Plastique Explosive from Aspirin

Plastique Explosive from Aspirin

by lpumsunpiyush

This explosive is a phenol derivative. It is toxic and explosive compounds made from picric acid are poisonous if inhaled, ingested, or handled and absorbed through the skin. The toxicity of this explosive restricts it's use due to the fact that over exposure in most cases causes liver and kidney failure and sometimes death if immediate treatment is not obtained. That is why the picric acid may not be available easily.

This explosive is a cousin to T.N.T (say very close relative of it). But is more powerful than it's cousin. It is the first explosive used by militarily and was adopted in 1888 as artillery shell filler. Originally this explosive was derived from coal tar but thanks to modern chemistry one can make this one easily in approximately 3 hours from acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin purified)(headache reliever).

This procedure involves dissolving the acetylsalicylic acid in warm sulfuric acid and adding sodium or potassium nitrate, which nitrates the purified aspirin and the whole mixture drowned in water and filtered to obtain the final product. This explosive is called trinitrophenol. Care should be taken to ensure that this explosive is stored in glass containers. Picric acid will form dangerous salts when allowed to contact all metals except tin and aluminum. These salts are primary explosives and are super sensitive. They will also cause the detonation of the picric acid. If possible use chemical protected coatings for the containers. The picric acid is so also called trinitrophenol, also picronitric acid.

To make picric acid, obtain some aspirins. The cheaper brands also work the best. Powder the tablets to a fine consistency. To extract the acetylsalicylic acid from this powder, place this powder in warm methyl alcohol and stir vigorously. Not all of the powder will dissolve. Filter this powder out of the alcohol. Again, wash this powder that was filtered out of the alcohol with more alcohol but with a lesser amount than the extraction. Again filter the remaining powder out of the alcohol. Combine the now clear alcohol and allow it to evaporate in a shallow Pyrex dish. When the alcohol has evaporated there will be a small amount of crystals in the bottom of the Pyrex dish.

Take forty grams of these purified acetylsalicylic acid crystals and dissolve them in 150 ml of sulfuric acid (98%, specific gravity 1.8, can know about it with the help of some chemistry books) and heat to dissolve all the crystals. The heating can be done by any of those methods. When all the crystals have dissolved in the sulfuric acid, yes you have made phenolsulfonic acid. This was the first part.

In This next step will need to be done with a very good ventilation system. Slowly start adding 58 g of sodium nitrate or 77 g potassium nitrate to the acid mixture in the beaker very slowly in small portions with vigorous stirring. This process is called nitration of phenolsulfonic acid. A red gas (nitrogen trioxide) will be formed and this should be avoided. (Caution: I repeat, this red gas nitrogen trioxide should be avoided. Very small amounts of this gas are highly poisonous. Avoid breathing vapors, they are harmful). The mixture is likely to foam up and the addition should be stopped until the foaming goes down to prevent the overflow of the acid mixture in the beaker.

When the sodium or potassium nitrate has been added, the mixture is allowed to cool somewhat (30-40 degrees C). The solution should then be dumped slowly into twice its volume of crushed ice and water. Brilliant yellow crystals will form in the water. These should be filtered out and placed in 200 ml of boiling distilled water. This water is allowed to cool and the crystals are then filtered out of the water. These crystals are a very, very, pure trinitrophenol. The crystals are then powdered in small quantities to a fine powder consistency. These powdered crystals are then mixed with 10% by weight wax and 5% Vaseline which are heated to melting temperature and poured onto the crystals. The mixing is best done with gloved hands. This explosive should have a useful plasticity range of 0-40 degrees C. The detonation velocity should be around 7000 m/sec.the picric acids are also actively used for military purposes, and it is wide known. Some say it to be some method of preparing explosive from aspirin, as it is some CIA agent’s method. It is toxic to handle but simply made from common ingredients and is suitable for most demolition work requiring a moderately high detonation velocity. It is very suitable for shaped charges and some steel cutting charges. It is not as good an explosive as is C-4 or other R.D.X. (h.d.x) based explosives but it is much easier to make. Again this explosive is VERY toxic and should be treated with great care. The above method is an originally known method of producing picric acid from phenolsulfonic acid and about its nitration with alkali nitrates. AVOID HANDLING BARE HANDED, BREATHING DUST AND FUMES, AVOID ANY CHANCE OF INGESTION. AFTER UTENSILS ARE USED FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF THIS EXPLOSIVE RETIRE THEM FROM THERE WORK. THIS EXPLOSIVE, IF MANUFACTURED AS ABOVE, SHOULD BE SAFE IN STORAGE BUT WITH ANY HOMEMADE EXPLOSIVE, STORAGE IS NOT RECOMMENDED AND EXPLOSIVE SHOULD BE MADE UP AS NEEDED. AVOID CONTACT WITH ALL METALS EXCEPT ALUMINUM AND TIN.