Bilateral modification of FOX-7 towards an enhanced energetic compound with promising performances

Achieving high detonation performance, good thermal stability, and insensitivity is a major challenge in the field of energetic materials. Since the discovery of 1,1-diamino-2,2-dinitmethene (FOX-7), its energetic derivatives have been proposed as a promising solution to this challenge. So far, good candidates that have all the advantages continue to be rare. Now we propose a strategy of bilateral structure modification; that is, replacing the amino and nitro groups in FOX-7 with hydrazine and tetrazole moieties simultaneously. By using this methodology, (Z)-1-amino-1-hydrazinyl-2-nitro-2-(1H-tetrazol-5-yl)ethene (HTz-FOX), an advanced energetic compound was synthesized and fully characterized. It exhibits promising properties (D-v = 8883 m s(-1), P = 28.3 GPa, T-d = 237 degrees C, IS = 10 J, FS = 240 N), which are superior to those of RDX (D-v = 8801 m s(-1), P = 33.6 GPa, T-d = 204 degrees C, IS = 6.0 J, FS = 120 N). Additionally, it shows excellent combustion properties with a maximum pressure of 20.13 GPa and a very short delay combustion time of 0.09 ms, which suggests it could be a good candidate as a gas generator. The strategy based on a bilateral structure modification should be useful for exploring more promising energetic materials in the future.

Automated summary

A strategy of bilateral structure modification was proposed to synthesize an advanced energetic compound (HTz-FOX) with superior properties compared to RDX, showing excellent combustion properties and being a good candidate as a gas generator. The strategy based on bilateral structure modification could be useful for exploring more promising energetic materials in the future.