Making Nitroglycerin

In this video I discuss and make a small quantity of the notorious compound Nitroglycerin. This was initially meant as a patreon-exclusive video, but I've gotten a bit behind on my uploads and figured I'd put this out here while I finish up my next release on pyridine.
(I did also speak to several of my patrons about it and most seem happy with having had this just as an early-release)

PLEASE READ: I do not recommend anyone attempt this process due to several significant hazards associated with the synthesis of this chemical.
I intentionally made a very small amount, but with compounds that can potentially undergo rapid decomposition, safety is a very fine line.
I find this synthesis to be an excellent educational model, which is the sole purpose of this video.

Considering the full synthesis is already outlined in detail on Wikipedia and Google Patents, along with over 15 different uploads detailing this process already actively here on YouTube, felt it reasonable to post this video.
That said, heed all warnings presented in this video, and check for the legality of this process by legal statutes in your local area before ever proceeding with anything shown on this channel.

POST RELEASE NOTES: I have no idea why I said that nitronium ions could be nucleophilic in this type of reaction. I believe I was trying to make some other point when I recorded this, not even sure what it was anymore but in any case I butchered it. Note that just like an EAS reaction nitronium is the electrophile here.

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[ChemicalForce]

Isn't it great that I get to admire all these dangerous chemicals without having to actually make them myself? 😀
Thank you!

[mplsmark]

Thanks for the explanation. Grandfather had heart disease and high blood pressure. Never understood why he swallowed an explosive as therapy .

[UKbrownSkinBoy]

"Amyl Nitrate - used for chest pains and nothing else"
I love you bro, that was classic.

[gorcbj]

I agree with your caution and moral dilemma regarding the topic at hand but am nonetheless grateful, it was a good example of how incredibly dangerous such a small amount can be and my first time being introduced to the concept of 'drowning' reactions like this.

[jdos]

The history of nitroglycerine in the petroleum industry is fascinating. Oil City, Pennsylvania has a museum that covers it. Moonlighting was one of the results of nitroglycerine process theft. What was so surprising to me were the descriptions of various nitroglycerine unintended detonations- not only is it powerful but extremely brisant, and people caught in the explosions were often reduced to... well, bits. Broken teeth and mist would be found at the site. And those accidents weren't rare.

[dottedboxguy]

huh, i'm not a patreon but i still got here, crazy

[Mark-uhzd]

Fun fact about sound like you alluded to…
The loud report of a firearm is mostly from the round exceeding the speed of sound. If you ever shoot suppressed, it’s a night and day difference between subsonic and SuperSonic rounds, even with a suppressor.
Many people think the majority of the report is the powder detonation.

[natew.]

Video mentions skill level needed is teenager. So tru. Me and my buddies attempted to make nitroglycerin when we were teenagers. The big mistake we made was adding the glycerine all at once to the nitric/sulferic acid mixture (instead of adding it dropwise). Reaction overheated and ran away and shot a flame column about 20 feet high and sounded like a rocket (luckily we were making it outside). We never tried that again!

And then there is mercury fulminate. We successfully made that on several occassions and I am damn lucky to be here writing this today after the several close calls we had. So the moral of this story is Please, Do Not Make Explosives at Home (or anywhere else, seriously).

[FullModernAlchemist]

You are correct about the sound of the explosion. It doesn’t propagate like a sound wave it’s simply a pressure front shoving the atoms of the gas out of the way.

[WizardZph]

I fabricated nitro-glycol from purified antifreeze at age 16. While it is slightly less powerful than regular nitroglycerin, it still produced a small sonic boom from a single drop on first strike with a mallet. I had basic plugs in my ear but not properly fitted and i lost hearing for at least 5min. Constant tinutitus for at least 5-10min put the fear of god into me and i thankfully did a controlled deflagration of the several grams of it i had made alongside the other >25g sample of acetone peroxide i had at room temp. Do not make explosives... i think my crude reagents at the time lead to less sensitive products, but besides that and my constant fear, i can't explain why I still have all my fingers... do not do this shit... it's next level, and i promise if you're watching this, there's a good chance you dont have what it takes/the same dumb luck i experienced to pull it off. Never work on batches above 1g, never work with equipment that produces shrapnel, always have emergency cooling and neutralizing baths (im talking dry ice and pre prepared quench solutions assuming 100% of your batch)

[halfabee]

I worked for the Admiralty Research Establishment in Holton Heath Dorset. During WW2 it was a cordite factory. Nitroglycerin was produced 24 hours a day. One night there was a panic and the air raid warning was sounded. The lab dumped the batch of Nitroglycerin into the chamber under the lab.
The following morning the director was upset as it was a false alarm he ordered the Nitroglycerin be recovered.
They started to pressurise the chamber. The Nitroglycerin had gone acidic which makes it even more unstable.
The chamber exploded destroying the lab above and killing the two workers.
The explosion broke windows in Poole town 4.25 miles away.

[劉樂山]

The nitroglycerin droplet you were hitting was actually a large amount.
When testing a primary explosive, I usually use the size of 1~4 grain of table salt.

[clarabisson]

0:35
this from his wiki

"As a young man, Nobel studied with chemist Nikolai Zinin; then, in 1850, went to Paris to further the work. There he met Ascanio Sobrero, who had invented nitroglycerin three years before. Sobrero strongly opposed the use of nitroglycerin because it was unpredictable, exploding when subjected to variable heat or pressure. But Nobel became interested in finding a way to control and use nitroglycerin as a commercially usable explosive; it had much more power than gunpowder."

would indicate that his brother died because he was interested in trying to stabilize, not the other way around

[rinalds]

There's some advice i heard on Explosions and fire. You don't have to use glassware with explosives, plastic cups will produce less deadly fragments. Of course the chemical resistance is also a concern, but worth considering.

[artcox]

1:43 yes Nobel appreciated the irony. Quote from him: “It sounds like the irony of fate that I have been prescribed nitroglycerine – internally. They have named it Trinitrin in order not to upset the pharmacists and the public.”

[-r-]

At work, we used to have large drums delivered by Nobel containing a paste. In case of a fire, using water would have dissolved the the additives yielding the active ingredient.
The concentration wasn’t very high but during maintenance dried residue of it could set off a really bad headache.. 😉

Thank you for sharing your experience, I consider it important to inform people instead of just telling them not to do it.

[InternetFiend]

Well I am on a list for sure after watching
1)How to make sodium azide
2)How to make fuming nitric acid
3)How to make nitroglycerine
in a row🥴🥴

[freedomtowander]

Hey guys glad we made it on the list together

[stocktonjoans]

When I was a teenager, I had absolutely zero chest pains, thanks Amyl Nitrate

[jewelhome]

Dark night of the soul before I ever mix up that stuff in my shop.