The development of stable high energy density materials is of importance to both the military and civilian sectors. In military applications, high explosives with tunable detonation pressures will allow for more precise target strikes and limit collateral damage. In the civilian sector, explosives with greater detonation velocity will benefit the mining and oil drilling industries among others. Current energetic materials are primarily composed of organic molecules and their energy output is limited by a theoretical CHNO ceiling which refers to the fact that improvements of these energetic materials over recent decades have been minimal. In order to subvert this problem, we seek to employ the use of first row transition metals. By converting the ionic bonds of energetic salts into covalent ligand-metal bonds through the reaction of various metaltrimethylsilyl amides with substituted aminotetrazolium salts, the detonation velocity and stability of said salts can be optimized. Additionally, through the careful design of these anions, one can minimize oxygen balance and place a fuel source such as tetrazole near a strong oxidizer like perchlorate. This will allow for rapid and complete oxidization of the fuel molecules resulting in detonation. Our work focuses on the utilization of first-row metals and substituted tetrazolium salts to create clusters that have enhanced stability and energetic properties compared to current CHNO materials. The results of our efforts to form molecular clusters that link tetrazole ligands to perchlorates through metals such as copper, zinc and cobalt will be presented.

Synthesis and characterization of high energy density molecular clusters

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.