The Secretary of State for Defence in Her Britannic Majesty's Government

John Michael Jenkins

Kenneth John Holloway

George William Taylor

Leslie Raymond Bates

Silver and mercury 5-nitrotetrazole salts are prepared by forming an acid solution of a complex of cupric 5-nitrotetrazole with an aliphatic chelating amine and adding to the acid solution a solution of a soluble silver or mercury salt. The silver or mercury 5-nitrotetrazole salt is precipitated and filtered off. The cupric 5-nitrotetrazole amine complex may first be decomposed by reacting with a mixture of nitric acid and a nitrite and the silver or mercury salt solution then added to precipitate the corresponding 5-nitrotetrazole salt. The silver and mercury nitrotetrazole salts are useful as explosives.

Production of 5-nitrotetrazole salts

A process for the preparation of .alpha. normal lead styphnate by reacting at an elevated temperature an aqueous solution containing lead cations with a solution containing styphnate ions in the presence of a mineral acid present in the range about 1 to about 15 grammes of mineral acid to 1 liter of the solution containing the styphnate ions.

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Chingford, United Kingdom

John Michael Jenkins