Renaissance of dinitroazetidine: novel hybrid energetic boosters and oxidizers

Azobis(polynitrophenyl-1,2,5-oxadiazoles) as Heat-Resistant Friction-Insensitive Energetic Materials

The evolution of energetic materials science presents new challenging tasks associated with the creation of advanced technologies for sustainable development of the future. In this work, a set of new heat-resistant high-energy materials incorporating the polynitrophenyl-1,2,5-oxadiazole scaffold enriched with azo/azoxy moieties have been designed and synthesized. Due to a smart combination of explosophoric groups and 1,2,5-oxadiazole rings, the prepared high-energy substances have excellent thermal stability (up to 300 °C), good densities (up to 1.75 g cm-3), high enthalpies of formation (340-538 kJ mol-1), and high combined nitrogen-oxygen content (63-68%). In-depth structural analysis revealed the presence of strong intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonds in aminodinitrophenyl derivatives, which in combination with the small deviation of electrostatic potential values explains the low mechanical sensitivity of these materials. At the same time, trinitrophenyl-1,2,5-oxadiazoles incorporating three adjacent non-coplanar nitro groups demonstrated higher sensitivity to impact, albeit retaining complete insensitivity to friction. The overall performance of the thus prepared high-energy substances exceeds that of the known heat-resistant explosive hexanitrostilbene. Therefore, the newly synthesized family of energetic polynitrophenyl-1,2,5-oxadiazoles provides a fruitful foundation for the creation of the advanced heat-resistant energetic materials of the future.

Energetic Methylene-Bridged Furoxan-Triazole/Tetrazole Hybrids

Design and synthesis of new energetic materials retains its urgency in chemistry and materials science. Herein, rational construction and regioselective synthesis of a series of energetic compounds comprising of a methylene-bridged combination of 1,2,5-oxadiazole and nitrogen-rich azoles (1,2,4-triazole and tetrazole) enriched with additional explosophoric functionalities (nitro and azo moieties) is presented. All target materials were thoroughly characterized using IR and multinuclear NMR (1H, 13C, 14N, 15N) NMR spectroscopy, high-resolution mass spectrometry, X-ray diffraction, and differential scanning calorimetry. All synthesized energetic substances showed good thermal stability (up to 239 °C) and low mechanical sensitivity, while their performance reached or exceeded the level of TNT.

Expanding the Limits of Organic Energetic Materials: High-Performance Alliance of 1,3,4-Thiadiazole and Furazan Scaffolds

A majority of known and newly synthesized energetic materials comprise polynitrogen or nitrogen-oxygen heterocycles with various explosophores. However, available structural combinations of these organic scaffolds are finite and are about to reach their limits. Herein, we present the design and synthesis of a series of sulfur-containing polyazole structures comprising 1,3,4-thiadiazole and furazan rings linked by C-C bonds and enriched with energetic nitro and azo functionalities. In terms of detonation performance, all synthesized 1,3,4-thiadiazole-furazan assemblies (D = 7.7-7.9 km s-1; P = 26-28 GPa) lie between the powerful explosive TATB (D = 8.0 km s-1; P = 31 GPa) and melt-cast material TNT (D = 6.9 km s-1; P = 23 GPa). In the synthesized series, azo-bridged derivative 5 seems to be most practically interesting, as it combines a relatively high energetic performance (D = 7.9 km s-1; P = 28 GPa), a very high thermal stability (271 °C), and insensitivity to friction. By these functional properties, 5 outperforms the benchmark heat-resistant explosive hexanitrostilbene (HNS). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example of an energetic alliance of furazan and 1,3,4-thiadiazole scaffolds and a rare case of sulfur-containing high-energy materials, which can certainly be considered as an evolutionary step in energetic materials science.

(2-Vinyltetrazolyl)furoxans as New Potential Energetic Monomers

A regioselective approach toward the synthesis of a set of new (2-vinyltetrazolyl)furoxans as potential energetic monomers has been realized. All target energetic materials were thoroughly characterized by spectral and analytical methods. Moreover, crystal structures of two representative heterocyclic systems were studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Prepared high-energy substances have high combined nitrogen-oxygen content (63-71 %), high enthalpies of formation and good detonation parameters (D: 6.7-7.8 km s-1; P: 18-28 GPa). Mechanical sensitivities of the synthesized vinyltetrazoles range these explosives from highly sensitive to completely insensitive. Using calculations of molecular electrostatic potentials (ESP), structural factors influencing the impact sensitivity were revealed. Overall, newly synthesized (2-vinyltetrazolyl)furoxans are of interest as promising energetic monomers due to the presence of the vinyl moiety and explosophoric heterocyclic combination, while their performance exceeds that of benchmark explosive TNT.