Bond energies, or enthalpies, will be determined for several subsets of high energy-density compounds which contain only the elements boron, nitrogen, phosphorus, fluorine, oxygen and hydrogen. The methods used will be those of thermochemistry, spectroscopy, and quantum mechanical calculations of varying levels of sophistication, depending upon molecular complexity. The three subsets of compounds suggested initially are derivatives of borazine (b[3]n[3]h[6]), derivatives of poly(phosphazenes) ([npr(2)]n), and additional derivatives of the kinetically-stabilized derivatives of the boron phosphorus analog of orazine [3]p[3]r[3]r'[3]). Herer and r' are bulky substitutes. The oxidizer groups proposed are no(2), no(3), and NF(2). Heats of formation will be determined, for all compounds, by combining the bond energies thus determined with known thermo chemical data. Possible Phase II activities would involve synthesis of promising compounds, which in turn would be subjected to calorimetry, sensitivity tests, and thermal decomposition kinetic studies. Input from NSWC will be sought at several stages of the work.
