Abstract:

Acetonitrile-trioxymethylene was chosen to replace acetamide-paraformaldehyde for the synthesis of the intermediate hexahydro-1,3,5-triacetyl-s-triazine(TRAT), which was then nitrated by dinitrogen pentroxide to form hexogen(RDX). Under optimized synthetic conditions, a 95.2% yield of TRAT could be attained when the molar ratio of 1,3,5-trioxane to acetonitrile was 1∶2, the molar ratio of H2SO4 to 1,3,5-trioxane was 1∶7.5, the reaction temperature was 75 ℃, the reaction time was 3 h, H2SO4 was chosen as catalyst and acetonitrile was used as both reactant and solvent. In the subsequent nitration process, carried at 45 ℃ for 1 h, a 87.2% yield of RDX could be achieved when the molar ratios of TRAT to N2O5 and N2O5 to HNO3 were 1∶7 and 1∶6, respectively. The overall yield of RDX was 83.0% for this new approach. This established method might be scaled up for industrial productions of RDX due to its simpleness in terms of post treatment and environmental benign.

Key words: hexahydrotriacetyl-s-triazine, hexogen, N2O5, nitrolysis, explosive