Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), also known as PENT, PENTA, TEN, corpent, penthrite (or—rarely and primarily in German—as nitropenta), is the nitrate ester of pentaerythritol. Penta refers to the five carbon atoms of the neopentane skeleton.
PETN is most well known as an explosive. It is one of the most powerful high explosives known, with a relative effectiveness factor of 1.66.
PETN mixed with a plasticizer forms a plastic explosive. As a mixture with RDX and other minor additives, it forms another plastic explosive called Semtex as well. The compound was discovered in the bombs used by the 2001 Shoe Bomber, in the 2009 Christmas Day bomb plot, and in the 2010 cargo plane bomb plot. On 7 September 2011, a bomb suspected to have used PETN exploded near the High Court of Delhi in India claiming 13 lives and injuring more than 70.
It is also used as a vasodilator drug to treat certain heart conditions, such as for management of angina.
Read more about PETN: History, Properties, Production, Explosive Use, Medical Use