Hydrochloric Acid → Pentaerythritol, trinitrate

Participants

Reaction Steps

Pentaerythritol acetate trinitrate (2.0 grams, 0.006 mol) was dissolved in 20 ml of acetone and added to a solution of 332 mg of NaOH dissolved in 10 ml of water. To this mass was added 5 ml of ethanol to effect solution. The solution was stirred at room temperature for 30 minutes whereupon 1N HCl was added to bring the pH of the solution to approximately 7. The volatiles were removed under vacuum and the remaining liquid was extracted twice with ether. The combined ether extracts were washed with brine and concentrated. The mixture was purified by flash chromatography (1:1, ether:hexane) to isolate a product of Rf =0.5. About 1.1 gram of pentaerythritol trinitrate was isolated as a colorless oil.

Provenance & Evidence