Investigation of energetic materials prepared by reactions of diamines with picryl chlorideSynthesis, structure and thermal behaviour

Five compounds containing picryl group(s) were synthesized from reactions of hydrazine, 1,2-diaminoethane, 1,3-diaminopropane, 1,4-diaminobutane and 1,7-diaminoheptane with picryl chloride under hydrothermal conditions in methanol. Hydrazine reaction yielded N-2,4,6-trinitrophenylhydrazine which has a single picryl group, whereas the other reactants formed symmetric products with both amine groups connected to picryl groups. These compounds are N,N′-di-2,4,6-trinitrophenyl-1,2-diaminoethane, bis-N,N′-di-2,4,6-trinitrophenyl-1,3-diaminopropane, bis-N,N′-di-2,4,6-trinitrophenyl-1,4-diaminobutane and bis-N,N′-di-2,4,6-trinitrophenyl-1,7-diaminoheptane. Molecular structures of two of these compounds, N-2,4,6-trinitrophenylhydrazine and bis-N,N′-di-2,4,6-trinitrophenyl-1,3-diaminopropane, were revealed by XRD methods. All compounds were investigated by TG and DSC methods. The thermal behaviour of N-2,4,6-trinitrophenylhydrazine was explosive, undergoing a strong explosion in a very short temperature interval, 180–185 °C. In cases of the other compounds, it was found out that the carbon chain between two picryl groups reduced the explosion enthalpy. In addition, the theoretical formation enthalpy of N-2,4,6-trinitrophenylhydrazine was calculated by running CBS-4 M energy calculations under Gaussian 09 software package. From the calculated value, reaction enthalpy values for the possible explosion pathways were investigated in accordance with the experiment. The path with reaction enthalpy closest to the experimental value was proposed as the explosion mechanism.