# Ok, so what's the straight dope on the whole "Splenda is practically DDT" crap?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-whats-the-straight-dope-on-the-whole-splenda-is-practically-ddt-crap/580314>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 30, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-whats-the-straight-dope-on-the-whole-splenda-is-practically-ddt-crap/580314 "2011-04-30T20:46:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-whats-the-straight-dope-on-the-whole-splenda-is-practically-ddt-crap/580314/41 "2011-05-04T01:50:48Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Quoth **jz78817** :Oh, you can go a lot further than that. The very air we breathe is _zero_ atoms away from being a highly corrosive, unstable oxidizer.
> 
> Quoth **DHMO** himself:Indeed, these are actually the same fact. To put it simply, nitrogen really, really likes to be in its elemental, N[sub]2[/sub] form. If it is in that form, it’s really hard to get it into some other form, so it’s fairly inert. If it’s in some other form, then it’ll really easily (and energetically) revert to the elemental form. It’s like a big heavy rock held high up in the air, versus a big heavy rock sitting on the ground.

It seems like I am always having to run a battery of experiments every time I’m working with a molecule with nitro groups or just several nitrogens. DSC, TSC, and RC1 mostly. And, of course, formation of N2 is the main driving force in several reactions, such as the Mitsonobu and AIBN as a radical initiator. By the way, I really, really hate DEAD.

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