Oxygen-containing Tetrazole Salts of 3-Hydrazino-4-amino-1,2,4-triazole (HATr): Nitrogen-rich Ionic Materials with High Thermal Stability

Energetic salts of doubly-protonated 3-hydrazino-4-amino-1,2,4-triazole (2-4), and mono-protonated 3-hydrazino-4-amino-1,2,4-triazole (5-7), have been prepared in high yields from the corresponding oxygen-containing tetrazoles by (i) reaction of free acids and neutral 3-hydrazino-4-amino-1,2,4-triazole, or (ii) metathesis reactions of 3-hydrazinium-4-amino-1H-1,2,4-triazolium di-chloride with the silver salts of the corresponding oxygen-containing tetrazoles. All of these energetic salts were fully characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, FT-IR and DSC measurements. All of the structures are dominated by extensive hydrogen bonds due to amino groups, hydrazino groups and oxygen atoms in the molecules. These salts exhibit good thermal stability, especially the salt 3-hydrazinium-4-amino-1H-1,2,4-triazolium 1H,1’H-5,5’-bitetrazole-1,1’-diolate (4), which exhibits a measured onset of decomposition temperature of 237 °C. Quantum chemical calculations, carried out using the Gaussian 03 suite of programs and based on the experimental densities were used to calculate the detonation pressures and velocities of all of the salts.