Trinitramide is a compound of

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. ...

and

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

with the molecular formula . The compound was detected and described in 2010 by researchers at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. It is made of a nitrogen atom bonded to three nitro groups (). Earlier, there had been speculation whether trinitramide could exist. Theoretical calculations by Montgomery and Michels in 1993 showed that the compound was likely to be stable.

Preparation

Trinitramide is prepared by the nitration reaction of either potassium dinitramide or ammonium dinitramide with nitronium tetrafluoroborate in acetonitrile at low temperatures. :

Uses

Trinitramide has a potential use as one of the most efficient and least polluting of rocket propellant oxidizers, as it is

chlorine Chlorine is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate between ...

-free.Discovery of New Molecule Could Lead to More Efficient Rocket Fuel
''

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'', 2010-12-22, accessed 2011-01-03. This is potentially an important development, because the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation implies that even small improvements in

specific impulse Specific impulse (usually abbreviated ) is a measure of how efficiently a reaction mass engine, such as a rocket engine, rocket using propellant or a jet engine using fuel, generates thrust. In general, this is a ratio of the ''Impulse (physics), ...

yields a similar change in delta-v, which can make large improvements in the size of practical rocket launch payloads. The density impulse (impulse per volume) of a trinitramide based propellant could be 20 to 30 percent better than most existing formulations, however the

(impulse per mass) of formulations with liquid oxygen is higher.

References

Nitrogen oxides Rocket oxidizers Spacecraft propulsion Nitroamines {{Inorganic-compound-stub