Common Acronyms
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Here shall be an alphabetically sorted collection of commonly used acronyms (NOT chemical formulas) and slang prevalent on ScienceMadness and in the indiechem community.
Contents
A
AA—"Acetic acid" or "Acetic anhydride", more often AA is used for acetic acid, and if both compounds are present in a text, use the Ac2O abbreviation (see below) for acetic anhydride to avoid any confusion between the compounds
Ac—"Acetate"
Ac2O—"Acetic anhydride", best to use this abbreviation if the text also mentions glacial acetic acid to avoid confusion
AgNTz—"Silver nitrotetrazole"
Amateur Chemistry—Those studying of chemistry as a hobby, usually at home.
AN—"Ammonium nitrate"
AP—"Ammonium perchlorate", sometimes also "acetone peroxide"
AQBC—"Aminoguanidine bicarbonate", see: Guanidine
ASA—"Acetylsalicylic acid"
ATz, sometimes 5-ATz, "5-Aminotetrazole"
B
BDZ—"Benzodiazepine"
BHT—"Butylated hydroxy toluene"
BP—"Boiling point"
C
CA—"Cyanuric acid"
CHP—"Copper hexamine perchlorate", a complex salt of copper(II)-, hexamine and perchlorate-ions. Term coined by Dr. Liptakov.
COPAE - "The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives" by Tenney L. Davis (Book)
D
D—"Dexter" (right)
DBX-1—"Copper(I) 5‐nitrotetrazolate", sometimes called "CuNTz" (this however is more of an inside joke by Tdep)
DCCA—"(Sodium) dichloroisocyanurate", similar to TCCA
DCM—"Dichloromethane"
DDT—"Deflagration to detonation transition" OR "Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane"
DNA—Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNP—"Dinitrophenol"
E
EM—"Energetic Materials"
Et—"Ethyl"
ETN—"Erythritol tetranitrate"
F
FP—"Freezing point"
G
GC—"Gun Cotton". See Nitrocellulose
Gdm—"Guanidinium"
Gdn or Gu—"Guanidine"
H
HMTD—"Hexamethylene triperoxide diamine"
HMX—"High Melting Explosive", also known as "octogen"
I
ICP-AES—"Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy"
ICP-MS—"Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry"
IDLH—"Immediately dangerous to life or health"
Indiechem—"Indie Chemistry;" another term for "amateur chemistry," coined by Texium
ISA—"Ionic Strength Adjuster"
IUPAC—"International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry"
J
JCS—"Journal of the Chemical Society"
K
L
L—"Levo" (left)
LD—"Lethal dose"
LDPE—"Low Density Polyethylene"
LOX—"Liquid oxygen"
M
m—"Meta"
MEK—"Methyl ethyl ketone"
MEKP—"Methyl ethyl ketone peroxide"
MHN—"Mannitol hexanitrate"
MMH—"Monomethyl hydrazine"
MO—"Metal oxide" or "Molecular orbital"
MP—"Melting point"
N
NaNTz—"Sodium nitrotetrazole"
NC—"Nitrocellulose"
NM—"Nitromethane"
NQ—"Nitroguanidine"
O
o—"Ortho"
OB or OB%—"Oxygen balance"
ON—"Oxygen number"
OXY—"Oxygen"
P
p—"Para"
P2P—"Phenylacetone"
PAH—"Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon"
PC—"Propylene carbonate"
PCB—"Polychlorinated biphenyl"
PEG—"Polyethylene glycol"
PEL—"Permissible Exposure Limit"
PETN—"Pentaerythritol tetranitrate"
PET, PETE, PETP or PET-P—"Polyethylene Terephtalate"
PG—"Propylene glycol"
PLX—"Picatinny Liquid eXplosive"
PMMA—"Poly(methyl methacrylate)"
PO—"Propylene oxide"
PPG—"Polypropylene glycol"
PVC—"Polyvinyl chloride"
Q
QLL—"Quasi-Liquid Layer"
R
RDX—"Research Department eXplosive" or "Research Department Formula X"
RFNA—"Red fuming nitric acid", very concentrated nitric acid with a lot of NOx dissolved in it, which gives the acid a reddish color.
RNA—"RiboNucleic Acid"
RT—"Room Temperature"
S
SA—"Salicylic acid" or "sulfuric acid"
SADS—"Silver Acetylide Double Salt"
STP—"Standard Temperature and Pressure"
T
TATP—"Triacetone triperoxide." See: acetone peroxide
TACP or TACPs—"Tetraaminecopper(II) persulphate"
TACN—"Tetraaminecopper(II) nitrate"
TCCA—"Trichloroisocyanuric acid"
TDS—"Totally Dissolved Solids"
TFA—"Trifluoroacetic acid"
TNP—"Trinitrophenol" See: Picric acid
TNT—"Trinitrotoluene"
TNX—"Trinitroxylene"
U
UHP—"Ultra High Pressure" or "Ultra-High Purity"
UTFSE— "Use the f***ing search engine," generally used when the answer can be found quite easily with a simple search.
UV—"Ultraviolet"
V
VHP—"Very High Pressure"
VOC—"Volatile Organic Compound"
VP—"Vapor Pressure"
W
Whimsy— a subsection of the Science Madness forum dedicated to subjects unrelated to chemistry or indiechem.
WFNA—"White fuming nitric acid", very concentrated nitric acid with little to no NOx contamination.
WP—"White Phosphorus" (or "Willie Pete" in military slag)
X
XAN—"Xanthine"
XPS—"X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy"
Y
YBCO—"Yttrium barium copper oxide"
Z
ZAMAC OR ZAMAK—"Zinc Aluminum Magnesium and Copper"