Nitric acid reacts with proteins to form yellow nitrated products. This reaction is known as the xanthoproteic reaction. This test is carried out by adding concentrated nitric acid to the substance being tested, and then heating the mixture. If proteins are present that contains amino acids with aromatic rings, the mixture turns yellow. Upon adding a strong base such as liquid ammonia, the color turns orange. These color changes are caused by nitrated aromatic rings in the protein. Xanthoproteins are formed when the acid contacts epithelial cells and are indicative of inadequate safety precautions when handling nitric acid.
Nitric acid is miscible with water and distillation gives a maximum-boiling azeotrope with a concentration of 68% HNO3 and a boiling temperature of 120.5 °C at 1 atm, which is the ordinary concentrated nitric acid of commerce. Two solid hydrates are known; the monohydrate (HNO3·H2O) and the trihydrate (HNO3·3H2O).
Nitrogen oxides (NOx) are soluble in nitric acid and this property influences more or less all the physical characteristics depending on the concentration of the oxides. These mainly include the vapor pressure above the liquid and the boiling temperature, as well as the color mentioned above.
Nitric acid is subject to thermal or light decomposition with increasing concentration and this may give rise to some non-negligible variations in the vapor pressure above the liquid because the nitrogen oxides produced dissolve partly or completely in the acid.
