Stepwise Degradation of Polyfunctional Compounds

The formal kinetic peculiarities of the decomposition of polyfunctional compounds containing several identical reaction groups were used to determine the stepwise character of secondary reactions and to interpret their chemical mechanism. It was found that the degradation of difluoramines, azides, nitro esters, and aliphatic and aromatic nitro compounds always occurred stepwise via long-lived intermediate products. Only nitramines with closely spaced reaction centers exhibited deviations from this mechanism.