Investigation of 3,5-diamino-1,2,4-oxadiazole as a precursor for energetic salts

1,2,4-Oxadiazole is an attractive backbone for energetic materials as it shows a positive impact on the oxygen balance compared to other heterocycles like imidazole or triazole. The suitability of 1,2,4-oxadiazole as a cation in energetic salts should be evaluated, as ionic compounds are known for high densities and low vapor pressure. 3,5-Diamino-1,2,4-oxadiazole (AOA) as a starting material can be easily synthesized from sodium dicyanamide and hydroxylammonium chloride. Despite indications in the literature to be acid sensitive, AOA hydrochloride was successfully synthesized. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of an AOA-based salt. The synthesized compound was characterized by NMR, IR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, ion chromatography and thermal analysis.