Bistetrazoles: Nitrogen-Rich, High-Performing, Insensitive Energetic Compounds

Abstract

Large-scale syntheses of nitrogen-rich 5,5′-hydrazinebistetrazole (HBT) (or 1,2-ditetrazolylhydrazine) and bis(3,4,5-triamino-1,2,4-triazolium) 5,5′-azotetrazolate (G2ZT) with high yields and purities on a multigram scale are introduced. DSC analysis showed good thermal stabilities for both materials (>200 °C) and their long-term stabilities were assessed by TSC (thermal safety calorimetry). Because molecular structures play an important role in the properties of an energetic material, hydrogen bonding in both compounds is described in terms of graph-set analysis. The extensive hydrogen bonding in the structures seems to account for their relatively high densities (HBT, ρ = 1.841 g cm−3; and G2ZT, ρ = 1.708 g cm−3). The heats of combustion of the two compounds were calculated (ΔcU°(HBT) = −2396 cal g−1 and ΔcU°(G2ZT) = −2775 cal g−1) and combined with the experimentally determined densitites (X-ray) and the molecular formulas to calculate the detonation pressures (P) and velocities (D) using the EXPLO5 co...