Tetranitroacetimidic acid: a high oxygen oxidizer and potential replacement for ammonium perchlorate.

Considerable work has been focused on developing replacements for ammonium perchlorate (AP), a primary choice for solid rocket and missile propellants, due to environmental concerns resulting from the release of perchlorate into groundwater systems [corrected]. Additionally, the generation of hydrochloric acid contributes to high concentrations of acid rain and to ozone layer depletion. En route to synthesizing salts that contain cationic FOX-7, a novel, high oxygen-containing oxidizer, tetranitroacetimidic acid (TNAA), has been synthesized and fully characterized. The properties of TNAA were found to be exceptional, with a calculated specific impulse exceeding that of AP, leading to its high potential as a replacement for AP. TNAA can be synthesized easily in a one-step process by the nitration of FOX-7 in high yield (>93%). The synthesis, properties, and chemical reactivity of TNAA have been examined.