Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 9, 2025

Preparation of Expanded Chitin Foams and their Use in the Removal of Aqueous Copper
Published on: February 27, 2021
Nitration of Chitin Monomer: From Glucosamine to Energetic Compound
Hui Dou1, Yuxuan Zheng2, Manyi Qu3
1Experimental Center of Advanced Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China.
Abstract:
The nitration of chitin monomer in a mixture of nitric acid and acetic anhydride was conducted and a highly nitrated (3R,4R,6R)-3-acetamido-6-((nitrooxy)methyl)tetrahydro-2H-pyran-2,4,5-triyl trinitrate (1) was obtained. Its structure was fully characterized using infrared spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and X-ray diffraction. Compound 1 possesses good density (ρ: 1.721 g·cm-3) and has comparable detonation performance (Vd: 7717 m·s-1; P: 25.6 GPa) to that of nitrocellulose (NC: Vd: 7456 m·s-1; P: 23 GPa; Isp = 239 s) and microcrystalline nitrocellulose (MCNC; Vd: 7683 m·s-1; P: 25 GPa; Isp = 250 s). However, Compound 1 has much lower impact sensitivity (IS: 15 J) than the regular nitrocellulose (NC; IS: 3.2 J) and MCNC (IS: 2.8 J). Compound 1 was calculated to exhibit a good specific impulse (Isp: 240 s), which is comparable with NC (Isp: 239 s) and MCNC (Isp: 250 s). By replacing the nitrocellulose with Compound 1 in typical propellants JA2, M30, and M9, the specific impulse was improved by up to 4 s. These promising properties indicate that Compound 1 has a significant potential as an energetic component in solid propellants.
Related Concept Videos
Nitriles to Ketones: Grignard Reaction
The mechanism begins with a nucleophilic attack by the Grignard...
Preparation of Nitriles
2° Amines to N-Nitrosamines: Reaction with NaNO2
Oligosaccharide Assembly
Multiple sugar molecules that may or may...
Peptidoglycan Synthesis

