Ethene explosive decomposition

Although this does not seem to offer particular problems with ethene, an explosive decomposition of ethyne to carbon and hydrogen may occur if the gas is compressed to 10-20 kg cm-2. Even liquid ethyne (bp—83°) must be handled with care. Ethyne is not used commercially under pressure unless it is mixed with an inert gas and handled in rugged equipment. Ethyne burns with pure oxygen to give a very hot flame that is widely used for welding. For this purpose, the gas is dissolved under about 15 kg cm 2 in 2-propanone (acetone,... 

DIFLUOROETHENE or DIFLUORO-l,l-ETHENE (75-38-7) Flammable gas (flash point <—85°F/<—65°C). Violent reaction with oxidizers, barium, sodium, or potassium. Reacts with aluminum chloride. Incompatible with hydrogen chloride. May form explosive compounds with light metals and metallic azides. Capable of forming unstable peroxides may cause explosive polymerization. Undergoes thermal decomposition when exposed to flame or red-hot surfaces. May accumulate static electricity, and cause ignition of its vapors. The uninhibited monomer vapor may block vents and confined spaces by forming a solid polymer material. 

Diazotetrazole (16) was obtained by dropwise addition of 2-pentyl nitrite to a solution of 5-amino-l//-tetrazole in a 4 1 mixture of tetrahydrofuran and aqueous hydrochloric acid. The diazonium chloride can be extracted into ether. Shevlin obtained the extremely explosive solid diazonium salt (16) by evaporation of that solution. He has recommended that not more than 0.75 mmol of diazonium salt be isolated at one time. An explosion during the diazotization of 5-aminotetrazole on a laboratory scale was described by Gray and coworkers. The structure 17 (equation 5) indicates clearly that this diazo compound may have the tendency to decompose into atomic carbon and three equivalents of dinitrogen—a reaction which is clearly highly exothermic. The decomposition of the tetrazole-5-diazonium chloride (16) has been studied by Shevlin by coating the salt on the walls of a 500 ml flask in the presence of two substrates, ethene and ethylene oxide. With ethene the products found after heating the flask to 80 °C are shown in equation 6, and with ethylene oxide in equation 7. The products correspond to those found with atomic carbon formed by completely different methods (see references cited by Shevlin). 

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