Plosophoric groups

This Encyclopedia is intended to cover the following items a)Military and industrial explosives, explosive compositions, propellants and pyrotechnic compositions b)Explosives and explosive compositions which have not been used for military or industrial purposes c)Analytical procedures for the more common explosives, propellants and pyrotechnic compositions d)Compounds which deflagrate or may possibly explode because of the presence of plosophoric groups e)Ammunition items, such as projectiles, bombs, grenades, detonators, fuzes, etc fJCalibers of weapons and projectiles used in the US and foreign countries g) Brief definitions of ordnance terms h)Names of scientists who made important contributions in the fields of explosives, ammunition and weapons... 

As was mentioned in the preface we have listed not only compounds which have been reported as explosive, but also compounds which have been or may be prepared and which, because of the presence of plosophoric groups, may possibly be explosive. This has been done because, unfortunately, many workers who have prepared compounds which may be explosive, have not made tests for explosibility. Many substances ordinarily not considered explosive, have exploded accidentally or been caused to explode experimentally... 

Because of the potential hazard from compounds containing plosophoric groups we have included compounds which, in our opinion, contain a sufficient percent-... 

Since many nitrated amines are expl (the nitro, nitramino and nitrate groups are ex-plosophores), WW II served as a strong stimulus for a more intensive study of them, so that today the published material in this field is so extensive that a listing of more than a small number of the most significant refs is not practicable in this dictionary. 

In the course of this work the term plosopbore was coined (Ref 2 Ref 3, pp 423-4) for a group of atoms which on substitution into a hydrocarbon is capable of forming an expl compd. Inspection of the groups which can function in this way indicated that there are two classes of ploso-phores, differing sharply in effectiveness and consistency in producing power and hence they were called primary and secondary plosophores... 

Primary plosophores include the following groups nitrate ester, aromatic nitro, aliphatic nitro, and nitramines while the secondary plosophores include the remainder, such as azo, azido, nitro so, peroxide, fulminate, chlorate, bromare, perchlorate, per-bromate, etc groups... 

Group 1 - Radicals which Confer Explosive Properties (Plosophores) ... 

Continuing with this theme, an auxochrome is a group that can deepen or intensify color—for example, NH2 or OH. By analogy, these same groups can be regarded as auxoploses, since combination with a plosophore will enhance the potential for explosion (see Table 1 for auxoplose-plosophore combinations). 

Primary plosophores include nitrate esters, aromatic and aliphatic nitro groups and the nitramine group. 

The secondary plosophores that comprise the remainder include such groups as azo, azide, nitroso, peroxide, ozonide, perchlorate, etc. 

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