Premium
Analytical Characterization of Impurities or Byproducts in New Energetic Materials
Author(s) -
Bunte Gudrun,
Pontius Heike,
Kaiser Manfred
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
propellants, explosives, pyrotechnics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.56
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1521-4087
pISSN - 0721-3115
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1521-4087(199906)24:03<149::aid-prep149>3.0.co;2-4
Subject(s) - chemistry , impurity , tetrahydrofuran , extraction (chemistry) , chromatography , nuclear chemistry , organic chemistry , solvent
In the last years several new explosives have recently attracted attention as possible alternatives, e.g. for the nitramines RDX and HMX. Hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane (HNIW) also known as CL 20 is one of them. Objective of the study was to analyse three different CL 20 samples from different suppliers (ϵ‐CL 20 from Thiokol, USA and ϵ‐ and β‐CL 20 from SNPE, France) with chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques to characterize the chemical and polymorph purity of the materials in order to compare the different samples to each other. From IR‐spectroscopic measurements it was determined that all three materials have polymorph purities >95%. To get informations about the chemical purity and possible byproducts or residual solvents the samples were analysed by HPLC, NMR and GC‐MSD. For the last a new technique, the so called Solid Phase Micro Extraction, SPME was applied for sample preparation. The chemical purity estimated by HPLC analysis was for all CL 20 samples >96% while the ϵ‐charge of SNPE had the highest purity (98.3%). From NMR‐measurements an acetyl‐ or formyl‐substituted byproduct was identified. From NMR as well as from GC‐MSD analyses residual amounts of organic solvents have been detected (ethanol or tetrahydrofuran). Furthermore different spare amounts of other organic components were identified after SPME‐treatment and characterization with GC‐MSD.