Manufacture

Materials needed:

40ml of 30% H2O2

30ml of 32% HCl

7 small Esbit tablets

10gm Sodium Bicarbonate

Distilled water

Note: I found the H2O2 at an online pharmacy. My HCl is Hiltons “Spirits of Salt” drain opener. I found two kinds of Esbit packages, one with 20 small tablets and one with 6 big tablets (see pictures) Sodium Bicarb is found at a pharmacy for stomach problems.

Dissolve 7 small Esbit (or 3 big tablets, sold as a box of 6) tablets into distilled water. Filter off the wax binder and boil off excess water. Let the hexamine dry for 24 hours, until you have a fine white powder.

Place the 40ml of 30%H2O2 into your reaction vessel, and Cool in the refrigerator. Than dissolve the hexamine into it.

Place the reaction vessel into an ice bad, and pour in the 30ml of 32% HCl (5ml at a time, because after each addition the temperature rises. 30ml should be enough after 25ml crystals start to form, pour in the other 5ml for sure. After the addition of the HCl crystals start to form, let it stand for 30-60 minutes.

Filter off the crystals and wash under tap water several times. Dissolve 10gm of Sodium Bicarbonate into 200ml of distilled water and mix it with the crystals, stir for about three minutes. Filter off the crystals again and let it dry for 24 hours.

Reaction:

C₆H₁₂N₄ + 3H₂O₂ à C₆H₁₂N₂O₆ + 2NH₃

Sources:

- Chemical structure, properties and analysis calculated by ChemDraw Ultra, CambridgeSoft Corporation.

- Explosivstoffe, Rudolf Meyer, 5. überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage, Verlag Chemie, 1979, Basel. Page 146-147

- The Chemistry and Powder of Explosives, Tenney L. Davis. Page 451-453