Nitramide or nitroamine is a

chemical compound A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one element ...

with the

molecular formula A chemical formula is a way of presenting information about the chemical proportions of atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound or molecule, using chemical element symbols, numbers, and sometimes also other symbols, such as paren ...

. Substituted derivatives are termed nitramides or nitroamines as well. Organyl derivatives of nitramide, and , are widely used as

explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An ex ...

s: examples include

RDX RDX (Research Department Explosive or Royal Demolition Explosive) or hexogen, among other names, is an organic compound with the formula (CH2N2O2)3. It is white, odorless, and tasteless, widely used as an explosive. Chemically, it is classified ...

and HMX. It is an

isomer In chemistry, isomers are molecules or polyatomic ions with identical molecular formula – that is, the same number of atoms of each element (chemistry), element – but distinct arrangements of atoms in space. ''Isomerism'' refers to the exi ...

of hyponitrous acid. Nitramide can be viewed as a

nitrogen Nitrogen is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a Nonmetal (chemistry), nonmetal and the lightest member of pnictogen, group 15 of the periodic table, often called the Pnictogen, pnictogens. ...

analog of

nitric acid Nitric acid is an inorganic compound with the formula . It is a highly corrosive mineral acid. The compound is colorless, but samples tend to acquire a yellow cast over time due to decomposition into nitrogen oxide, oxides of nitrogen. Most com ...

(), in which the

hydroxyl group In chemistry, a hydroxy or hydroxyl group is a functional group with the chemical formula and composed of one oxygen atom covalently bonded to one hydrogen atom. In organic chemistry, alcohols and carboxylic acids contain one or more hydroxy ...

is replaced with the amino group .

Structure

The nitramide molecule is essentially an amine group () bonded to a

nitro group In organic chemistry, nitro compounds are organic compounds that contain one or more nitro functional groups (). The nitro group is one of the most common explosophores (functional group that makes a compound explosive) used globally. The nit ...

(). It is reported to be non- planar in the gas phase, but planar in the

crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...

phase.

Synthesis

Thiele and Lachman's original synthesis of nitramide involved the hydrolysis of potassium nitrocarbamate: : Other routes to nitramide include hydrolysis of nitrocarbamic acid, : reaction of sodium sulfamate with

, : and reaction of

dinitrogen pentoxide Dinitrogen pentoxide (also known as nitrogen pentoxide or nitric anhydride) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is one of the binary nitrogen oxides, a family of compounds that contain only nitrogen and oxygen. It exists as colourless c ...

with two equivalents of

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the chemical formula, formula . A Binary compounds of hydrogen, stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pu ...

. :

Organic nitramides

Also called nitramines, organic nitramides are important explosives. They are prepared by nitrolysis of

hexamethylenetetramine Hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA), also known as 1,3,5,7-tetraazaadamantane, is a heterocyclic organic compound with diverse applications. It has the chemical formula (CH2)6N4 and is a white crystalline compound that is highly soluble in water and p ...

References

{{reflist Nitroamines