Investigation on the Sodium and Potassium Tetrasalts of 1,1,2,2‐Tetranitraminoethane

With respect to high‐energy dense materials with high oxygen‐content, the tetrasodium salt of 1,1,2,2‐tetranitraminoethane as monohydrate Na 4 TNAE · H 2 O ( 4 ) and the tetrapotassium salt as dihydrate K 4 TNAE · 2H 2 O ( 5 ) were synthesized and reported for the first time together with their crystal structures at 173 K. Whilst 4 cannot be dehydrated the crystal water content of 5 can be removed irreversibly at 160 °C to obtain K 4 TNAE ( 6 ) as demonstrated by DTA and TGA measurements. K 4 TNAE ( 6 ) was demonstrated using the small scale reactivity test to be a inferior explosive to RDX and CL‐20. However the anionic nitramine compound was measured to be less toxic against Vibrio fischeri than RDX (EC 50 : 240 mg · L –1 ) with respect to its EC 50 value above 15070 mg · L –1 . This demonstrates that the introduction of anionic nitramine moieties is a promising concept for the stabilization of energetic materials with lower toxicity.