Nitrogen-rich salts based on 5-hydrazino-1H-tetrazole: a new family of high-density energetic materials

High-density energetic salts that contain nitrogen-rich anions and the 5-hydrazino-1H-tetrazolium cation were synthesized. All salts were fully characterized by vibrational spectroscopy (IR), multinuclear (1H, 13C) NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and impact sensitivity. Four compounds were characterized by single X-ray diffraction. The results show that the extensive hydrogen bonding interactions between the cations and anions form a complex 3D network, which contributes greatly to the high density of the 5-hydrazinotetrazolium salts. It was also found that the incorporation of hydrazino groups into a heterocyclic ring increases the heat of formation and overall nitrogen content of the entire molecule. Some of these salts exhibit reasonable physical properties, such as good thermal stability (Td = 173.7–198.6 °C), reasonable impact sensitivities (IS = 4–40 J), and excellent specific impulses (Isp = 196.1–288.7 s). In addition, detonation properties of the energetic salts obtained with EXPLO 5.05 identify them as competitively energetic compounds, and in some cases are superior to those of HMX.