Thermal Decomposition of TNT and Related Materials in the Condensed Phase

Abstract : 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) undergoes thermal composition by a process that permits ESR observation of two distinctly different free radical species. The initial free radical has been ascribed to intermolecular coupling of two TNT moieties to produce a nitroxide with distinctive hyperfine structure. The other species has a single featureless ESR absorption line. It appears to arise from a polymeric material which we call Tar . The kinetics of formation of these two species was monitored by ESR. Analysis reveals that Tar is produced at an accelerated rate early in the reaction, as compared to the autocatalytic (i.e., pseudo-first order with respect to Tar) rate observed later. TNT.