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trinitrophenol molecule by Iomesus
In 2006 I was driving from the highly interesting Naracoorte Caves in South Australia to Melbourne. I came across an area where a bush fire had scorched the trees, some time before.
There were loads of weird (to me, a visitor) columnar plants growing throughout the sparse bush.
They are Xanthorrhoea, which were harvested in the past to make Botany Bay Gum. Just before the Great War, the gum was suddenly in demand by the Germans. It can be nitrated to make 246 trinitrophenol, or picric acid.
The Sydney Morning Herald, 26 September 1936
The Chemical gazette 1859, Volume 17 - Page 136
A note to any unstable folk contemplating the manufacture of unstable chemicals - Picric acid can be made by much easier & cheaper means, without killing any of these remarkable botanical curiosities.
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Unrelated to this post, below is an example of
eclectic science esoterica
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