Synthesis of CL-20 by clean nitrating agent dinitrogen pentoxide

CL-20 is a high energy material. It is usually prepared via nitration with concentrated nitric and sulfuric acid, but this technique pollutes the environment. In this article, CL-20 was synthesized with 2,6,8,12-tetraacetylhexaazatetracyclo[5,5,0,0(3,11),0(5,9)]dodecane (TAIW) and clean nitrating agent dinitrogen pentoxide. By the use of new nitrating agent, the reaction eliminated the use of concentrated sulfuric acid and was environmental friendly with high atom economy. The structure of the compound was characterized by elemental analysis, IR, (1)H NMR and MS. Meanwhile, the effects of reaction temperature, time and other factors on yield were analyzed. Through the separation of intermediate, the nitration course and mechanism were also discussed.