Impact of regiochemistry in energetic materials science: a case of (nitratomethyl-1,2,3-triazolyl)furazans

The preparation of multipurpose high-energy materials for space technologies remains a challenging task and such materials usually require special precautions and fine tunability of their functional properties. To unveil new opportunities en route to high-performance energetic materials, novel potential melt-castable explosives and energetic plasticizers incorporating a (1,2,3-triazolyl)furazan scaffold enriched with nitro and nitratomethyl explosophoric functionalities were synthesized. The successful implementation of the regiodivergent approach enabled the preparation of regioisomeric (nitratomethyltriazolyl)furazans that possessed significantly different physicochemical properties classifying the target materials as melt-castable substances or energetic plasticizers. Hirshfeld surface calculations supported by energy framework plots were also performed to better understand the relationship between the molecular structure and sensitivity. All the prepared (1,2,3-triazolyl)furazans show high nitrogen–oxygen contents (76–77%), good experimental densities (up to 1.72 g cm⁻³) and high positive enthalpies of formation (180–318 kJ mol⁻¹) resulting in good detonation performances (D = 7.1–8.0 km s⁻¹; P = 21–29 GPa). Overall, this work unveils novel strategies for the construction of balanced energetic melt-castable substances or plasticizers for various applications.