3,3,6,6,9,9-Hexaethyl-1,2,4,5,7,8-hexaoxacyclononane at 296 K.

The title molecule (diethyl ketone triperoxide, DEKTP), C(15)H(30)O(6), is a cyclic triperoxide closely related to triacetone triperoxide (TATP), one of the most unstable explosives known. However, the stability of DEKTP is ca 20-50 times greater than that of TATP. DEKTP crystallizes with two molecules in the asymmetric unit, with virtually identical geometry. The cyclononane core is stabilized in a twisted boat-chair conformation (approximate D(3) symmetry), very close to that previously described for TATP. The explanation for the safe thermal behaviour of DEKTP compared with TATP should thus not be sought in the molecular dimensions, but rather in the thermal decomposition kinetics.