It is used in the manufacture of dyes, pigments, inks, medicines, and explosives such as lead styphnate.

It is itself a low-sensitivity explosive, similar to picric acid, but explodes upon rapid heating.

[2] It was discovered in 1808 by Michel Eugène Chevreul who was researching ways of producing colorants from tropical logwoods.

[4] In mid-1840s chemists purified and systematically studied the substance with Rudolf Christian Böttger and Heinrich Will giving its modern name,[5] while in 1871 J. Schreder proved that it's trinitroresorcinol.

It may be reacted with weakly basic oxides, such as those of lead and silver, to form the corresponding salts.