This paper reviews selected surfactants obtained from fatty acids. Because of their indispensible properties, some of these surfactants have already been in use for a long time, whereas others, such as sucrose esters or ester sulfonates, are only beginning to be used. However, all these surfactants have in common the fact that they are highly acceptable to the environment, characterized by their skin tolerance, good biological degradability and low toxicity. With consumer awareness becoming more and more apparent, these are noteworthy properties from which we can expect that surfactants prepared from fats will increase in importance in the future.

The present paper deals with both the conventional solid propellant and modern liquid propellant gun concepts. Solid propellant guns, known since the 14th century, are still being investigated, although this concept represents a relative mature technology. Thus any progress is predominantly a refinement of existing techniques. Comparatively, liquid propellant gun research and development address a rather new technique and invoke some improvements over conventional solid propellant systems. Especially, automatic system are easier to design, artillery zoning is more easily achieved, cartridge disposal is avoided, and high‐energetic liquid propellants or special system designs offer higher performance. Therefore, the liquid propellant gun technology seems to be a near‐term technology that, complementary to solid propellant gun concepts, might play a role in future armament.

Modern gun propulsion techniques are driven by the desire to increase muzzle kinetic energy as a means to enhance weapon lethality, reduce costs, increase reliability, and improve vulnerability. In recent years, a significant part of research and developmental activities has been focused not only on conventional solid‐propellant and novel liquid‐propellant gun propulsion techniques but also on advanced concepts, particularly those offering substantial performance increase. High performance can be achieved by pure electric systems(coil or rail gun) as well as by combining chemical propulsion either with gasdynamic principles (light gas gun or ram accelerator) or with electrothermal techniques (hybrid gun). Part I of this paper deals with the fundamentals of projectile acceleration techniques. The objective is to provide the basis for understanding gun technology and to lay the basis for assessing present and future developments.

Isomerenreines 2‐Nitro‐thiophen (I) schmilzt bei ca. 41°. Im IR.‐Spektrum lässt sich die Gegenwart von 3‐Nitrothiophen (II) durch die für diese Verbindung charakteristische Absorption bei 834 cm−1 nachweisen. Im UV. weist I ein einziges Maximum bei 298 nm auf.

In kommerziellem, als 95%ig rein deklariertem 2‐Nitrothiophen wurden 15% 3‐Nitro‐thiophen gefunden.