Cocrystal Engineering of a High Nitrogen Energetic Material

Cocrystallization of energetic materials has emerged as a strategy to modulate properties through directed selection of coformers. Here, the cocrystallization of a high-nitrogen energetic material, 3,6-bis(1H-1,2,3,4-tetrazol-5-ylamino)-s-tetrazine (BTATz), is detailed. The utility of electrostatic potential maps to predict the behavior of coformers with BTATz is demonstrated as well as a critical requirement for regions of sufficiently negative electrostatic potential on the coformer (Vs,min). Cocrystal structures are compared to the solvent-free structure of BTATz, determined here for the first time. The new materials exhibit good thermal stability (>200 °C) and are insensitive to impact. Cocrystallization of BTATz demonstrates the capability of high-nitrogen energetic materials to form multicomponent crystal systems and reaffirms the ability of coformers to modulate energetic performance.