Computational Studies of Polynitroaromatic Molecules and the Development of Sensitivity Relationships. Part 2.

摘要

A computational study of 48 nitroaromatic molecules has been carried out with the objective of developing an understanding of how chemical structural features are related to the shock/impact sensitivities of these molecules. An ab initio self-consistent-field molecular orbital procedure was used to compute a variety of properties, including atomic charges, electrostatic potentials and ionization potentials. From the results of our computational analyses, it is suggested that the observed high sensitivities of hydroxytrinitroaromatics toward shock and impact may be due to the formation of small but significant quantities of unstable nitronic acid tautomers. When the hydroxynitroaromatics are excluded, the sensitivity is shown to be related to the C-NO2 linkage with the greatest instability, as measured by the electrostatic potential at the midpoint of the C-NO2 bond; this is an extension of a relationship discovered earlier. Keywords: Calculations; Impact/shock sensitivity; Electrostatic potential; Atomic charge; Nitroaromatics; Nitronic acid tautomers. (JS)