Nitramex and Nitramon Explosives are compositions of various chemical compound

Chemical compound

A chemical compound is a pure chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical elements that can be separated into simpler substances by chemical reactions. Chemical compounds have a unique and defined chemical structure; they consist of a fixed ratio of atoms that are held together...

s. They are explosives based on ammonium nitrate and other ingredients such as paraffin wax, aluminum and dinitrotoluene

Dinitrotoluene

2,4-Dinitrotoluene or Dinitro is an organic compound with the formula C6H32. This pale yellow crystalline solid is well known as a precursor to trinitrotoluene but is mainly used in the polymer industry....

. The binding of these additional ingredients creates a more stable explosive. Nitramex and Nitramon have been replaced by more modern high explosives based on ammonium nitrate such as ANFO

ANFO

ANFO is a widely used bulk industrial explosive mixture. It consists of 94 percent porous prilled ammonium nitrate , that acts as the oxidizing agent and absorbent for the fuel — six percent Number 2 Fuel Oil...

.

Nitramon

A typical nitramon formula contains approximately 92 percent ammonium nitrate, 4 percent dinitrotoluene, and 4 percent paraffin wax.

Nitramex

Nitramex has much the same formula as nitramon with the addition of trinitrotoluene or TNT. This explosive was used in the removal of Ripple Rock

Ripple Rock

Ripple Rock was an underwater, twin-peaked mountain in the Seymour Narrows of the Discovery Passage in British Columbia, Canada, a part of the marine trade route from Vancouver and coastal points north. The nearest town was Campbell River...

by tunneling and placing large quantities of Nitramex 2H. This is known as one of the largest non-nuclear explosions to mankind.