Early Thermal Decay of Energetic Hydrogen- and Nitro-Free Furoxan Compounds: The Case of DNTF and BTF

Exploring the initial reactions of H-free and nitro-free energetic materials could enrich our understanding into the thermal decomposition mechanism of various energetic materials (EMs). In this work, two furoxan compounds, 3,4-dinitrofurazanfuroxan (DNTF) and benzotrifuroxan (BTF), were investigated to shed light on the decay mechanism of furoxan compounds based on the self-consistent charge density functional tight binding molecular dynamic simulations. Results show that DNTF and BTF decay in a unimolecular mechanism, and the transformation of furoxan ring to nitro group are suggested as a novel initial channel. Five initial steps of DNTF are observed, including NO2 loss and the N(O)-O bond cleavage of central and peripheral rings. The bond cleavage of peripheral rings dominates the decay at low temperature, while the central ring opening and C-NO2 dissociation governs the high temperature decay. Besides, NO2, CO and NO fragments are mainly yield at high temperature, while CO3N2 is dominant at low temperature. The three-stage characteristics of the exothermic of BTF decay are described under programmed heating conditions for the first time. Four initial steps of BTF were identified, including furoxan ring opening reactions and the breakage of 6-membered ring C-C bond. The cleavage of N(O)-O bond rules the initial step of BTF under different heating conditions, and the frequency increased with the temperature increasing. In addition, the amount of CON, ON and CO are higher at high temperature, while C2O2N2 shows a opposite trend. What obtained this work promote deepen insights into the complicated sensitivity mechanism of EMs.