Chain decomposition of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene in hydrocarbon solvents

The rate constants for the thermal decomposition of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene have been measured in toluene and other hydrocarbon solvents. The initial, observed rate constant (k_i) increases with dilution with toluene. The concentration dependence is described by the chain decomposition scheme with the transfer of the free valence to a solvent molecule. The activation energy and logk_i were found to linearly correlate with the dissociation energy of the C-H bond of the solvent.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 8, pp. 1977–1980, August, 1996.