Although many chemists and chemical engineers consider nitration processes as mature, if not ancient, considerable new information has been obtained in the last 10-15 years that clarifies the chemistry and indicates methods to obtain previously unattainable or hard to attain nitration products. New and improved nitration processes have also been developed that minimize production costs and promise reduced safety hazards. Even more information pertaining to the nitrations can be expected in the near future.Nitration reactions have been investigated for many years in the laboratory, and numerous nitration products are produced commercially. Some organic compounds nitrated in large quantities include aromatics (such as toluene, benzene, phenol, and chlorobenzene), alcohols, glycols, glycerine, aromatic amines, and paraffins. Several nitrated products are important high explosives including trinitrotoluene (TNT), picric acid, nitroglycerine, nitrocellulose, and RDX. Dinitrotoluene (DNT) is another nitrated product of major importance. It is converted to toluene diisocynates that are then used to produce polyurethane foams, elastomers, fibers, and varnishes. Aniline is produced from nitrobenzene formed by nitration of benzene. Several nitroparaffins are produced commercially by the vapor-phase nitration of propane. Although the term nitration is often restricted to reactions involving organic compounds, the production of ammonium nitrate from ammonia and nitric acid is an example of the nitration of an inorganic compound
Chemistry of NitrationAromatics, alcohols, glycols, glycerine, and amines are often nitrated by an ionic mechanism using acid mixtures (containing nitric acid and a strong acid such as sulfuric acid). Hughes, Ingold, et al. (1) indicated that nitronium ions (NO^'s) present in the acid mixture attack these organic molecules to form an unstable complex. When a proton is ejected from this complex, the nitrated hydrocarbon is 0097-6156/96/0623-0001$15.00/0