Nitrobenzene: Benzene Nitrated with Mixed Acid, Cain 1919

Mixed nitric and sulfuric acid run slowly into stirred, cooled benzene turns it into nitrobenzene, the oil that becomes aniline. Cain (1919) gives the works charge: 500 gallons of benzene, 5,000 lb nitric acid, 6,600 lb sulfuric acid, kept at 40–50 °C and finally 60 °C. Let it get too cold and the reaction can start with explosive violence. The picture: our diagram of the nitration.