TNGU

     TNGU, and acronym for tetranitroglycoluril, is an insensitive high explosive similar to RDX or HMX. Other names for TNGU include tetrahydro-1,3,4,6-tetranitro-imidazo[4,5-d]imidazole-2,5(1H,3H)-dione; 1,3,4,6-tetranitroglycoluril; tetranitroacetylenediurein; Sorguyl; and TENGU. TNGU has a very high detonation velocity and excellent thermal stability. The high density of TNGU allows it to achieve very high detonation velocities, and it can even be pressed to 2.02 g/cc for an even high velocity. Although recent developments of caged polynitramine molecules like CL-20 have even higher densities and detonation velocities, TNGU has the advantage of having several decades of development and use behind it. The only downside TNGU has that allows CL-20 to beat it is its propensity to hydrolyze in the presence of moisture.

CHEMICALS	APPARATUS
----	----
----	----
----	----
----	----
----	----

     Into a 350-mL two-neck round-bottomed flask prepare a mixture of 159.2 g of 100% nitric acid and 40.8 g of dinitrogen pentoxide. The mixture is cooled to 5 C by immersing the flask in an ice water bath. Slowly add 13.95 g of DINGU in small amounts over a period of 10 minutes while slowly stirring. The temperature of the reaction mixture should be kept below 10 C during the addition. The mixture is stirred for 2 hours at 10 C. Filter to collect the precipitate, wash it with methylene chloride until neutral, and dry in an oven at 65 C until a constant weight is achieved. Final yield is almost 16 g of TNGU or 82%. A second crop of TNGU can be recovered by 200 mL of anhydrous methylene chloride to the filtrate. The precipitate will form after several hours and can be filtered and dried as above. The additional TNGU amounts to almost 1.5 g and brings the total yield up to 90%. Synthesis 2: Into a 250-mL two-neck round-bottomed flask prepare a mixture of 56.2 g of 100% nitric acid and 43.8 g of dinitrogen pentoxide. The mixture is cooled to 0 C by immersing the flask in an ice water bath. Slowly add 2.84 g of glycoluril in small amounts over a period of 3 minutes while slowly stirring. The temperature of the reaction mixture should be kept between 0-3 C during the addition. The mixture is stirred for 2 hours at 10 C. Filter to collect the precipitate, wash it with methylene chloride until neutral, and dry in an oven at 65 C until a constant weight is achieved. Final yield is about 5.4 g of TNGU. A second crop of TNGU can be recovered by 200 mL of anhydrous methylene chloride to the filtrate. The precipitate will form after several hours and can be filtered and dried as above. The additional TNGU amounts to almost 0.3 g and brings the total yield up to 88.5%.

Home|Explosives|Chemical Weapons|Pharmaceuticals|Pesticides|Precursors
Lab Skills|Lab Equipment|Safety|Rogue Science|Links|What’s New|Contact Me|Disclaimer