Probing royal demolition explosive (1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazocyclohexane) by low-energy electrons: Strong dissociative electron attachment near 0 eV

J Chem Phys. 2009 Oct 14;131(14):144304. doi: 10.1063/1.3230116.

Abstract

Low energy electron attachment to gas phase royal demolition explosive (RDX) (and RDX-A3) has been performed by means of a crossed electron-molecular beam experiment in an electron energy range from 0 to 14 eV with an energy resolution of approximately 70 meV. The most intense signals are observed at 102 and 46 amu and assigned to C(2)H(4)N(3)O(2) (-) and NO(2) (-), respectively. Anion efficiency curves of 16 anions have been measured. Product ions are observed mainly in the low energy region, near 0 eV arising from surprisingly complex reactions associated with multiple bond cleavages and structural and electronic rearrangement. The remarkable instability of RDX to electron attachment with virtually thermal electrons reflects the highly explosive nature of this compound. The present results are compared to other explosive aromatic nitrocompounds studied in our laboratory recently.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Electrons*
  • Explosive Agents / chemistry*
  • Mass Spectrometry
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Conformation
  • Nitrites / chemistry
  • Pressure
  • Triazines / chemistry*
  • Volatilization

Substances

  • Explosive Agents
  • Nitrites
  • Triazines
  • cyclonite