Trinitramide is a compound of nitrogen and oxygen with the molecular formula N(NO2)3. The compound was detected and described in 2010 by researchers at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden.[1] It is made of a nitrogen atom bonded to three nitro groups(-NO2).
Earlier, there had been speculation[by whom?] whether trinitramide could exist.[need quotation to verify] Theoretical calculations by Montgomery and Michels in 1993 showed that the compound was likely to be stable.[2]
Trinitramide has a potential use as one of the most efficient and least polluting of rocket propellant oxidizers, as it is chlorine-free.[3]
This is potentially an important development, because the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation implies that even small improvements in specific impulse 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 per cent better than most existing formulations,[4] however the specific impulse (impulse per mass) of formulations with liquid oxygen is higher.[1]
