Structure‐Property Relationships of ETNC and Its Salts Compared with PETNC and Its Salts

Abstract

AbstractTwo energetic compounds, erythritol tetranitrocarbamate (ETNC) and pentaerythritol tetranitrocarbamate (PETNC), and their salts, were synthesized in three steps, characterized and compared. All synthesized compounds were characterized by IR, DSC and multinuclear NMR spectroscopy. Four compounds were further investigated by single crystal X‐ray diffraction. All nonmetal salts show extremely low mechanical sensitivity (IS≥30 J; FS≥360 N). The heats of formation were calculated using Gaussian 09, and the detonation performances were calculated using EXPLO 5. Although these nonmetal salts are lower than the neutral compounds ETNC (D: 7960 m s−1, P: 27.4 GPa) and PETNC (D: 7629 m s−1, P: 24.3 GPa), they possess high detonation performances that are better than TNT. Erythritol‐based and corresponding pentaerythritol‐based energetic materials were compared in terms of their thermostability, detonation velocity and detonation pressure. They were also compared in their respective series. ETNC and PETNC and their salts have short preparation steps and are easy to isolate in high yields, and thus have promising potential applications as explosives.