One-step synthesis to an insensitive explosive: N,N′-bis((1H-tetrazol-5-yl)methyl)nitramide (BTMNA)

RDX is used widely as a practical secondary explosive for civilian and military applications because of its high chemical stability and explosive power. However, a major shortcoming of RDX is its high sensitivity which leads to numerous accidents by accidental initiation. One of the major challenges in worldwide energetic materials research is the design and synthesis of insensitive high performing explosives. In this work, N,N′-bis((1H-tetrazol-5-yl)methyl)nitramide (BTMNA) (Mitchell et al., 2017) is obtained by a one-step reaction in >90 yield. The structure of BTMNA was confirmed by elemental analysis and X-ray single crystal diffraction. As a result of hydrogen bonding, the crystal density of BTMNA is 1.822 g/cm³ at 100 K. The thermal decomposition temperature is 198 °C, and the impact and friction sensitivities are remarkable at 30 J, and 360 N. BTMNA, in its role as an insensitive RDX alternative, has a detonation velocity and pressure of 8732 m/s and 29.4 GPa, respectfully, thus making it a practical replacement for RDX.