The preparation and characterization of guanylurea nitrate and perchlorate salts

Abstract Guanylurea nitrate (GUN) and guanylurea perchlorate (GUP) were prepared from cyanoguanidine (CG) and concentrated nitric or perchloric acid, respectively. Both compounds were fully characterized by analytical and spectroscopic methods. Crystals of GUP were grown from water, and its crystal structure was determined by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. GUP crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P 2 1 / c with four molecules in the unit cell; different unit cell parameters are a = 8.0115(2) Å, b = 9.7328(2) Å c = 9.5770(2) Å and β = 105.89(1)°. The heats of combustion of both compounds were determined using oxygen bomb calori‐metry. Finally, the EXPLO5 computer code was used to determine the detonation velocity ( D = 5734 m s −1 ) and pressure ( P = 10.6 GPa) of GUN as well as those of formulations with ammonium nitrate and dinitramide. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 19:301–306, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/hc.20419