Joint Photomicrobial Process for the Degradation of the Insensitive Munition N-Guanylurea-dinitramide (FOX-12)

N-Guanylurea-dinitramide (FOX-12) is a very insensitive energetic material intended to be used in the composition of next-generation insensitive munitions. To help predict the environmental behavior and fate of FOX-12, we conducted a study to determine its photodegradability and biodegradability. When dissolved in water, FOX-12, a guanylurea-dinitramide salt, also named GUDN, dissociated instantly to produce the dinitramide moiety and guanylurea, as demonstrated by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. When an aqueous solution of FOX-12 was subjected to photolysis using a solar-simulated photoreactor, we found a rapid removal of the dinitramide with concurrent formation of N2O, NO2–, and NO3–. The second component, guanylurea, was photostable. However, when FOX-12 was incubated aerobically with the soil isolate Variovorax strain VC1 and protected from light, the dinitramide component of FOX-12 was recalcitrant but guanylurea degraded effectively to ammonia, guanidine, and presumably CO2....