5-nitrotetrazol and 1,2,4-oxadiazole methylene-bridged energetic compounds: Synthesis, crystal structures and performances

A new structural type for melt cast materials was designed by linking nitrotetrazole ring with 1,2,4-oxadiazole through a N-CH₂-C bridge for the first time. Three N-CH₂-C link-age bridged energetic compounds, including 3-((5-nitro-2H-tetrazol-2-yl) methyl)-1,2,4-oxadiazole (NTOM), 3-((5-nitro-2H-tetrazol-2-yl)methyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-1,2,4-oxadiazole (NTOF) and 3-((5-nitro-2H-tetrazol-2-yl)methyl)-5-amine-1,2,4-oxadiazole (NTOA), were designed and synthesized through a two-step reaction by using 2-(5-nitro-2H-tetrazole-2-yl)acetonitrile as the starting material. The synthesized compounds were fully characterized by NMR (¹ H,¹³ C), IR spectroscopy and ele-mental analysis. The single crystals of NTOM, NTOF and NTOA were successfully obtained and investigated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The thermal stabilities of these compounds were evaluated by DSC-TG measurements, and their apparent activation energies were calculated by Kissinger and Ozawa methods. The crystal densities of the three compounds were between 1.66 g/cm³ (NTOA) and 1.87 g/cm³ (NTOF). The impact and friction sensitivities were measured by standard BAM fall-hammer techniques, and their detonation performances were computed using the EXPLO 5 (v. 6.04) program. The detonation velocities of the three compounds are between 7271 m/s (NTOF) and 7909 m/s (NTOM). The impact sensitivities are >40 J, and the friction sensitivities are >360 N. NTOM, NTOF and NTOA are thermally stable, with decomposition points > 240^◦ C. The melting points of NTOM and NTOF are 82.6^◦ C and 71.7^◦ C, respectively. Hence, they possess potential to be used as melt cast materials with good thermal stabilities and better detonation performances than TNT.