“Tris‐X”(1), A New High Energy Polynitramine Explosive: Synthesis using dinitrogen pentoxide (n2O5) technology(2), characterization, and thermal stability and hazard assessment

This paper describes the synthesis and characterization of two novel heterocyclic trinitramines from readily available starting materials, as well as the evaluation of one of them (“Tris‐X”) as a high explosive. The syntheses, which utilize the ability of dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5) to cleave aziridine rings to yield vicinal nitramine‐nitrates, proceed in high yield to give crystalline products with melting point below 100°C. The characterization of the products by IR, NMR (1H and 13C), mass spectrometry and elemental analysis is described, and whilst possessing high explosive power (the Pcj for Tris‐X is calculated at ca 300 kbar) they were found to exhibit acceptable hazard properties (impact sensitivity, temperature of ignition etc). The thermal stability measurements (by DSC and chemiluminescence) however indicated only marginally acceptable stability.