Picric Acid

picric acid

[′pik·rik ′as·əd]

(organic chemistry)

C₆H₂(NO₂)₃OH Poisonous, explosive, highly oxidative yellow crystals with bitter taste; soluble in water, alcohol, chloroform, benzene, and ether; melts at 122°C; used in explosives, in external medicines; to make dyes, matches, and batteries, and to etch copper.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Picric Acid

 

(or trinitrophenol), an aromatic nitro compound; it is a high explosive whose properties are similar to those of trinitrotoluene. Pour point, 129°C.

In the first quarter of the 20th century, picric acid was used in ammunition. However, its use has been limited because of the high mechanical sensitivity of its metal salts, which form readily (seePICRATES). Trinitrophenol is obtained by the nitration of phe-noldisulfonic acid using a mixture of nitric and sulfuric acids. It is also obtained from dinitrochlorobenzene, with dinitrophenol as an intermediate, and from benzene under the action of nitric acid and Hg(NO₃)₂.

REFERENCE

Orlova, E. Iu. Khimiia i tekhnologiia brizantnykh vzryvchatykh veshchestv, 2nd ed. Leningrad, 1973.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.