ChemInform Abstract: Clean Nitrations Using Dinitrogen Pentoxide (N₂O₅) — A UK Perspective

Abstract

Review: 174 refs.

Electrochemical Methods for Synthesis of Energetic Materials and Remediation of Waste Water

“…N 2 O 5 has been shown to be a versatile and relatively benign nitrating agent, and is considered to be a greener alternative to mixed acids in some situations [27,28]. In organic solvents, N 2 O 5 is a mild, selective nitrating agent, while the N 2 O 5 /HNO 3 system has similar nitrating power to mixed acids but without the disadvantage of containing sulfuric acid.…”

“…In this way, the electrochemical synthesis could form the basis of either reagent system: the powerful, unselective N 2 O 5 /HNO 3 mixture; or the mild, selective N 2 O 5 / organic solvent system. An assessment of the relative production costs has been carried out [27] and this analysis predicted that for relatively small-scale production, the ozonation process would be more economical, due partly to the cost of extracting N 2 O 5 from nitric acid. But for large-scale production (upwards of ≈100 tonnes/year), the much lower cost of the nitric acid feedstock for electrolysis, compared to N 2 O 4 for ozonation, made the electrolytic method the preferred option.…”

“…Many more novel and improved syntheses have been reported that involve the use of N 2 O 5 in organic solvents, and a great number of EM have been prepared in this way [27,28]. A cleaner synthesis of TNT was reported, via nitration of toluene using N 2 O 5 in dichloromethane, which limits the formation of unsymmetrical TNT isomers to less than 2%.…”