Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 7, 2026

Preparation and Reactivity of Gasless Nanostructured Energetic Materials
Published on: April 2, 2015
Alkali Metals-Based Energetic Coordination Polymers as Promising Primary Explosives: Crystal Structures, Energetic
1School of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210094, P.R. China.
Abstract:
Coordination polymers (CPs) consisting of alkali metals (Na, K, Rb, and Cs) and a powerful nitrogen- and oxygen-rich energetic ligand (4,4'-bis(dinitromethyl)-3,3'-bisnitramide-methylene-furazanate, DBMF2- ) were developed. Molecular structures of these CPs, confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, indicated that the same ligand takes on a U-shaped state for Na and an N-shaped state for K, Rb, and Cs. Explosion tests demonstrated that both Na2 DBMF and K2 DBMF efficiently detonated the secondary explosive RDX. This indicates that they are both effective primary explosives. K2 DBMF exhibits better calculated detonation performance (D: 8227 m s-1 ; P: 32.5 GPa) than the primary explosive Pb(N3 )2 . In addition, toxicity tests and evaluation of their decomposition products reveal their low impact on the environment. Both experimental results and theoretical analyses indicate that the combination of alkali metals and a powerful energetic ligand can stimulate the development of primary explosives.
Related Concept Videos
Alkali Metals
Table 1: Properties of the alkali metals
Properties of Transition Metals
Energetics of Solution Formation
When the strengths of the intermolecular forces of attraction between solute and solvent species in a solution are no different than those present in the separated components, the solution is formed with no accompanying energy change. Formation of the solution requires the solute–solute and solvent–solvent...
Ionic Crystal Structures
Most monatomic ions behave as charged spheres, and their attraction for ions of opposite charge is the same in every direction. Consequently, stable structures for ionic compounds result (1) when ions of one charge are surrounded by as many ions as possible of the opposite...
Coordination Number and Geometry
Coordination Compounds and Nomenclature

