Challenging the Limitations of Tetranitro Biimidazole through Introducing a gem-Dinitromethyl Scaffold

A gem-dinitromethyl group was successfully introduced into the TNBI·2H2O structure (TNBI: 4,4′,5,5′-tetranitro-2,2′-bi-1H-imidazole) to obtain 1-(dinitromethyl)-4,4′,5,5′-tetranitro-1H,1′H-2,2′-biimidazole (DNM-TNBI). Benefiting from the transformation of an N-H proton into a gem-dinitromethyl group, the current limitations of TNBI were well solved. More importantly, DNM-TNBI has high density (1.92 g·cm–3, 298 K), good oxygen balance (15.3%), and excellent detonation properties (Dv = 9102 m·s–1, P = 37.6 GPa), suggesting that it has great potential as an oxidizer or a high-performance energetic material.