Explosive compounds need to combine high performance with a sufficient stability for safe handling. Creating high-energy metal-organic frameworks (HE-MOFs) is one approach to make explosives less sensitive and improve their performance.

Ming Lu and colleagues, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, China, have synthesized two silver (I)-based HE-MOFs with promising properties. The team used a self-assembly process and combined silver nitrate and potassium 4,4′-bis(dinitromethyl)-3,3′-azofurazanate (K₂DNMAF) at either room temperature or 90 °C to create [Ag₂(DNMAF)·(H₂O)₂]_n or [Ag₂(DNMAF)]_n, respectively.

The high nitrogen and oxygen content of the DNMAF ligand results in good detonation properties with detonation velocities of 9673 m/s and 10242 m/s, detonation pressures of of 50.01 GPa and 58.30 GPa, and heats of detonation of 1.95 kcal/g and 2.19 kcal/g, respectively. The compounds have decomposition temperatures of over 200 °C. The synthesis is comparatively fast (24 hours) and has a lower risk compared with other approaches toward HE-MOFs.

• Self-assembly of silver(I)-based high-energy metal-organic frameworks (HE-MOFs) at ambient temperature and pressure: synthesis, structure and superior explosive performance,
  Cheng Shen, Yang Liu, Zhong-qin Zhu, Yuan-gang Xua, Ming Lu,
  Chem. Commun. 2017.
  DOI: 10.1039/c7cc03869k