Searching for a new family of modified CL-20 cage derivatives with high energy and low sensitivity

A new family of energetic caged compounds was designed by introducing -NH- into the CL-20 skeleton and their energetic properties and impact sensitivity were investigated by using density functional theory. The results indicate that favorable substitution positions of the amine groups in the skeleton is helpful for increasing the heats of formation. Most of the seven compounds have high crystal densities above 1.9 g/cm³. Five compounds have the predominant detonation properties over CL-20. The derivatives with one NH₂ group have lower impact sensitivity than those with two NH₂ groups. Taking the detonation performance and impact sensitivity into consideration, four compounds may be selected as the potential candidates of high energy density compounds.