#nitroglycerine

From : https://www.medicinenet.com/nitroglycerin/article.htm Nitroglycerin belongs to a class of drugs called nitrates. Nitroglycerin is used for the treatment and prevention of angina caused by coronary artery disease. Nitroglycerin also is used intravenously to treat congestive heart failure associated with heart attack and high blood pressure during surgery.

Synthesized in 1846, nitroglycerin was first used to treat anginal attacks in 1879. It was granted FDA approval in 1938. Synthesized in 1846, nitroglycerin was first used to treat anginal attacks in 1879. It was granted FDA approval in 1938. From : https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/987903?form=fpf Nitrate medications are notorious for being able to trigger airport bomb detection scanners and to alert explosive-sniffing dogs, a reminder of the origins of this extremely useful medication.

Today NTG is a vasodilator, a very potent one that typically is administered sublingually to relieve and prevent attacks of angina.

If you take a large, random, sampling of middle-aged males today, you'll find a good many with symptoms of angina and the same was true 150 years ago. Interestingly, these men sometimes noticed that their chest pain would subside after handling the dynamite NTG used to blast rocks in mines and tunnels.

Collaborating with another physician, Fancourt Barnes, Murrell ran comparative studies of amyl nitrite and NTG for treating angina in the late 1870s and 1880s. Such studies hinted that NTG had a later peak onset but also a longer duration of action. This, plus easier administration through the sublingual route and far less toxicity, led to expanded use of NTG for angina during the first few decades of the 20th century.

Makes you wonder if Simoun and Basilio knew about this usage other than it being used as dynamite? Seems like they didn't but.. who knows? haha

"Yes, nitroglycerine!" Simoun repeated slowly, smiling coldly and contemplating the crystal flask with delight. "It is somewhat more than nitroglycerine! It is the concentrated tears, repressed hatred, injustices and wrongs. It is the final argument of the weak, the force against force, violence against violence..." (El Filibusterismo, Ch. 33 The Final Argument)

Once upon a time, there was a French politician. He had a little get-together at his house, invited a bunch of guests and allies and whatnot. He loved chocolate— so much so that he had a collection of private chocolate boxes that no one else was allowed to touch. One evening, he was having brandy and cigars with his inner circle, munching on chocolate and having a jolly time. He stood up to give a speech, when suddenly, his face turned purple, he collapsed and promptly died.

so in case you haven't guessed, this is an infodump on explosive chocolate, specifically this one used in Agatha Christie's The Chocolate Box.

*AHEM*

The poison used here is nitroglycerine, which has this chemical structure:

now if nitroglycerine sounds familiar, it is probably because of the fact that it can also do this:

Essentially nitroglycerine was discovered by this italian scientist called Ascanio Sobrero who added nitrate groups to glycerol because why the fuck not.

so, that was a bad idea.

The resulting compound was incredibly unstable and kept blowing up in inconvenient ways, until Albert Nobel (sound familiar? i hope so) found a way to stabilise it with silica/clay and create dynamite.

yep, so that was that. BOOM.

EXCEPT!

On the medical side, they discovered dilute nitroglycerine acted as a vasodilator, working as heart medicine. It essentially increased the diameter of your blood vessels so that people with high blood pressure would not have to pump excessively to provide the same amount of blood and helped slow down heart rate. Since glycerol was sweet, pharmacists often put this medication in...

yep, chocolate. They would put it in chocolate.

Going back to our lovely dead French politician, the detective deduced that it would have been the easiest thing in the world to hollow out his chocolates and fill it with tiny tablets, so much so that it would overdose him on heart medication. Not only that but the alcohol would also play a role in his death.

(since realistically speaking those tablets aren't lethal at all, you would need approximately 1.5 kg of tablets.) (agatha christie was not totally scientifically accurate, but enough to intrigue people)

And thus we have explosive chocolate.

Fun fact! Albert Nobel had heart issues but he was so traumatised by nitroglycerine that when his doctor prescribed him the tablets he flat-out refused to take them. and he died.