Mechanism of the primary stages of decomposition of aliphatic nitro- and fluoronitronitramines

The primary stage of the decomposition of compounds RN(NO2)CH2C(NO2)2X is the homolytic cleavage of the C−NO2 bond, at X=NO2 and N−NO2 bond at X=F. The inductive effect of substituents decreases the dissociation energies of the C−N and N−N bonds by 1–2 kcal mol−1. Kinetic effects caused by the spatial interaction of groups and by stepwise decomposition of polyfunctional compounds are described.