What is the full form of TNT

TNT: Trinitrotoluene

TNT stands for Trinitrotoluene. It is a pale yellow solid organic compound. It is widely used as an explosive as it quickly changes from a solid state into hot expanding gases; two moles of solid TNT can instantly change into fifteen moles of hot gases with some powdered carbon. Its IUPAC ID or name is 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene and the molecular formula is C7H5N3O6.

History

In 1863, TNT was first prepared by a German chemist Julius Wilbrand. Initially, it was used as a yellow dye for several years. Its explosive nature was discovered by another German chemist, Carl Haussermann, in 1891.

The Germany army adopted it as a filling for artillery shells in 1902. The British army was using lyddite-filed shells, later in 1907, it replaced lyddite with TNT.

Major Uses

• It is widely used as explosive for military and industrial applications.
• It is an ideal chemical explosive for demolitions.
• It is also used to produce charge transfer salt.

Preparation

In industries, the production of TNT involves three steps. In the first step, it is nitrated with a mixture of sulfuric acid and nitric acid which produces mononitrotoluene (MNT). Then MNT is separated and nitrated to dinitrotoluene (DNT). In the final step, TNT is produced by nitrating DNT using an anhydrous mixture of nitric acid and oleum. The crude TNT is stabilized by sulfitation; a process where crude TNT is treated with aqueous sodium sulfite solution to remove less stable isomers of TNT and other unwanted residues.