Skeletal editing of pyrimidines: new approaches to diverse high energy density materials

Exploring the structural diversity of skeletons is a pivotal strategy for seeking new energetic materials. However, the complicated skeletons often require cumbersome synthesis, which not only increases the cost but also faces unknown risks for handling energetic metastable intermediates. This review aims to collect recent progress in skeleton-editing reactions of pyrimidine through ring-opening and ring-closing processes, as well as subsequent functional group modifications. The skeleton-editing reactions and further derivations enable easy access to a broad scope of high-energy backbones, such as open-chain, monocyclic, bicyclic, and fused skeletons. Most of the energetic compounds showed promising energy properties. In addition, the low-cost raw materials, simple synthesis steps, practical applications, and other considerations provide a critical reference for further developing new energetic materials.