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Octanitrocubane is a shock-insensitive high explosive. Unlike Trinitrotoluene (TNT) it is not detonated by shock. The octanitrocubane molecule has the same chemical structure as the cubane molecule, C8H8, except all eight hydrogen (H) atoms are each replaced by a nitro (NO2) group. Its formula is C8N8 O16. Its density is about 2 g/cm3. Its gram-molecular weight is 464.132(1) g/mol.
Octanitrocubane is thought to have 20 to 25 percent greater performance than HMX (octogen); the state-of-the-art military explosive at present. This increase in power is due to its greater molecular weight, as well as to the presence of strained chemical bonds in the molecule.
Small amounts have been synthesized in the lab, but not enough for performance testing.
Octanitrocubane was first synthesized by Philip Eaton and Mao-Xi Zhang at the
University of Chicago in 1999 with the structure proven by
crystallographer Richard Gilardi of the US Naval Research Laboratory.
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