Now, let us look the main concern of the cubane derivatives--the nitrocubanes.

Nitrocubanes are sought to be powerful, shock-insensitive, high-density explosives. They are stable compounds with decomposition points above 200°C. Simple nitrocubane can be made from simple oxidation of amines( See Functional Group Transformation.)

If we want to add more nitro groups into the cubane nucleus, we cannot do it though transmetalation because there is unstoppable cage cleavage reactions when make adjacent nitro groups. The ab initio calculation has confirmed this destabilising effect.

We are going to discuss how to make more and more substituted nitrocubane until octanitrocubane(ONC), the ultimate power house, is synthesised.