Nitroglycerin

[prolemur]

What are the functional groups within this compound. It think it is just hydrocarbons and nitros. Like this

 

 

And also I'm guessing that it will be non-polar because although some bonds between oxygen and carbon are polar, but is the whole structure not symmetrical.

[Trik'Stari]

All I know is that it's f**king volatile as f**k

[Syntaxvgm]

Scary thing is some heart-attack prone people carry this stuff.

Not just in pill form liquid form.

Idk how it works.

[SMURG]

Yeah the nitrates are the functional groups.

As for polarity it has high dipole potential due to all those double bonded nitrogens, but the equal placement reduces solubility somewhat. I'd say it is a polar molecule though because you'll get an uneven distribution of electrons.

 

All I know is that it's f**king volatile as f**k

 

Technically, "volatile" just means it vapourises quickly/easily. It doesn't actually have anything to do with it being explosive

 

Scary thing is some heart-attack prone people carry this stuff.
Not just in pill form liquid form.
Idk how it works.

It works because nitrates dilate blood vessels basically. As you can see, nitroglycerine is a dense source of these nitrates so it's a pretty effective treatment for angina.

Oh the joys of being the forum's resident biomedical scientist...

[LukaP]

What are the functional groups within this compound. It think it is just hydrocarbons and nitros. Like this

 

 

 

And also I'm guessing that it will be non-polar because although some bonds between oxygen and carbon are polar, but is the whole structure not symmetrical.

basically the active groups are where the hydrogen bonds with either nitrogen or oxygen, because there you can either get a hydrogen intermolecular bond to have it bond with other nitromolecules, or you get a reduction/exchange with oxygen, which is the explosion bit.

 

 

Scary thing is some heart-attack prone people carry this stuff.

Not just in pill form liquid form.

Idk how it works.

those are stabilised tho. so its not dangerous. nitro is in TNT too, but you dont see that exploding about do you

[Trik'Stari]

Yeah the nitrates are the functional groups.

As for polarity it has high dipole potential due to all those double bonded nitrogens, but the equal placement reduces solubility somewhat.

 

 

Technically, "volatile" just means it vapourises quickly/easily. It doesn't actually have anything to do with it being explosive

 

It works because nitrates dilate blood vessels basically. As you can see, nitroglycerine is a dense source of these nitrates so it's a pretty effective treatment for angina.

Oh the joys of being the forum's resident biomedical scientist...

Ok, unstable, better?

[LukaP]

Ok, unstable, better?

explosively unstable. iirc you can burn that shit and itll be fine, just dont move it about too much, or make it change shape

[Trik'Stari]

explosively unstable. iirc you can burn that shit and itll be fine, just dont move it about too much, or make it change shape

so, if one was to put it in a centrifuge like in the movie Hollowman?

[SMURG]

basically the active groups are where the hydrogen bonds with either nitrogen or oxygen, because there you can either get a hydrogen intermolecular bond to have it bond with other nitromolecules, or you get a reduction/exchange with oxygen, which is the explosion bit.

 

 

those are stabilised tho. so its not dangerous. nitro is in TNT too, but you dont see that exploding about do you

It's the carbon bonding - hydrogen can only make one bond

[prolemur]

It's the carbon bonding - hydrogen can only make one bond

H - 1

O - 2

N - 3

C - 4

 

So would my picture be accurate?

[SMURG]

H - 1

O - 2

N - 3

C - 4

 

So would my picture be accurate?

Well it's close enough. A particularly pedantic individual could argue the groups start with the oxygens and they should therefore only fall under the blue line and not the orange one, but you've identified them correctly.

The remaining backbone isn't a halo(geno)alkane though since there's no halogen present. It's just an alkane.

[prolemur]

Well it's close enough. A particularly pedantic individual could argue the groups start with the oxygens and they should therefore only fall under the blue line and not the orange one, but you've identified them correctly.

The remaining backbone isn't a halo(geno)alkane though since there's no halogen present. It's just an alkane.

Ah I get it. So this should do it! http://prntscr.com/4lnoup

[SMURG]

Ah I get it. So this should do it! http://prntscr.com/4lnoup

Yeah, that's it.