Nitramide or nitroamine is a chemical compound with the molecular formula . Substituted derivatives are termed nitramides or nitroamines as well. Organyl derivatives of nitramide, and, are widely used as explosives: examples include RDX and HMX. It is an isomer of hyponitrous acid. Nitramide can be viewed as a nitrogen analog of nitric acid, in which the hydroxyl group is replaced with the amino group .
The nitramide molecule is essentially an amine group bonded to a nitro group . It is reported to be non-planar in the gas phase,[1] but planar in the crystal phase.
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 nitric acid,
and reaction of dinitrogen pentoxide with two equivalents of ammonia.
See main article: Nitroamine. Also called nitramines, organic nitramides are important explosives. They are prepared by nitrolysis of hexamethylenetetramine.