Iranian Scientific Association of Energetic Materials

N,N’-bis(2-hydroxypropyl)aniline (Isonol C100) is an alkanolamine. This compound is intended to increase the chain length of curing composite solid propellants, stabilize and soften the double base propellants, and assist in the softening of the ethyl cellules. Isonol C100 was synthesized through the reaction of propylene oxide and aniline at a pressure of 7 bar, a temperature of 125 °C and in the presence of lithium Bromide as catalyst. Due to the existence of active sites on propylene oxide, different catalytic and temperature conditions can causes the production of propylene glycol and polypropylene glycol, in addition to the production of undesired and additional products which reduces the purity of the final product and decrease the reaction efficiency. Control of the parameters such as the temperature, method of addition of materials, injection of nitrogen gas, and pressure, can increase the reaction efficiency and product purity. The advantages of this method include the low temperature reaction and absence of solvent. Propoxylation products were determined by GC/MS, separated by column chromatogaphy, and characterized using the ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, and IR spectrometry.