5-Aminotetrazoles and Silver-based Primary Explosives

Several silver nitrate and perchlorate salts with 5-aminotetrazole-based ligands have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, mass spectrometry, IR, Raman and multinuclear NMR spectroscopy. In addition, several of the new compounds were characterized by X-ray structure analysis. The energetic properties of the materials were assessed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis in combination with standard impact and friction BAM tests. The compounds synthesized have good thermal stabilities above 225 C and in some instances the high sensitivities of the materials towards impact and friction make them fall under the category of primary explosives. Some of the compounds might present prospective use in initiation devices for civil and military applications.