Strategic modular assembly of trifluoromethylated energetic materials via triazine-based scaffolds

Nitrogen-rich frameworks with good thermal stability and low sensitivity have attracted considerable interest as potential energetic materials. Herein, a modular assembly strategy based on nucleophilic aromatic substitution (SNAr) on chloro-1,3,5-triazines was employed to construct triazine-bridged, CF₃-functionalized nitrogen-rich architectures, affording compounds 3 and 6. Subsequent salt formation gave 4 and 5, and the structures of 4 and 5 were confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Among the compounds examined, 4 exhibits a relatively high density (ρ = 1.80 g cm⁻³), improved detonation performance (D = 7664 m s⁻¹, P = 25.2 GPa), very low sensitivity (IS > 40 J, FS > 360 N), and good thermal stability (T_d,onset = 241.4 °C). These results show that triazine-based scaffold assembly combined with perchlorate modulation is a useful approach to tuning the balance among thermal stability, energetic performance, and low sensitivity in CF₃-containing nitrogen-rich systems.