E-Smoking Liquids as Precursors for Liquid Nitroesters

Currently, E-smoking cigarettes are widely used and occur within all classes of society. This work investigated the use of E-smoking liquids for the synthesis of Nitroglycerin (NG) and 1,2-Propylene Glycol Dinitrate (PGDN), both considered as nitroester liquid high explosives. Two kinds of E-smoking liquids (10 mL) were investigated: nicotine free and with nicotine (10 mg/mL). Quantitative analysis of the glycerin and propylene glycol (PG) present in the E-smoking liquids was carried out by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS), with calculation of the accuracy and precision parameters. The percentage of glycerin was (10-13 wt.%) and percentage of propylene glycol was (40-70 wt.%) The synthesis of pure NG and pure PGDN were performed with laboratory grade glycerin and propylene glycol and compared to the samples obtained from the E-smoking liquid. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) was used for the determination of the activation energy and the heat of decomposition for each synthesized explosive, using the Ozawa and Kissinger models. The brisance index was assessed by the witness plate test and compared with some conventional explosives (TNT and C4). Finally, the influence of nicotine (less than 2 wt.%) on the synthetic process and the detonic properties of the explosive mixture was studied.