Imidazole-Based Energetic Materials: A Promising Family of N-Heterocyclic Framework

Imidazole represents a fascinating class of explosophoric units with exciting structures and unique properties. As compared to other nitrogen-rich heterocycles, imidazole demonstrates great potential applications due to economic effectiveness and superior energetic performances. The field of traditional chemistry has been extensively explored for imidazole, and thus established bond-building methods and functionalization strategies promote further development as high-energy density materials (HEDMs). This review addresses the development of energetic imidazole compounds in the past decade, summarizes their physiochemical properties, and is divided into three parts (explosives, propellants, and energetic biocides) according to application requirements. Various synthetic strategies for these energetic molecules are highlighted, including the construction of heterocyclic frameworks and following functionalization. The selected and discussed reactions illustrate the versatility of imidazole in energetic applications as building blocks for the future design of new HEDMs.