A novel stable high-nitrogen energetic material: 4,4′-azobis(1,2,4-triazole)

A novel high-nitrogen compound with an N,N′-azo linkage, 4,4′-azobis(1,2,4-triazole), has been synthesized and well characterized. The solid-state structure was determined by X-ray diffraction. The experimentally determined density and enthalpy of formation matched with theoretically computed values based on the B3LYP method. The DSC result suggests that 4,4′-azobis(1,2,4-triazole) decomposes at a relatively high temperature (313.36 °C). By comparison with 3,3′-azobis(1,2,4-triazole), containing a C,C′-azo linkage, the N,N′-azo linkage was found to provide compounds with a relatively high density and high energy.