Effect of molecular and lattice structure on hydrogen transfer in molecular crystals of diamino-dinitroethylene and triamino-trinitrobenzene

We have studied the intra- and intermolecular hydrogen transfer in a crystalline 1,1-diamino-2,2-dinitroethylene (DADNE) and 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB) by means of an embedded cluster method and density functional theory (DFT). We found that, even though both of these materials have similar amino- and nitro- functional groups and layered crystalline structures, there are important differences in the mechanisms of hydrogen transfer. In particular, our calculations suggest that the proton migration from an amino-group to a nitro-group of the same molecule is a feasible process in TATB but not in DADNE. At the same time, we have found that no intermolecular hydrogen transfer occurs in either molecular crystal. These results imply that the activation of the decomposition reactions proceeds via different paths in these two materials.