Picric acid
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Description
A yellow acid dye that was prepared in 1771 by Woulfe by treating indigo with nitric acid. Picric acid had early use as a textile dye for wool and silk, but it was quickly learned that picric acid had poor washfastness and was explosive. As a textile colorant, it was replaced by naphthol dyes by the late 1800s. However, it was still used as an explosive until it was replaced by the less powerful, but safer, trinitrotoluene (TNT) in 1902.
Synonyms and Related Terms
2,4,6-trinitrophenol; CI 10305; acide picrique (Fr.); ácido pícrico (Esp., Port.); 1,3,5-trinitrophenol; TNP; carbozitic acid; carbozotic acid; picronitric acid; phenol trinitrate; Melinite
Risks
- Slightly soluble in cold water. Very soluble in alcohol, ether and hot water.
- Flammable solid. Flash point = 150 C. Explosive at 300C. Also explosive with friction or shock when dry.
- Harmful by ingestion, inhalation, and skin absorption.
- Keep away from metals as metal salts are more sensitive to explosion.
- Fisher Scientific: SDS
Physical and Chemical Properties
- Soluble in water, ethanol, ether
- Composition = C6H3(NO2)3O (mol. wt. = 229.11 g/ml)
- CAS = 88-89-1
- Melting Point = 122 C (burns after melting with a sooty flame and characteristic whistling noise)
- Density 1.77 g/ml
Resources and Citations
- E. Hagan, I. Castro-Soto, M. Breault, et al. The lightfastness of early synthetic organic dyes. Herit Sci 10, 50 (2022).
- A.Scharff, "Synthetic dyestuffs for textiles and their fastness to washing" in ICOM Preprints, Lyon, 1999. p.654-660.
- Wikipedia: Picric acid Accessed April 2026