Into a 2-L round-bottomed flask dissolve 106.1 g of 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid in 400 mL of 100% sulfuric acid containing 23-24% dissolved sulfur trioxide.  After adding the dinitrobenzoic acid, stir in 480 mL of dichloroethane.  Slowly add 37 g of sodium azide in small portions, with stirring, while keeping the temperature below 25 C.  Heat the mixture under reflux for 4 hours, and then allow it to cool to room temperature.  Decant off as much of the dichloroethane as possible and pour the remaining mixture into a bucket containing 9 L of ice and water.  This will cause the product to precipitate as yellow crystals.  Filter to collect the crystals, wash them with cold water until no trace of acid remains, and allow to dry in the open.  Final yield of 3,5-dinitroaniline is about 80 g or 88%.

While a good faith effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of all scientific information presented on this page, the possibility exists that some errors have invaded the machine. Furthermore, there may be certain omissions of physical properties, reaction conditions, necessary equipment, storage and handling requirements, and critical safety data. As with any scientific endeavor, especially chemistry, the necessary safety precautions should be observed at all times.

I do not allow errors to persist on my website once they have been discovered, but I need your help to find them. If you observe an error in any procedure, or a critical omission of essential safety precautions, and you have a valid reference that I can independently verify to back up your claim, please contact me via the error reporting form. If there are omissions in this procedure, such as a missing boiling point, density, etc., please contact me if you can fill in the blanks. I am also interested in receiving any alternate methods, or improvements in the procedure to synthesize this compound. If you are interested in submitting your own information please use the user submission area.

If you have comments, additions, clarifications, or observations that you wish to add about this compound and its method of synthesis, post them on The Forum using the thread below . You must be a registered member of The Forum to make posts, which is free and easy to do. The rules of this commenting thread are different from the regular rules of The Forum. This thread is for additions to this page only, no questions or remarks are allowed that do not contribute to the scientific information of this compound are allowed. To that end all posts to this thread will be moderated.