Introduction of the acylamino group to bridged bis(nitroamino-1,2,4-triazole): a strategy for tuning the sensitivity of energetic materials

Abstract

In this work, the acylamino group has been introduced into energetic materials to build acylamino-bridged bis(1,2,4-triazole) 3 and its nitration derivative 4. Both 3 and 4 were thoroughly characterized via spectroscopic and structural methods. In addition, their sensitivities toward friction and impact were determined and the energetic performances of 3 and 4 were calculated using the EXPLO5 code. Compound 3 is insensitive to mechanical stimulation (IS: 40 J, FS: 320 N). Besides, compared with the C–C-bonded compound DNABT (IS: 3 J, D: 8355 m s⁻¹) without any bridging group, 4 achieves a balance between the sensitivity (IS: 18 J, FS: 200 N) and the detonation velocity (D: 8564 m s⁻¹). The effect of introducing an acylamino group into 3 and 4 was elucidated using HOMO–LUMO analysis and the anisotropy of the induced current-density method.