Nitro compounds are organic compounds that contain one or more nitro functional groups (−NO₂). They are often highly explosive, especially when the compound contains more than one nitro group and is impure. The nitro group is one of the most common explosophores (functional group that makes a compound explosive) used globally. This property of both nitro and nitrate groups is because their thermal decomposition yields molecular nitrogen (N₂) gas plus considerable energy, due to the high strength of the bond in molecular nitrogen.