Synthesis and Optimization of 1,4-Dinitrocyclohexane-2,3,5,6-Tetranitrate by the Surface Response Method

1,4-dinitrocyclohexane-2,3,5,6-tetranitrate is one of the strongest cyclic nitrate ester plasticizers, which is used as a new generation of plasticizers in the formulation of energetic materials. In this research, the mentioned compound was synthesized and optimized in two steps through experiment design using the Minitab 18 software (Surface Response Method) on temperature, time, and the molar ratio of reactants parameters. In the first step, 1,4-dinitrocyclohexane 2,3,5,6-tetraol was synthesized and optimized by an easy method using glyoxal and nitromethane reactants in an alkaline environment at a temperature of 10 °C for two hours, and confirmed by FT-IR and 1H-NMR spectra. In the second step, 1,4-dinitrocyclohexane-2,3,5,6-tetranitrate was synthesized with a decomposition temperature of 191 °C, and a yield of 73.56% by nitration of the 1,4-dinitrocyclohexane-2,3,5,6-tetraol with nitric acid and acetic anhydride at a temperature of 20 °C for four hours. This compound was analyzed and characterized with the help of FT-IR, 1H-NMR, and DSC-TGA.