a fungicide sold under the trade name Chemox PE. It is most often used to control citrus red mites. Various dinitrophenol derivatives have been made, but are all banned due to mutagenic properties on fetuses.

CHEMICALS	APPARATUS
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     Synthesis 1: Prepare fresh potassium methoxide by adding 0.8 g of potassium metal to 5 mL of anhydrous methanol. Prepare a solution of 1 g of 2,2,4,4-tetranitrodiphenyl ether in 10 mL of dimethylformamide in a 25-mL beaker, and then add the potassium methoxide. Keep the reaction mixture at 25 C for 10 minutes and then add to a beaker containing 50-75 mL of water. A precipitate of dinitroanisole will form. Allow several minutes for it to fully precipitate and to settle. Collect this material by filtering and allow it to dry. To the liquid filtrate add enough hydrochloric acid to make the solution slightly acidic to precipitate dinitrophenol, which can be collected by filtration and allowed to dry. Yield of dinitroanisole is 95%, yield of dinitrophenol is 76%. For more information on 2,4-dinitroaniline as well as an additional synthesis please see its section here. Synthesis 2: Prepare a solution of 1 g of 2,2,4,4-tetranitrodiphenyl ether in 10 mL of dimethylformamide in a test tube and bubble gaseous ammonia through the solution for 15 minutes while maintaining a temperature of 25 C. The reaction is then poured into a beaker containing 50-75 mL of water. A precipitate of dinitroaniline will form. Allow several minutes for it to fully precipitate and to settle. Collect this material by filtering and allow it to dry. To the liquid filtrate add enough hydrochloric acid to make the solution slightly acidic to precipitate dinitrophenol, which can be collected by filtration and allowed to dry. Yield of dinitroaniline is 85%, yield of dinitrophenol is 65%. An alternative to this process is to use only 0.5 g of 2,2,4,4-tetranitrodiphenyl ether in dimethylformamide and to use 0.28 g of 25% aqueous ammonia instead of gaseous ammonia. The mixture is sealed in a pressure reaction vessel and heated to 100 C for 15 minutes at a pressure of 4 to 5 atm. Yield of dinitroaniline is 90%, yield of dinitrophenol is 65%.

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