Wikipedia : Acetone Peroxide

Wikipedia : Acetone Peroxide

as of August 21, 2006

Acetone peroxide (triacetone triperoxide, peroxyacetone, TATP, TCAP) is an organic peroxide and a primary high explosive. It takes the form of a white crystalline powder with a distinctive acrid smell.

It is highly susceptible to heat, friction, and shock. For its instability, it has been called the "Mother of Satan".[1] It has perhaps sprung into notoriety due to its alleged use in the July 2005 London bombings and has also been reported as the explosive favored by suspects arrested on August 10, 2006 who allegedly intended to destroy airplanes flying from the United Kingdom to the United States.[2]

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The extreme shock, heat, and friction sensitivity are due to the instability of the molecule. Big crystals, found in older mixtures, are more dangerous, as they are easier to shatter - and initiate - than small ones.

Many people have been killed or permanently injured by accidents with acetone peroxide. It is widely used by people who want to make homemade explosives because of its low cost and ease of manufacture. They may be unaware of its extreme sensitivity; or they make it anyway because it is cheap and can be made in a refrigerator.

There is a common myth that the only "safe" acetone peroxide is the trimer, made at low temperatures: "If one is making tricycloacetone peroxide, the temperature must be less than 10 °C at all times, otherwise the product formed will be dicycloacetone peroxide, which is so unstable and sensitive that it has no uses in the field of explosives: dicycloacetone peroxide has been known to explode spontaneously." [citation needed] In reality, the acid-catalyzed peroxidation of acetone always produces a mixture of dimeric and trimeric forms.

The trimer is the more stable form, but not much more so than the dimer. All forms of acetone peroxide are very sensitive to initiation. Organic peroxides are sensitive, dangerous explosives. The military does not use them because there are many much better alternatives. Even for people who synthesize homemade explosives, there are many far safer alternatives. Even nitroglycerin is not nearly as sensitive as acetone peroxide.