Explosive nitrated carbon compounds

Guncotton is trinitro-cellulose, or cellulose nitrate. The material is used as a propellant and as a blasting explosive. Guncotton burns at a lower temperature than gunpowder - a mixture of sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate - but produces several times the quantity of gas (comprising CO, CO₂, H₂ O, N₂), leaving almost no residue and little smoke.

Nitrated carbon compounds

A partially nitrated version of guncotton (pyroxylin) can be made easily and relatively safely in the laboratory by adding a nitrating mixture of sulfuric and nitric acids to naturally occurring cellulose - cotton wool. The resulting material suitably demonstrates the explosive nature of nitrated carbon compounds.