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Nitrogen-rich heterocycles are essential for designing novel energetic green materials with the combination of high explosive performance and acceptable mechanical sensitivities. In this work, two sets of high nitrogen-azoles, derived from tetrazoles and triazole assemblies with N -trinitromethane, 5,5′-(2-(trinitromethyl)-2 H -1,2,3-triazole-4,5-diyl)bis(1 H -tetrazole) (TBTN) and N -methylene tetrazole, 5,5′-(2-((1 H -tetrazol-5-yl)methyl)-2 H -1,2,3-triazole-4,5-diyl)bis(1 H -tetrazole) (TBTT) are described. Their molecular structures were confirmed using multinuclear ( 1 H, 13 C, and 15 N) NMR spectra and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. These molecules are attention attracting results emanating from methodologies utilized to access a unique class of tri-ionic salts in reaction with nitrogen-rich bases. The thermostabilities, mechanical sensitivities, and detonation properties of all new compounds were determined. Surprisingly, the nitro-based tri-cationic salts, 5b (Dv = 9376 m s −1 ) and 5c (Dv = 9418 m s −1 ), have excellent detonation velocities relative to HMX (Dv = 9144 m s −1 ), while those of the nitro-free tri-cationic salts, 8b·H2O (Dv = 8998 m s −1 ) and 8c·0.5H2O (Dv = 9058 m s −1 ), are superior to that of RDX (Dv = 8795 m s −1 ) and approach HMX values. Additionally, nearly all new compounds are insensitive to mechanical stimuli because of the high percentage of hydrogen bond interactions (HBs) between the anions and cations, which are evaluated using two-dimensional (2D) fingerprint and Hirshfeld surface analyses. It is believed that the work presented here is the first example of high-performing and insensitive tri-cationic energetic salts, which may establish a discovery platform for the “green” synthesis of future energetic materials. 

Abstract While it is well recognized that both the Galactic interstellar extinction curves and the gas-phase abundances of dust-forming elements exhibit considerable variations from one sight line to another, as yet most of the dust extinction modeling efforts have been directed to the Galactic average extinction curve, which is obtained by averaging over many clouds of different gas and dust properties. Therefore, any details concerning the relationship between the dust properties and the interstellar environments are lost. Here we utilize the wealth of extinction and elemental abundance data obtained by space telescopes and explore the dust properties of a large number of individual sight lines. We model the observed extinction curve of each sight line and derive the abundances of the major dust-forming elements (i.e., C, O, Si, Mg, and Fe) required to be tied up in dust (i.e., dust depletion). We then confront the derived dust depletions with the observed gas-phase abundances of these elements and investigate the environmental effects on the dust properties and elemental depletions. It is found that for the majority of the sight lines the interstellar oxygen atoms are fully accommodated by gas and dust and therefore there does not appear to be a “missing oxygen” problem. For those sight lines with an extinction-to-hydrogen column density A V / N H ≳ 4.8 × 10 −22 mag cm 2 H −1 there are shortages of C, Si, Mg, and Fe elements for making dust to account for the observed extinction, even if the interstellar C/H, Si/H, Mg/H, and Fe/H abundances are assumed to be protosolar abundances augmented by Galactic chemical evolution. 

Abstract During October 2019 and March 2020, the luminous red supergiant Betelgeuse demonstrated an unusually deep minimum of its brightness. It became fainter by more than one magnitude and this is the most significant dimming observed in the recent decades. While the reason for the dimming is debated, pre-phase of supernova explosion, obscuring dust, or changes in the photosphere of the star were suggested scenarios. Here, we present spectroscopic studies of Betelgeuse using high-resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio near-infrared spectra obtained at Weihai Observatory on four epochs in 2020 covering the phases of during and after dimming. We show that the dimming episode is caused by the dropping of its effective temperature by at least 170 K on 2020 January 31, that can be attributed to the emergence of a large dark spot on the surface of the star. 

We measure the enclosed Milky Way mass profile to Galactocentric distances of ∼70 and ∼50 kpc using the smooth, diffuse stellar halo samples of Bird et al. The samples are Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) and Sloan Digital Sky Survey/Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (SDSS/SEGUE) K giants (KG) and SDSS/SEGUE blue horizontal branch (BHB) stars with accurate metallicities. The 3D kinematics are available through LAMOST and SDSS/SEGUE distances and radial velocities and Gaia DR2 proper motions. Two methods are used to estimate the enclosed mass: 3D spherical Jeans equation and Evans et al. tracer mass estimator (TME). We remove substructure via the Xue et al. method based on integrals of motion. We evaluate the uncertainties on our estimates due to random sampling noise, systematic distance errors, the adopted density profile, and non-virialization and non-spherical effects of the halo. The tracer density profile remains a limiting systematic in our mass estimates, although within these limits we find reasonable agreement across the different samples and the methods applied. Out to ∼70 and ∼50 kpc, the Jeans method yields total enclosed masses of 4.3 ± 0.95 (random) ±0.6 (systematic) × 1011 M⊙ and 4.1 ± 1.2 (random) ±0.6 (systematic) × 1011 M⊙ for the KG and BHB stars, respectively. For the KG and BHB samples, we find a dark matter virial mass of $M_{200}=0.55^{+0.15}_{-0.11}$ (random) ±0.083 (systematic) × 1012 M⊙ and $M_{200}=1.00^{+0.67}_{-0.33}$ (random) ±0.15 (systematic) × 1012 M⊙, respectively.