High Performance and Insensitive Energetic Compounds from the Intelligent Assembly of Nitramino/Gem-dinitromethyl group and Oxadiazoles

Abstract

It is widely recognized that an increase in the number of gem-dinitromethyl or nitamino groups in compounds typically leads to a higher oxygen balance and enhanced performance, but at the cost of reduced molecular stability. In order to effectively balance high-performance and mechanical sensitivity, the intelligent assembly of energetic groups and backbones has been identified as a promising strategy. Here, the combination of nitramino, gem-dinitromethyl groups and oxadiazoles gave 4-nitramino-3-(5-dinitromethyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole)-1,2,5-oxadiazole (8) and its corresponding four energetic salts. Furthermore, it is worth noting that the exact structural features of compounds 3 and 6 were successfully validated using single crystal diffraction data. Neutral compound 8 showed a commendable oxygen balance of 10.6%, as well as excellent detonation velocity of 8808 m s-1 and detonation pressure of 34.2 GPa. The dihydroxylammonium salt 6 and dihydrazinium salt 7 demonstrated exceptional detonation properties (6: 8762 m s-1, 33.6 GPa; 7: 8800 m s-1, 33.1 GPa) and outstanding sensitivities (IS > 40 J, FS > 360 N), indicating their high potential as a replacement for RDX (8795 m s-1, 34.9 GPa, 7.4 J, 240 N).