Recent advances on the nitrogen-rich 1,2,4-oxadiazole-azoles-based energetic materials

This review covers recent advances in the synthesis and energetic performance of nitrogen-rich 1,2,4-oxadiazole-azoles-based energetic materials. These materials comprise of 1,2,4-oxadiazole subunit as a key structural motif linked to different nitrogen-rich or nitrogen-oxygen azoles: tetrazole, furazan, furoxan, 1,3,4-oxadiazole, pyrazole, and triazole. Particular attention is devoted to the introduction of various energetic groups including nitro, nitramino, azo, azoxy, dinitromethyl, trinitroethyl moieties, and their combination. The physicochemical and available performance parameters including density, decomposition temperature, heat of formation, detonation pressure, detonation velocity, impact sensitivity, and friction sensitivity of typical energetic compounds are also provided and analyzed. Eventually, it was obtained that several screened compounds exhibit superior detonation properties and outstanding insensitivities, which can be classified as a new family of high-performance energetic materials. Additionally, 1,2,4-oxadiazole-azoles-based energetic materials still have many thorough works to further exploited and studied, expecting to get very promising insensitive high explosives for practical application and industrialization.