Acetone Peroxide Synthesis
There are many websites out there describing the synthesis of acetone peroxide. Following the theme of my website I am simply documenting the procedure I follow. And so, it may not be the exact same as other procedures floating around. Right then, with that out of the way here's a brief word on acetone peroxide.
Acetone peroxide (an organic peroxide) is a primary explosive that is easily produced, but is quite dangerous. Without getting into technical statistics, it is very sensitive and not something to mess around with. I suggest looking around and reading up a bit on this to gain some knowledge. And without further ado, here is my process.
The materials needed are quite simple to obtain. They are hydrogen peroxide, acetone, and an acid to be used as the catalyst. The use of a tin (IV) chloride catalyst will be discussed later. I have used hydrogen peroxide at concentrations of 3%, 6%, and 35%. The first two were purchased at pharmacies and the 35% from a hydroponics supplier. The acetone and acids (I've used sulfuric and hydrochloric) were purchased at a hardware store. These chemicals are all listed on the chemicals page.
With 3% and 6% H2O2 I would usually use as is without concentrating further (by boiling or freezing), but now I just use 35% H2O2. With the 35% H2O2, I'll usually use around 25 ml of H2O2 and 30 ml of acetone or slight variations thereof. Although stoichiometric ratios would be about 25 ml H2O2 to 21 ml acetone, I use some excess acetone.
These are prechilled, mixed, and chilled again to near 0 Celsius (in a fridge/freezer) and at this point the acid addition can take place. With lower concentrations of H2O2 I would add H2SO4 until the solution turned cloudy, all the while watching that the temperature remained around 5 Celsius. With the 35% H2O2, I use around 5-10 ml of HCl again while keeping close check on the temperature. Using H2SO4 with the 35% H2O2 leads to quite a bit of heat being evolved. While some use an icebath, I don't and just keep a watch on the temperature, sticking the solution into the fridge if the temperature starts rising too much.
This is then left in the fridge for anywhere from a few hours until 24 hours. At this point the precipitate (AP) is filtered and washed with water and then washed with a sodium bicarbonate solution. It can be washed with some rubbing alcohol or methanol to help speed the drying, but watch out for dissolving. The acetone peroxide is then left out to dry before use. It generally will not detonate properly if used wet.
Just a quick word on the use of tin (IV) chloride as a catalyst in the reaction. Use of this catalyst results in formation of the tetrameric form of acetone peroxide which is a (relatively) stronger and safer form. This is preferred is you have the SnCl4 to use. There is a pdf floating around that describes this method. It's a good read.
I have taken down the AP yields page and I am instead placing the pictures here. These pictures are from using 6% H2O2.
