Design and theoretical study of 15 novel high energy density compounds

DFT studies on nitrogen-rich pyrazino [2, 3-e] [1, 2, 3, 4] tetrazine-based high-energy density compounds

By using the density functional theory method, we investigated the heats of formation (HOFs), electronic structure, detonation properties, thermal stability and sensitivity for a set of pyrazino [2, 3-e] [1, 2, 3, 4] tetrazine derivatives with different substituents and different numbers of N-oxides. Our findings reveal that the HOFs of the derivatives decrease dramatically with the increasing number of N-oxides. The effects of the substituents on the HOMO-LUMO gaps are coupled with those of the N-oxides. The calculated detonation properties point out that -NF₂, -ONO₂ and an increasing number of N-oxides are very helpful for improving the detonation performance of the designed derivatives. The bond dissociation energies of the weakest bonds indicate that a majority of our designed compounds have better thermal stability. The -NH₂ group is very useful to decrease the free space value. Most of the derivatives have higher h₅₀ values compared with parent molecules. Considering the sensitivity, thermal stability and detonation performance, four compounds could be considered as potential candidates of high-energy density compounds.

Comparative studies on structure, sensitivity and mechanical properties of CL-20/DNDAP cocrystal and composite by molecular dynamics simulation

Molecular dynamics simulation was performed on 2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazaisowurtzitane (CL-20), 2,4-dinitro-2,4-diazapentane (DNDAP), and CL-20/DNDAP cocrystal and composite under COMPASS force field at different temperatures. The binding energy (E_bind), radial distribution function (RDF), trigger bond length, cohesive energy density (CED) and mechanical properties were studied and compared. The results show that the binding energy of the cocrystal is evidently higher than that of the composite at the same temperature. RDF analysis reveals that hydrogen bonds and vdW forces between CL-20 and DNDAP exist in both CL-20/DNDAP cocrystal and composite, and the interactions in the cocrystal are stronger than those in the composite. The maximum trigger bond length decreases in the order ε-CL-20 > CL-20/DNDAP composite > CL-20/DNDAP cocrystal. Moreover, the rigidity and stiffness of the cocrystal and composite decrease compared to that of CL-20, while the ductility and elasticity are better than that of the two pure components. These results demonstrate that CL-20/DNDAP cocrystal might be very promising in explosive applications.

This work proves that cocrystallization is a more effective modification method than mixing and elucidated the underlying mechanism.

Study on the computer-aided design of high energetic compounds based on the 1,2,3,4-tetrazine-1,3-dioxide frame

In order to discover more potential high energy compounds, five computer-aided design methods were founded, and 20 high energetic compounds based on the 1,2,3,4-tetrazine-1,3-dioxide frame were designed. The first step of computer-aided design methods was to design new frame M. Three combination rules were invented, they were simple double-points rule, complicated double-points rule, and complicated multi-points rule. The second step of computer-aided design methods was to design 1,2,3,4-tetrazine 1,3-dioxides derivants by connecting M to 1,2,3,4-tetrazine-1,3-dioxides. Two combination rules were invented, they were simple single-points rule and double-points rule. All the structures are ring-fused or caged compounds including 1,2,3,4-tetrazine-1,3-dioxide. In these compounds, almost half of them have positive or zero oxygen balances, and the nitrogen contents of 17 compounds are over 40%. The densities and detonation velocities of all compounds are over 1.98 g cm^-3 and 9500 m s^-1 respectively. -N = N- group and -NO₂ group have a major contribution to enthalpy of formation, detonation heat, and power index. -O- group and -ONO₂ group have the main contribution to density, detonation velocity, and detonation pressure.

Impact sensitivity and the maximum heat of detonation

We demonstrate that a large heat of detonation is undesirable from the standpoint of the impact sensitivity of an explosive and also unnecessary from the standpoints of its detonation velocity and detonation pressure. High values of the latter properties can be achieved even with a moderate heat of detonation, and this in turn enhances the likelihood of relatively low sensitivity.

Solvation of the fluorine containing anions and their lithium salts in propylene carbonate and dimethoxyethane

Electrolyte solutions based on the propylene carbonate (PC)-dimethoxyethane (DME) mixtures are of significant importance and urgency due to emergence of lithium-ion batteries. Solvation and coordination of the lithium cation in these systems have been recently attended in detail. However, analogous information concerning anions (tetrafluoroborate, hexafluorophosphate) is still missed. This work reports PM7-MD simulations (electronic-structure level of description) to include finite-temperature effects on the anion solvation regularities in the PC-DME mixture. The reported result evidences that the anions appear weakly solvated. This observation is linked to the absence of suitable coordination sites in the solvent molecules. In the concentrated electrolyte solutions, both BF4(-) and PF6(-) prefer to exist as neutral ion pairs (LiBF4, LiPF6).