Nitrogen-Rich Tetranuclear Metal Complex as a New Structural Motif for Energetic Materials.

For designing energetic materials (EMs), the most challenging issue is to achieve a balance between energetic performance and reliable stability. In this work, we employed an efficient and convenient method to synthesize a new class of EMs: nitrogen-rich tetranuclear metal complexes [M(Hdtim)(HO)] (M = Zn , Mn ; Hdtim = 1-imidazol-4,5-tetrazole) with the N content of >46%. The structural analyses illustrate that isomorphous compounds and feature isolated hollow ellipsoid tetranuclear units, which are linked by both π-π interactions and hydrogen-bonding interactions to give a 3D supramolecular architecture. Compounds and exhibit prominent energetic characteristics: excellent detonation performances and reliable thermal, impact, and friction stabilities. Being nitrogen-rich tetrazolate compounds, the enthalpies of combustion of (-11.570 kJ g) and (-12.186 kJ g) are higher than those of classical EMs, RDX and HMX, and they possess high positive heats of formation. Sensitivity tests demonstrate that and are insensitive to external mechanical action. Excellent energetic performances and low sensitivities promote and to serve as a new class of promising EMs with a desirable level of safety.