Methyl ethyl ketone peroxide

Methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKP), or 2-butanone peroxide, is an organic peroxide with explosive properties. It exist in three forms: monomeric, dimeric and trimeric, dimeric being the most powerful explosive (and least shock sensitive) of the three. Its main use is as a catalyst for crosslinking specific polymers. Unlike its cousin acetone peroxide, MEKP is a liquid not a solid. It's also a lot safer than acetone peroxide and a lot less shock-sensitive.

I made some dimeric MEKP a few days ago DO NOT TRY THIS YOURSELF

I started by adding 25ml of methyl ethyl ketone to a 100ml beaker. I then poured in 30ml of 30% hydrogen peroxide. I placed the beaker of hydrogen peroxide/methyl ethyl ketone into an icebath. I left it in the icebath for 10 mins then poured in 15ml of concentrated (12M) hydrochloric acid (this serves as the catalyst). After the acid addition, the reaction mixture turned quite cloudy, due to suspended droplets of product. The mixture was left to stand overnight in the icebath. In the morning the mixture had separated into two layers (MEKP being the top layer). This mixture was poured into a 1L beaker containing 200ml of saturated sodium bicarbonate solution and vigorously stirred for 3 minutes. The mixture was then left to stand for 2 mins.

During this time, droplets of  MEKP were observed collecting and clumping together on the bottom of the flask. These liquid clumps of MEKP were extracted using a syringe and placed in a petri dish to dry.

After this I was left with fairly anhydrous dimeric MEKP (with some monomeric contamination).
I tried a few detonations with it as well. Here's some images:


                                            









left = anhydrous MEKP & right = MEKP deflagration

2 C4H8O + 2 H2O2 ===HCl==> C8H16O4 + 2 H2O