Insensitive nitrogen-rich compounds with a planar 2D configuration based on an imidazole–tetrazole

Abstract

Nowadays, nitrogen rich compounds are the key research objects for high-energy materials. In this paper, a novel nitrogen rich energetic compound (NABTI) and its salt (4) with bis(tetrazole)imidazole as the skeleton were synthesized by simple steps. Their detailed structural data and stability parameters were obtained through experiments, and the internal relationship between them was theoretically analyzed. The results show that they both have regular planar configurations and layer-by-layer packing patterns, and the 3D hydrogen-bonding network and π–π interactions inside the crystals weaken their sensitivity to mechanical stimuli. As the most direct parameter reflecting the energy level, the detonation velocity (D) and detonation pressure (P) of the compounds in the study were calculated through the EXPLOV5 software package. The calculation results showed that NABTI exhibited a better detonation performance (D = 8329 m s⁻¹ and P = 31.4 GPa) than the same type (triazole–tetrazole, NATT) of compound. The advantages of NABTI, such as high nitrogen content, high energy and simple synthesis, fully demonstrate its practicality.