A chemical compound containing six nitrate groups bonded to a central molecule.
From 'hexa-' (six) + 'nitrate' (a salt of nitric acid), following systematic chemistry nomenclature. The term emerged in 19th-century organic chemistry as increasingly complex molecules were discovered.
Hexanitrate compounds are typically highly explosive—erythritol tetranitrate and similar compounds were used in dynamite and explosives, making the discovery of these six-nitrate compounds a major (and dangerous) milestone in industrial chemistry.
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