A new
energetic cocrystal (1), composed of 1,3,5-trinitrobenzene
(TNB) and 1-methyl-2,4-dinitroimidazole (2,4-MDNI), was synthesized
for the first time via rapid cocrystallization by exploiting differential
solubility. Further, this method was extended to scale-up of the high-performance
of CL-20 (2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitrohexaazaisowurt-zitane)/MTNP (1-methyl-3,4,5-trinitropyrazole)
energetic cocrystal (2) on the 100 g scale in a fast
and simple way, which is another larger preparation scale in energetic
cocrystal fields. The investigations of thermodynamics and kinetics
for coprecipitation crystallization indicate that the solubility ratios
of a cocrystal to pure components (R) associated
with the Gibbs free energy (ΔG
form) offer valuable insights into the selection of suitable components
for further cocrystal design and synthesis by the proposed method.
Additionally, cocrystal 2 exhibited good experimental
comprehensive performances, making it a potential candidate instead
of HMX (1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazacyclooctane) in the future.
Hence, rapid cocrystallization opens up an efficient, simple, and
scalable method to manufacture energetic cocrystals on a high industrial
production scale for future practical applications.