Isolation of 3-amino-4-nitro-benzyl acetate: evidence of an undisclosed impurity in 5-amino-2-nitro-benzoic acid.

Yellow crystals of the title compound 3-amino-4-nitro-benzyl acetate, C9H10N2O4, were isolated from the reaction of acetic anhydride with (5-amino-2-nitro-phen-yl)methanol, prepared from reduction of commerically available 5-amino-2-nitro-benzoic acid with borane-THF. The mol-ecule is essentially planar (r.m.