Thermal decomposition of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene in melt and solutions

Thermal decomposition of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene in the temperature range from 200 to 340 °C in melt and in solutions was studied. The main features of the process (high initial rates, activation energies lower than those in the gaseous phase, a higher acceleration at the catalytic stage, and the effect of nonpolar solvents on initial rates) are explained in terms of a kinetic scheme corresponding to a degenerate branched chain reaction.Translated fromIzyestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 2, pp. 266–271, February, 1995.