Aromatic Nucleophilic Substitution of FOX‐7: Synthesis and Properties of 1‐Amino‐1‐Picrylamino‐2,2‐Dinitroethylene (APDE) and Its Potassium Salt [K(APDE)]

Two energetic compounds, 1-amino-1-picrylamino-2,2-dinitroethylene (APDE) and its potassium salt [K(APDE)] were synthesized through an aromatic nucleophilic substitution reaction between FOX-7 and picryl chloride. APDE and K(APDE) were characterized by elemental analysis, IR, NMR spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. APDE has a 3D wavy layered stacking structure similar to FOX-7. K(APDE) (peak temperature (Tip )=185.6 °C and impact sensitivity (IS)=19.6 J) presents better stability than APDE (tap =133.3 °C and IS=15.7 J). The reasons why the stability of APDE is lower than that of FOX-7 and picryl chloride are analyzed. The detonation velocity (D) and detonation pressure (P) of APDE (8.36 km s-1 and 31.3 Gpa) are close to those of FOX-7 and RDX. The thermal decomposition of K(APDE) is very violent, and its detonation performance (D=9.14 km s-1 and P=38.6 Gpa) is comparable to that of HMX, indicating that K(APDE) has good potential to be a high explosive.