The American chemist William Henry Rinkenbach (1894–1965) prepared EGDN by nitrating purified glycol obtained by fractioning the commercial product under pressure of 40mm Hg, and at a temperature of 120°. For this 20g of middle fraction of purified glycol was gradually added to mixture of 70g nitric acid and 130g sulfuric acid, maintaining the temperature at 23°. The resulting 49g of crude product was washed with 300ml of water to obtain 39.6g of purified product. The low yield so obtained could be improved by maintaining a lower temperature and using a different nitrating acid mixture.