C₈N₂₆H₄: An Environmentally Friendly Primary Explosive with High Heat of Formation

Abstract

The synthesis and characterization of the metal-free polyazido compounds 3,6-bis-(2-(4,6-diazido-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)-hydrazinyl)-1,2,4,5-tetrazine (2) and 3,6-bis-(2-(4,6-diazido-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)-diazenyl)-1,2,4,5-tetrazine (4) are presented. Two compounds were characterized by NMR spectra, IR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Additionally, the structure of 2 was confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Compounds 2 and 4 exhibit measured densities (1.755 g cm^-3 and 1.763 g cm^-3 ), good thermal stabilities (194 °C and 189 °C), high heat of formation (2114 kJ mol^-1 and 2820 kJ mol^-1 ), and excellent detonation performance (D, 8365 m s^-1 and 8602 m s^-1 ; P, 26.8 GPa and 29.4 GPa). Furthermore, compounds 2 and 4 have been tested for their priming ability to detonate RDX. The results indicate that the title compound 2 is a potential environmentally friendly alternative candidate to lead-based primary explosives.