The reaction with hydroxide in the presence of water (even very small amounts of water) results in formation of brown non-energetic crap. A very
violent reaction occurs if you add strong alkali to nitromethane, on my website I have a demo in which drops of nitromethane are added to solid Na2O.
This results in immediately ignition! If you pour a small beaker (e.g. 20 ml) full with prills of NaOH and then pour in nitromethane, such that the
prills are just covered (which requires roughly 10 ml of nitromethane), then you might have ignition and a roaring orange flame as well, but not
immediate, the reaction takes some time.
Look up the chemistry of nitronates, under strictly anhydrous conditions it is possible to make the white salt sodiumnitronate, which is a highly
energetic compound. You have to meticulously assure though that no water is present. Even small amounts of water cause the nitronate to turn brown and
loose its energetic properties. Acidification of a nitronate causes formation of the corresponding acid, which has a red color. You can perform all
this nitronate chemistry in alcohol, using sodium ethoxide as base. Any water, present in the alcohol will then be converted to sodium hydroxide and
ethanol and this assures that you work under perfectly dry conditions. |