Synthesis of 5-(1H-pyrazol-1-yl)-2H-tetrazole-derived energetic salts with high thermal stability and low sensitivity

In this study, a novel energetic compound 3-nitro-1-(2H-tetrazol-5-yl)-1H-pyrazole-4-carboxylic acid (1) and a series of corresponding energetic salts (2–4) were designed and synthesized. Their chemical structures were determined through NMR spectra, elemental analysis, FT-IR, and single crystal X-ray diffraction. All of these energetic compounds displayed low sensitivity to impact (IS ​> ​40 ​J) and friction (FS ​> ​240 ​N) and acceptable detonation properties. Compound 1–3 showed high thermal stability, with decomposition temperatures higher than 300 ​°C. In addition, the structure–property relationship of these compounds was elucidated by crystal stacking analyses combined with energetic performance parameters. In this way, a new approach for the development of novel energetic materials can be provided given the high performance of these energetic compounds.