DEVELOPMENT OF NEW ENERGETIC MATERIALS

IN ORDER TO ENHANCE THE PERFORMANCE OF CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS SYSTEMS, THERE IS A NEED FOR PROPELLANTS AND EXPLOSIVES WHICH ARE SIGNIFICANTLY MORE POWERFUL AND LESS SENSITIVE THAN THOSE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE. BECAUSE OF THE HIGH DENSITIES AND HIGH STRAIN ENERGIES CHARACTERISTIC OF SMALL CAGE MOLECULES, POLYNITRO CAGE COMPOUNDS ARE PRIME CANDIDATES FOR NEW POWERFUL EXPLOSIVES. PARTICULARLY INTERESTING ARE COMPOUNDS CONTAINING GEMINAL DINITRO GROUPS WHICH HAVE BEEN FOUND TO BE QUITE INSENSITIVE. A NUMBER OF POLYNITRO CAGE COMPOUNDS INCLUDING BOTH C-NITRO AND N-NITRO COMPOUNDS HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED AS POTENTIAL NEW, INSENSITIVE, HIGH EXPLOSIVES. COMPOUNDS BASED ON THE ADAMANTANE, SECOCUBANE AND DIASTERANE SKELETONS HAVE BEEN PROPOSED FOR FURTHER STUDY. CALCULATIONS TO DETERMINE DENSITIES, HEATS OF FORMATION, AND DETONATION VELOCITY AND PRESSURE WILL BE CARRIED OUT ON THESE COMPOUNDS TO EVALUATE WHICH OF THE MATERIALS SHOULD BE PURSUED IN A SYNTHETIC PROGRAM. SYNTHETIC ROUTES FOR THE MOST LIKELY CANDIDATES WILL BE DEVELOPED AND KEY SYNTHETIC STEPS WILL BE PERFORMED ON THE ACTUAL MOLECULES OR ON MODEL SYSTEMS IN THE PHASE I EFFORT. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - DATA OBTAINED FROM THIS RESEARCH EFFORT WILL BE USED AS A GUIDE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW ENERGETIC MATERIALS WHICH ARE BOTH POWERFUL AND INSENSITIVE. THESE MATERIALS WILL FIND APPLICATION IN BOTH EXPLOSIVES AND PROPELLANTS WHICH WILL SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE THE PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF NEW CONVENTIONAL WEAPON SYSTEMS. THE NEW CAGE COMPOUNDS DEVELOPED IN THIS PROGRAM WILL ALSO HAVE APPLICATION IN OTHER AREAS OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY, PARTICULARLY IN PHARMACEUTICALS. KEY WORDS - HIGH DENSITY, POLYNITROPOLYCYCLES, NITRAMINES, ADAMANTANES, INSENSITIVE, GEMINAL DINITRO, SECOCUBANES, DIASTERANES