A Facile and Versatile Synthesis of Energetic Furazan-Functionalized 5-Nitroimino-1,2,4-Triazoles

An analogue-oriented synthetic route for the formulation of furazan-functionalized 5-nitroimino-1,2,4-triazoles has been explored. The process was found to be straightforward, high yielding, and highly efficient, and scalable. Nine compounds were synthesized and the physicochemical and energetic properties, including density, thermal stability, and sensitivity, were investigated, as well as the energetic performance (e.g., detonation velocities and detonation pressures) as evaluated by using EXPLO5 code. Among the new materials, compounds 4 – 6 and 11 possess high densities, acceptable sensitivities, and good detonation performances, and thereby demonstrate the potential applications as new secondary explosives.     

A Boat-Shaped Tetracationic Macrocycle with a Semiconducting Organic Framework

We report the synthesis of a tetracationic macrocycle which contains two N,N′-bis(methylene)naphthalenediimide units inserted in between the pyridinium rings of the bipyridinium units in cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) (CBPQT⁴⁺ or “blue box”) and describe the investigation of its potential use in materials for organic electronics. The incorporation of the two naphthalenediimide (NDI) units into the constitution of CBPQT⁴⁺, not only changes the supramolecular properties of the tetracation in the solid state, but also has a profound influence on the electrochemical and electronic behavior of the resulting tetracationic macrocycle. In particular, the solid-state (super)structure, investigated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, reveals the formation of a three-dimensional (3D) supramolecular framework with ca. 2.8 nm diameter one-dimensional (1D) hexagonal channels. Electrochemical studies on solid-state thin films of the macrocycle show that they exhibit semiconducting properties with a redox-conductivity of up to 7.6×10⁻⁴ S m⁻¹. Moreover, EPR and ENDOR spectroscopies show that charge is equally shared between the NDIs within the one-electron reduced state of the NDI-based macrocycle on the time scale of these techniques.