PETN homologs

High purity nitrate esters of the pentaerythritols can be successfully synthesized from correspondingly high purity reagents. The latter are not commercially available, but may be purified through molecular distillation and/or fractional crystallization from xylene. The isolated products are ultimately saponified to reagents of high purity. The nitration of high purity pentaerythritols using 97-100% nitric acid proceeds smoothly resulting in yields of the corresponding nitrate esters which are nearly quantitative. Thin layer chromatography (TLC) indicates numerous satellite impurities present in all the pentaerythritol-tetranitrate (PETN) homologs with the exception of ultrapure PETN itself. Separation and isolation of these contaminants, from a high impurity concentrate, was achieved by liquid chromatography. IR spectra of these components suggests these compounds are the various homologs and pentaerythryl ethers with a mixture of hydroxyl and nitrate functional groups