Synthesis of Erythritol Tetranitrate Derivatives: Functional Group Tuning of Explosive Sensitivity

Understanding
the factors that affect explosive sensitivity is
paramount to the safe handling and development of new explosives molecules.
Erythritol tetranitrate (ETN) is an explosive that recently has attracted
significant attention in the explosives community because of its ease
of synthesis and physical properties. Herein, we report the synthesis
of ETN derivatives using azide, nitramine, and nitrate ester functional
groups. Impact, spark, and friction sensitivity measurements, computationally
calculated explosive properties, and the crystal structure analysis
of the ETN derivatives are reported. Mixing explosive functional groups
led to changes in the explosive sensitivity, explosive performance
as well as physical properties including melting point and physical
state at room temperature. Overall, we have demonstrated that combining
functional groups can enable the tuning of explosive and physical
properties of a molecule. This tunability can potentially aid in the
development of new explosives in which characteristics are varied
to meet certain specifications.