The US Department of Defense requires an environmentally benign synthesis route for the manufacture of military grade trinitrotoluene (TNT) which eliminates the production of redwater arising from the sulfiting process for removing unsymmetrical trinitrotoluene isomers. QinetiQ has found that by using a novel nitrating system, N2O5 in dichloromethane, the proportion of meta-substituted nitrotoluenes can be reduced to 1.3-1.5%, instead of the 4-5% levels in current processes. Additional improvements have been ...
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