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The explosive reaction of tetranitromethane with ferrocene

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Summary

The literature contains a number of publications and patent reports on the application of tetranitromethane, TNM, as an oxidizing agent in different conventional(1, 2) and rocket3–5) fuels as well as explosive materials(6, 7). Ferrocene, Cp2Fe, has applications as an antiknock agent and combustion activator in liquid fuels(8–10) and is deployed in combination with aromatic amines for powder production(11). There are no data available, however, on the interaction of Cp2Fe and TNM.

As a result of our initial experiments we find that addition of solid Cp2Fe to pure liquid TNM causes a violent, exothermic explosion accompanied by an intense flash. The emission spectrum of the light measured with a medium dispersion Zeiss Q24 spectrograph covers the visible range, 370–500 nm, and is of a continuous character with faintly visible lines at short wavelength possibly indicative of iron.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Photochemistry Laboratory, Institute of Chemistry, A. Mickiewicz University, 60-780, Poznań, Poland

    Anna Jaworska-Augustyniak & Jan Wojtczak

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  1. Anna Jaworska-Augustyniak
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  2. Jan Wojtczak
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Jaworska-Augustyniak, A., Wojtczak, J. The explosive reaction of tetranitromethane with ferrocene. Transition Met Chem 4, 207–208 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00619069

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