Trinitramide is a compound of nitrogen and oxygen with the molecular formula . The compound was detected and described in 2010 by researchers at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden.
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-free.
[ Discovery of New Molecule Could Lead to More Efficient Rocket Fuel, Science Daily, 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 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
specific impulse (impulse per mass) of formulations with
liquid oxygen is higher.
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