Chem. Also -ine. [ad. F. xyloïdine (Braconnot), f. Gr. ξυλοείδης f. ξύλον wood: see -OID and -IN1.] An explosive substance, C6H9(NO2)O5, allied to pyroxylin, obtained by treating starch or vegetable fiber with nitric acid.
1838. T. Thomson, Chem. Org. Bodies, 664, note. M. Braconnot, by digesting saw-dust of wood, or potatoe starch, in concentrated nitric acid, obtained a mucilaginous solution…. Water coagulated it, and separated a white caseous substance, to which he has given the name of a xyloidin.
1850. Fownes’ Chem. (ed. 3), 388. Both xyloidine and pyroxyline appear to be substitution-compounds, in which the elements of nitrous acid replace, to a certain extent, those of water in starch and lignine.
1868. Watts, Dict. Chem., V. 1060. Xyloïdin is a white, inodorous, and tasteless powder…. Xyloïdin when struck decomposes with detonation, but not so violently as gun-cotton.
