Tuning the Properties of 5-Azido and 5-Nitramino-tetrazoles by Diverse Functionalization - General Concepts for Future Energetic Materials.

5-Azido and 5-nitraminotetrazole backbones are established heterocyclic motifs in the research field of energetic materials synthesis. Despite the high energy content of the compounds, the problem with many derivatives is that their sensitivities are far too high. Functionalization of one of the ring nitrogen atoms is the aim of this study to adjust the sensitivity by inserting nitratoethyl, azidoethyl and methyl groups. In this context, derivatives of 2-(2-azidoethyl)-5-nitraminotetrazoles (2, 2 a-2 d), as well as 1-nitrato and 1-azidoethyl substituted 5-azidotetrazole (7 and 10) and the methylation products of 5-azidotetrazole (5-azido-1-methyl-tetrazole, 11 and 5-azido-2-methyl-tetrazole, 12) were prepared. The obtained nitrogen-rich compounds were extensively characterized through multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and IR spectroscopy. The structural confinement was checked by X-ray diffraction experiments. The pure samples (verified by elemental analysis) were investigated regarding their behavior toward friction, impact (BAM methods) and electrostatic discharge as well as heating (DTA and DSC). For all metal-free compounds the detonation properties were computed with the EXPLO5 code using their density and heat of formation, calculated based on CBS-4 M level of theory.