From: aankrom@nyx.cs.du.edu (Anthony Ankrom)
Subject: Re: RDX
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Date: Tue, 12 Jan 93 04:23:01 GMT

In article <C0q221.CMo@bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au> fernee@newton.physics.uq.oz.au
(Mark Fernee) writes:
>In article <1993Jan10.212112.18941@netcom.com>, obrien@netcom.com (No pa
king EXCEPT FOR BOB) writes:
>|> 
>|> Please excuse my ignorance, but I had understood hexamethyltetramine 
o be
>|> the substance I buy for my dry-fuel campstove, or "Esbit Cooker".  I 
aven't
>|> bought any for years, but it is small (about two cubic inches or less
 cakes
>|> of crumbly resin-like stuff, usually white with a bit of yellow color
if
>|> it's pretty old.  It lights easily with a match and burns quite slowl

>|> and fairly cleanly if the ventilation is good.  I believe this was st
ndard
>|> issue to soldiers of some WW2 armies.  A piece about 3" x 2" x 0.3" 
>|> (as I recall) burns for nearly half an hour (slightly quicker if brok
n)
>|> and is about enough to boil a quart of cold water.
>|> 
>|> More recently, I've acquired a few tiny cakes as fuel for a Stirling 
ngine
>|> kit from Edmund Scientific.
>|> 
>|> This stuff isn't very "pyrotechnic" by most people's standards.  If i
's
>|> not hexamethyltetramine, does any one know what it *is*?
>|> 
>|> I haven't been a regular reader of this group, but I'll watch for a w
ile 
>|> to see if anyone's familiar with this stuff.  If it *is* a form of th

>|> chemical described above, would it be a useful 'raw' material?
>|> 
>|> 	Bob
>
>Yes, what you have described is infact hexamethylenetetramine, a molecul

>with a tetrahedral structure formed from mixing a formaldehyde solution 
ith an
>ammonia solution. At the corner of the tetrahedral structure lurks a nit
ogen
>atom which is joined to a CH2 group along the sides. It is otherwise kno
n as
>Hexamine and Urotropine and is commonly used in organic chemistry and as

>heat tablets. It is available at both chemists and camping stores and
>is used in the manufacture of the explosives; RDX, HMX, HMTD and various
>other derivatives. All of these explosives are very powerful, some are
>very unstable and others are terribly carcinogenic.
>
>I don't know about RDX being the choice anarchists explosive. It is easy
to
>synthesise if you know what you're doing, but getting access to enough
>nitric acid (sg 1.5-1.52) can be a bit troublesome. It would take a
>very dedicated anarchist who can synthesise such an explosive in bulk.
>Anyway, where you see anarchist, read terrorist and their mainstay explo
ive
>would seem to be AN based such as ANFO. You can't beat ANFO in performan
e/
>cost ratio and it can be used in very large quantities (hundreds of kg) 
ith
>relative safety.
>
>Mark.
>


 With a little dedication, the required nitric acid can be had with just a
bit of sweat of the brow (providing it hasn't been singed :-). 
Concentrated sulfuric acid can be had at most hardware stores as Liquid
Fire drain opener. Potassium nitrate or Saltpetre can be found in several
places. Nitric acid can be easilly made by mixing the KNO3 with the H2SO4
and distilling off the HNO3. Bubbling a little formaldehyde gas through
the HNO3 might make it more effective in producing RDX provided the acid
is rather strong to begin with (this adds NO2 and makes it red fuming
nitric acid.).

St. Anthony

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