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Chronic toxic effects of I ,3,5-trinitrobenzene (TNB) in male and female Fischer rats were evaluated by feeding certified powdered laboratory chow diet supplemented with varied concentrations of TNB (0, 5, 60 and 300 mg/kg diet). The study was designed to accommodate three interim sacrifices (10 rats/group/sex) at 90, 180 and 365 days. The final sacrifice was performed after two years. All data related to these interim sacrifices are presented independently in appendices J to L. The calculated average TNB consumption for females was 0.23, 2.68 and 13.31 mg/kg/day and was 0.22, 2.64 and 13.44 mg/kg/day for males. Terminal body weights were significantly decreased in both sexes in the 300 mg/kg group. Relative spleen weights were decreased in both sexes in the 300 mg/kg group while brain weights were increased in females in this same group. Methemoglobin was increased in both sexes in the 300 mg/kg group while other hematological effects noted at the interim sacrifice times were not evident at two years. Histopathological examinations suggested treatment related changes in both sexes involving the kidneys (cytoplasmic/hyaline droplets) in the 60 and 300 mg/kg groups and the spleen (erythroid cell hyperplasia and pigment deposition) in the 300 mg/kg group. The cytoplasmic/hyaline droplets were characterized by immunohistochemistry as alpha-2u-globulin. These renal droplets were also noted at the interim sacrifice times. A no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) was established in this study at 2.68 mg/kg b.w./day for F-344 rats administered TNB for two years.

The objective of the work was to extend our basic knowledge of nitration, the fundamental reaction producing high energy nitrogen compounds. Studies included exploration of new areas of aliphatic electrophilic nitration, improved preparative routes to known high energy compounds such as TNT and TNB (1-3-5-trinitrobenzene) and safe new methods to prepare 0- and nitrogen compounds. (Author)

An analytical method was developed to determine the concentrations of HMX, RDX, TNB, DNB, Tetryl, TNT and 2,4-DNT in soil. The method involves extracting a 2-g sample with 50 mL of acetonitrile using an ultrasonic bath procedure for 18 hr. A 10-mL portion of the extract is diluted with 10 mL of water, filtered through a 0.45-micrometer Millex SR filter, and analyzed by RP-HPLC using a fixed 254-nm UV detector. Separations were obtained on an LC-18 column eluted with 50:50 water-methanol. Retention times were 2.55, 3.82, 5.16, 6.25, 7.04, 8.47 and 10.15 min for HMX, RDX, TNB, DNB, Tetryl, TNT and 2,4-DNT, respectively. Confirmation of analyte identities is recommended by RP-HPLC on an LC-CN column using 50:50 water-methanol. Kinetic studies using naturally contaminated soil indicated that equilibrium was achieved within 24 hr for the majority of soils and analytes studied. The method provides linear calibration curves over a wide range of concentrations. Reporting limits were conservatively estimated at 1.6, 1.8, 1.5, 0.5, 5.5, 0.8 and 0.8 micro grams/g for HMX, RDX, TNB, DNB, Tetryl, TNT and 2,4-DNT. Analytical precision was estimated at + or - 0.44, 0.51, 0.43, 0.13, 1.24, 0.27 and 0.20 micro grams/g, respectively, in the range of homogeneous variance near the detection limits. At higher concentrations the relative standard deviation was constant at 2% for HMX, RDX, DNB and TNB, 3% for TNT and 2,4-DNT, and 6% for Tetryl.

The temperature of an explosive placed into a furnace having any temperature cannot perceptibly exceed the boiling point of the explosive. If the temperature of the furnace is considerably higher than the boiling point, the maximum temperature in the condensed phase will differ significantly from the temperature of the furnace. Intensive local heating that leads to the development of a flame and ignition can therefore arise only in the vapor of the substance (or a mixture of the vapor with air and products of decomposition). Ignition may arise either at a considerable distance from the condensed phase or in the immediate vicinity of this phase within bubbles of foam that form during intensive decomposition. The phenomenon of the upper limit of thermal ignition is due first of all to the fact that at high temperatures under definite conditions the vapors of the explosive flow rapidly into the upper, relatively cold part of the test tube, and do not have time to ignite., Trans. from Institut Khimicheskoi Fiziki AN SSSR, pp613-622 1946.

This report describes the chromatographic analyses on thin layer plates of several polynitroaromatic explosives from their corresponding decomposition residues after heat treatment at elevated temperatures. Explosives studied include treatment at elevated temperatures. The explosives included: sym-trinitrobenzene (TNB), picramide (PAM), diaminotrinitrobenzene (DATB), aminohexanitrobiphenyl (PIPAM), aminohexanitrobiphenyl (DIPAM), nonanitro-m-terphenyl (NONA), dodecanitroquaterphenyl (DODECA), and hexanitrostilbene (HNS). The results of the analyses are believed to be accurate to within + or - 5%. (Author)