Dinitroglycoluril Explained

Dinitroglycoluril (DNGU) is a high explosive chemical compound with the formula C₄H₄N₆O₆. Dinitroglycoluril is of growing interest due to its stability, ability to mix with oxygen positive explosives to form composites, and it is a precursor to tetranitroglycoluril.

Preparation and decomposition

Dinitroglycoluril can be created by nitrating glycoluril with concentrated nitric acid.^[1]

The activation energy required to begin decomposition of dinitroglycoluril is 165 kJ/mol.^[2] When dinitroglycoluril is heated to 243 °C in an inert atmosphere, the two nitrate groups break off and the two central carbon atoms form a double bond.

Sensitivity

The impact sensitivity of dinitroglycoluril was determined using the Bruceton-staircase procedure, which found a h₅₀ of 88 cm. Friction sensitivity was determined by a Julius-Peters apparatus, which found a sensitivity of 25 kg.

Notes and References

1. Boileau . J. . Wimmer . E. . Gilardi . R. . Stinecipher . M. M. . Gallo . R. . Pierrot . M. . 1988-04-15 . Structure of 1,4-dinitroglycoluril . Acta Crystallographica Section C Crystal Structure Communications . 44 . 4 . 696–699 . 10.1107/S0108270187012204. free .
2. Khire . V . Talawar . M . Prabhakaran . K . Mukundan . T . Kurian . E . 2005-03-17 . Spectro-thermal decomposition study of 1,4-dinitroglycoluril (DINGU) . Journal of Hazardous Materials . en . 119 . 1–3 . 63–68 . 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2004.12.020. 15752849 .