nitroglycerine

Flammable, explosive oil produced by the action of nitric and sulphuric acids on glycerol. Although poisonous, it is used in cardiac medicine. It explodes with great violence if heated in a confined space and is used in the preparation of dynamite, cordite, and other high explosives.

It was synthesized by the Italian Ascanio Soberro in 1846, and is unusual among explosives in that it is a liquid. Nitroglycerine is an effective explosive because it has low activation energy, and produces little smoke when burned. However, it was initially so reactive it was virtually unusable. Alfred Nobel's innovation was to purify nitroglycerine (using water, with which it is immiscible, to dissolve the impurities), and thereby make it more stable, and absorb it into wood flour to make dynamite.