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A theoretical study on 1,5-diazido-3-nitrazapentane (DANP) and 1,7-diazido-2,4,6-trinitrazaheptane (DATNH): molecular and crystal structures, thermodynamic and detonation properties, and pyrolysis mechanism

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Abstract

1,5-Diazido-3-nitrazapentane (DANP) and 1,7-diazido-2,4,6-trinitrazaheptane (DATNH) are two energetic plasticizers. To better understand them, a detailed theoretical investigation was carried out using density functional theory and molecular mechanics methods. The crystal structures, spectra, thermodynamic properties, heats of formation, detonation velocity, detonation pressure, specific impulse and thermal stability were estimated. Possible initiation steps of pyrolysis were discussed by considering the bond breaking of N–NO2, C–N3, and N–N2 (via hydrogen transfer) for both compounds and the cyclization of the adjacent nitro and azido groups for DATNH. Results show that the rupture of N–NO2 and N–N2 (via hydrogen transfer) may happen simultaneously as the initial step of pyrolysis. Both crystals have P-1 symmetry as was observed experimentally. DANP has higher stability than DATNH, while DATNH has better detonation performance than DANP. In addition, DANP has a lower while DATNH has a higher specific impulse than RDX, which shows their prospects as propellant components.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully thank the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (NO.20103219120014), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (NO. BK20130755), and NUST “Excellent Plan and Zijin Star” Research Foundation for their support of this work.

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  1. Department of Chemistry, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210094, China

    Junqing Yang, Fang Wang, Jianying Zhang, Guixiang Wang & Xuedong Gong

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  1. Junqing Yang
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Correspondence to Xuedong Gong.

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Yang, J., Wang, F., Zhang, J. et al. A theoretical study on 1,5-diazido-3-nitrazapentane (DANP) and 1,7-diazido-2,4,6-trinitrazaheptane (DATNH): molecular and crystal structures, thermodynamic and detonation properties, and pyrolysis mechanism. J Mol Model 19, 5367–5376 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00894-013-2014-6

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