Comparative Study of the Decomposition Mechanism and Kinetics of Biimidazole-Based Energetic Explosives.

It is well known that imidazoles, possessing two or more nitro substituents, are potential candidates for highly energetic explosives with detonation parameters comparable to those of 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazacyclohexane (RDX) and 1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetraazacyclooctane. 4,4',5,5'-Tetranitro-2,2'-bi-imidazole (TNBI) is a typical imidazole explosive with energy equivalent to that of RDX but suffers from low sensitivity (impact sensitivity 7 J). 1,1'-Diamino-4,4',5,5'-tetranitro-2,2'-biimidazole (DATNBI), a derivative of TNBI, possesses two -NH