Determining effects of molecular structure variation in nitrate esters on explosive sensitivity through structurally similar energetics.

Current design of novel explosives attempts to accurately predict the sensitivity of potential molecular candidates prior to costly and time intensive synthetic exploration. Subtle chemical, molecular, and physical properties can contribute significantly to overall sensitivity of an explosive, though these can be interrelated and extremely difficult to isolate. For example, modifying one molecular characteristic (e.g. chemical structure) will often adversely result in altering other molecular or physical properties (e.g. melting point). Sabatini and coworkers studied the effects of stereo- and regiochemistry that resulted in altering the physical properties and sensitivity of explosives, from extremely low-melting energetic liquids to melt-castable explosive eutectics. However, structural alterations result in changes to intra- and intermolecular forces which have been suggested to aid in the stability of explosive molecules. A systematic study is needed to determine the interplay of molecular forces and explosive sensitivity. Here we describe pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) derivatives with varying degrees of molecular forces and the affects on explosive sensitivity and molecular physical properties.