Organic Chemistry of Explosives

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Background xxvii

Most organic explosives contain nitrate ester, nitramine, or aliphatic or aromaticC-nitro

functionality. Explosives containing azide, peroxide, azo functionality etc are a minor class and

amount to less than 4-5% of the total number of known explosives. Since this book is focused

on discussing the various ways in which each of these functional groups can be incorporated

into a compound, the organization of Chapters and Sections in this book is straightforward and

is as follows:

1. AliphaticC-nitro groups


2. Nitrate ester groups


3. AromaticC-nitro groups


4. Nitramine, nitramide and nitrimine groups


5. Nitrogen heterocycles


6. Other groups, including: azide, peroxide, diazophenols, and nitrogen-rich compounds de-

rived from guanidine derivatives.