Bicyclic-Based Energetic Materials

Unlike the traditionally designed energetic materials, in which the fuel and oxidizing characteristics are the sole factor to determine their performance, nitrogen-rich heterocyclic compounds have some unique properties such as high heats of formation, significant gas release in the form of environmentally benign nitrogen, and commonly include moieties such as five-membered azole and six-membered azine rings. Nitrogen-rich heterocycles are at the forefront of high energy materials research and expected to achieve increased performance requirements with reasonable safety. The functionalization of nitrogen-rich heterocyclic compounds with energetic groups (–NO2, –NHNO2, –N3, –NH2, etc.) can increase nitrogen content, heats of formation and density, then improve the detonation performances. Many studies have shown that the combination of two or more nitrogen-rich heterocycles can lead to outstanding energetic properties. In this section, the synthesis, properties, and structure–property relationship of those bicyclic-based nitrogen-rich heterocyclic compounds including bicyclic oxadiazole, tetrazole, triazole, pyrazole, imidazole, tetrazine and triazine were investigated.