r/science • u/Skoltech_ • 1d ago

Materials Science Scientists found many new molecules, some with over 75% of TNT's explosive power

https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2468606925000292
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u/HammerTh_1701 1d ago

I know it's just the hook for a general exploration of oxocarbons, but I'd be surprised if they were any good as explosives. The consensus on energetics that are actually useful is that you basically want molecules with as much non-triple bonded nitrogen content as anyhow possible, see Klapötke et al. CnNm-type molecules.

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u/bibliophile785 1d ago

Don't tell me that now even vaunted journals like Materials Today Energy are putting out low relevance studies with shoddy, stapled-on motivations? Where will I find impactful research now? Science and Nature, like a casual? JACS and Angewandte, like everyone else? I only come to r/science for the most important work, like this stuff here!

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u/HammerTh_1701 1d ago edited 1d ago

It's Russian. I didn't want to lead with that, but it surely is a factor. That explosives hook probably is how they got their funding. I know it says "Russian Science Foundation", but in Putin Russia, I'd assume that's equivalent to DARPA funding.