Synthesis of insensitive, high-density energetic materials through molecular self-assembly

Development of insensitive high-energy materials through a simple strategy is still a challenging issue. In this work, five insensitive high-energy materials, namely, TNPDO-ADNP (1), TNPDO-DNBT (2), TNPDO-55BT (3), TNPDO-DNABO (4), and TNPDO-BTO (5), were prepared by the reaction between TNPDO, a high-density insensitive base and five high-energy acids, namely, ADNP (4-amino-3,5-dinitro-1H-pyrazole), DNBT (3,3′-dinitro-5,5′-bis-1,2,4-triazole), 55BT (5,5′-bitetrazole), DNABO (2,2′-dinitramino-5,5′-bis-1H,1′H-oxa-3,4-diazole), and BTO (1H,1′H-5,5′-bitetrazole-1,1′-diol), through molecular self-assembly in an aqueous solution. All the new materials exhibited high density (>1.85 g cm⁻³), acceptable decomposition temperature (>185 °C), high detonation performance (>8376 m s⁻¹, >27.80 GPa) and insensitivity (>40 J, >360 N). The detonation properties of 3 were higher than those of either of its corresponding precursors, and the density of 4 was 1.96 g cm⁻³, with a detonation velocity and pressure of 8895 m s⁻¹ and 33.32 GPa, respectively, which were comparable with those of RDX. The density of 5 was 1.87 g cm⁻³, which was higher than those of either of its precursors. The advantages of simple preparation, insensitivity, acceptable thermal stability and excellent detonation properties make these five materials promising. Moreover, this work may pave the way to the simple preparation strategies for low sensitive or insensitive high-energy materials.