title: Probing royal demolition explosive (1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazocyclohexane) by low-energy electrons: Strong dissociative electron attachment near 0 eV.
abstract: Low energy electron attachment to gas phase royal demolition explosive (RDX) (and RDX-A3) has been performed by means of a crossed electron-molecular beam experiment in an electron energy range from 0 to 14 eV with an energy resolution of approximately 70 meV. The most intense signals are observed at 102 and 46 amu and assigned to C(2)H(4)N(3)O(2) (-) and NO(2) (-), respectively. Anion efficiency curves of 16 anions have been measured. Product ions are observed mainly in the low energy region, near 0 eV arising from surprisingly complex reactions associated with multiple bond cleavages and structural and electronic rearrangement. The remarkable instability of RDX to electron attachment with virtually thermal electrons reflects the highly explosive nature of this compound. The present results are compared to other explosive aromatic nitrocompounds studied in our laboratory recently.
authors.affiliation: Center of Molecular Biosciences Innsbruck and Institut für Ionenphysik and Angewandte Physik, Universität Innsbruck, Technikerstrasse 25, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sulzer
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mauracher
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferreira da Silva
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Denifl
authors.forename: T D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Märk
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Probst
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Limão-Vieira
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Scheier
mesh_terms: D004583:Electrons; D053834:Explosive Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D009573:Nitrites / Q000737:chemistry; D011312:Pressure; D014227:Triazines / Q000737:chemistry*; D014835:Volatilization
chemical_list: D053834:Explosive Agents; D009573:Nitrites; D014227:Triazines; C009160:cyclonite