Aspects of Nitrate Ester Metabolism

Abstract

Nitrate esters are those compounds formed by the nitration of alcohols and contain the chemical grouping −"C−"O−"NO₂, with the nitrogen linked to the carbon atom via an oxygen atom. The best known ester is glycerol trinitrate (I)¹, which is representative of nitrates of polyhydric alcohols widely used in medicine and as explosives since the mid-nineteenth century. In medicine, they are used as drugs in the treatment of angina pectoris; in this context, they are still of primary importance, even though it is now over 100 years since Brunton described their pharmacological effects (1). The principal uses of nitrate esters in the explosives industry are in the manufacture of dynamite, which contains I as one of its main ingredients together with ethylene glycol dinitrate (II) when antifreeze properties are required. Personnel engaged in the manufacture of these explosives can be exposed to the vasodilator actions of the esters which can enter the body via the lungs or skin.