High-explosive shells were filled with grade A TNT, which became preferred for other uses as industrial chemical capacity became available for removing xylene and similar hydrocarbons from the toluene feedstock and other nitrotoluene isomer byproducts from the nitrating reactions.

In the final step, the DNT is nitrated to trinitrotoluene (TNT) using an anhydrous mixture of nitric acid and oleum.

[citation needed] X-ray crystallographic analysis determined that each of the three planar nitro groups is substantially rotated out of the plane of the benzene ring.

TNT has been used in conjunction with hydraulic fracturing (popularly known as fracking), a process used to acquire oil and gas from shale formations.

The technique involves displacing and detonating nitroglycerin in hydraulically induced fractures followed by wellbore shots using pelletized TNT.

[14] TNT is valued partly because of its insensitivity to shock and friction, with reduced risk of accidental detonation compared to more sensitive explosives such as nitroglycerin.

The condensed phases (solid or liquid) show markedly lower activation energies of roughly 35 kcal/mol due to unique bimolecular decomposition routes at elevated densities.

[26] The heat of combustion however is 14.5 GJ/t (14.5 MJ/kg or 4.027 kWh/kg), which requires that the carbon in TNT fully react with atmospheric oxygen, which does not occur in the initial event.

[citation needed] Various methods can be used to detect TNT, including optical and electrochemical sensors and explosive-sniffing dogs.

In 2013, researchers from the Indian Institutes of Technology using noble-metal quantum clusters could detect TNT at the sub-zeptomolar (10−18 mol/m3) level.

[29] People exposed to TNT over a prolonged period tend to experience anemia and abnormal liver functions.

Exudation of impurities leads to formation of pores and cracks (which in turn cause increased shock sensitivity).

Migration of the exudated liquid into the fuze screw thread can form fire channels, increasing the risk of accidental detonation.

[citation needed] Pink and red water are colorless at the time of generation; the color is produced by photolytic reactions under the influence of sunlight.

[37][38] Because of the toxicity of TNT, the discharge of pink water to the environment has been prohibited in the US and many other countries for decades, but ground contamination may exist in very old plants.

[citation needed] Because of its suitability in construction and demolition, TNT has become the most widely used explosive and thus its toxicity is the most characterized and reported.

In September 2001, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) declared TNT a pollutant whose removal is a priority.

The relatively low aqueous solubility of TNT causes solid particles to be continuously released to the environment over extended periods of time.

[42] Hydrogen bonding and ion exchange are two suggested mechanisms of adsorption between the nitro functional groups and soil colloids.

Therefore, when considering the adsorption of TNT, the type of soil or sediment and the ionic composition and strength of the ground water are important factors.

Soil properties, such as organic carbon content and cation exchange capacity have significant impacts on the adsorption coefficients.

[42] TNT is a reactive molecule and is particularly prone to react with reduced components of sediments or photodegradation in the presence of sunlight.

This includes wholly abiotic reactants, like hydrogen sulfide, Fe2+, or microbial communities, both oxic and anoxic and photochemical degradation.

"[42] Evidence of the photolysis of TNT has been seen due to the color change to pink of TNT-containing wastewaters when exposed to sunlight.

[47] The ligninolytic physiological phase and manganese peroxidase system of fungi can cause a very limited amount of mineralization of TNT in a liquid culture, though not in soil.