Manipulating sensitivities of planar oxadiazole-based high performing energetic materials

Nitrogen-rich energetic materials based on five-membered azoles, such as tetrazoles, triazoles, oxadiazoles, pyrazoles, and imidazoles, have garnered significant attention in recent years due to their environmental compatibility while maintaining high performance. These materials, including explosives, propellants, and pyrotechnics, are designed to release energy rapidly and efficiently while minimizing the release of toxic or hazardous byproducts and have attracted potential applications in the defense and space industries. The presence of extensive N-C, N-N, and NN high energy bonds in azoles provides high enthalpies of formation and facilitates intermolecular interactions through pi-stacking which may help with reducing sensitivity to external stimuli. Now, we report on the synthesis and energetic properties of N-(5-(1H-tetrazol-5-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)nitramide (5) and its energetic salts. These new high nitrogen-oxygen-containing materials have attractive feature applications of insensitivity and increased performance. The results from this study demonstrate that the planarity in azoles does contribute toward insensitivity. The safety advantage of planar 1,3,4-oxadiazole-tetrazole mixed azole is combined with the energy of nitroamine to achieve better physiochemical properties.image