SYNTHESIS OF NARROW MOLECULAR-WEIGHT ALPHA,OMEGA-HYDROXY TELECHELIC POLY(GLYCIDYL NITRATE) AND ESTIMATION OF THEORETICAL HEAT OF EXPLOSION

This communication reports the synthetic steps and characterization re quired to make pure poly(glycidyl nitrate), also known as polyGLYN or POWA3, from cheap commercially available starting materials using dini trogen pentoxide (N2O5) technology. Conditions are given whereby a ran ge of well defined and characterized polyGLYN samples may be safely an d reproducibly prepared by the cationic, ring-opening, activated monom er mechanism (AMM). Tetrafluoroboric acid and 1,4-butanediol were used as the catalyst system, and the samples have been characterized by nu clear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, size exclusion chromatography, infra-red spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The theo retical calculations indicate that the heat of explosion is 2661 kJ g( -1), this being significantly more energy than for earlier polymers. T hese materials are currently under assessment in both high-performance explosives and high-energy low-vulnerability propellant systems. Some properties of the material are also shown. Crown copyright (C) 1996 P ublished by Elsevier Science Ltd.