Synthesis and properties of potassium 5,5′-azobis(1-nitraminotetrazolate): A green primary explosive with superior initiation power

Abstract Potassium 5,5′-azobis(1-nitraminotetrazolate), (K 2 ABNAT), a new green primary explosive, was synthesized via a safe and convenient synthetic procedure based on methylcarbazate and cyanogen azide. The compound was characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, IR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). With the calculated (CBS-4M) heat of formation (617.0 kJ/mol) and the room temperature X-ray density (2.11 g/cm 3 ), impressive values for the detonation parameters such as detonation velocity (8367 m/s) and pressure (31.5 GPa) were computed using the EXPLO5 program. The superior calculated energetic performance show it could serve as a green replacement for the widely used primary explosive, lead(II) azide, which contains toxic ingredient.