Cubane Derivatives for Propellant Applicationsxb

Work during this program emphasized larger scale preparations of cubane-1,4-dicarboxylic acid and process improvements. In the first step, the reaction solvent was changed to toluene to shorten the reaction time and to avoid the use of the carcinogenic solvent, benzene. In the second step, p- dioxane could not be replaced by another solvent, but only molar amounts were needed. This material was destroyed during the reaction, avoiding disposal problem. In step three, the dehydrohalogenation was improved by using inexpensive sodium hydroxide and ethanol instead of potassium t-butoxide in tetrahydrofuran.