Diketopyrrolopyrrole-A Greener Alternative for Pyrotechnic Smoke Compositions

Abstract

Colored smoke compositions are widely used in the modern world, either for special communication signals or for entertainment. The color of smokes is given by various dyes, whichare used in the composition and are usually organic. The currently used anthraquinone dyes are becoming suspicious of being harmfulto human health, and alternative materials are therefore beingsought. An organic dye with a diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) structureis proposed as a suitable and toxicologically harmless replacement inpyrotechnic compositions. The completely different chemical structure of the proposed material in comparison to the usualstructures based on anthraquinone or azo-compounds provides interesting results. Via the yield factor, the functional tests reportedherein confirmed the ability of DPP to form a red-colored smokecloud more effectively than current anthraquinone dyes. In thecomposition with a dye content of 52%, the DPP composition reaches a yield of 51% while the usual anthraquinone composition yields only 47.6%. The high thermal stability of the DPP dye could also offer the possibility of using other heat-generating systems