Nitrogen–rich 1, 2-bis(tetrazol-5-yl)ethane and its Carboxylate Derivative for Potential Energetic Materials

Tetrazole and its derivatives with rich nitrogen atoms are usually considered as potential candidates for energetic materials. The different substituents may have an impact on either the rigidity and flexibility or the energetic performance of such compounds. Here, 1,2-bis(tetrazol-5-yl)ethane (H2btze) was prepared from succinonitrile and sodium azide from a [2+3] cycloaddition reaction, which was further reacted with chloroacetic acid to afford 1, 2-bis(tetrazol-5-yl)ethane diacetic acid (H2btzeda). In order to explore their potential as energetic materials, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric-differential thermogravimetric (TG-DTG) analyses were applied to investigate the thermal decomposition behavior of such compounds. Thermodynamic parameters (ΔH, ΔS and ΔG) and explosion property parameters (critical temperature of thermal explosion, detonation heat, specific volume of explosion, detonation temperature, detonation velocity, detonation pressure, working capacity) were calculated according to literature and the law of thermodynamics base on DSC data. The results show H2btze and H2btzeda with both high enthalpy can be used as potential energetic materials. Furthermore, H2btze has higher specific volume of explosion (943.94 L.kg−1) but lower detonation temperature (1994.44 K), compared with trinitrotoluene (TNT).