Cage Compounds as Potential Energetic Oxidizers: A Theoretical Study of a Cage Isomer of N2O3

Abstract

Ab initio electronic structure calculations are employed to investigate the cage isomer of N2O3 (c‐N2O3) as a viable energetic oxidizer. c‐N2O3 is vibrationally stable with a large heat of formation of 7.95 kJ g−1 and can produce larger enthalpies of combustion than other commonly used oxidizers such as ammonium perchlorate, O2(l) and N2O4. c‐N2O3 is shown to have a unimolecular decomposition barrier of 24.4 kJ mol−1 at the CCSD(T)/CBS(Q‐5) level of theory, and a dimer‐induced decomposition barrier of 100.8 kJ mol−1. Although c‐N2O3 is predicted to perform well as an oxidizer, the low barrier to unimolecular decomposition is likely to render it impractical as an energetic oxidizer.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Oct 21, 2014
Source ID
10.1002/prep.201400144

Entities

People

  • Jerry A. Boatz
  • Robert J. Buszek

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

Readers

  • Combustion science or combustion engineering.
  • Quantum Chemistry

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics