Quantum chemical calculations at the HF/6-31G * and B3LYP/6-31G * levels have been performed on five explosive sensitizers, ethyl nitrate (EN), n-propyl nitrate (NPN), isopropyl nitrate (IPN), 2-ethylhexyl nitrate (EHN) and tetraethylene glycol dinitrate (TEGDN). Theoretical study has made a detailed molecular-level investigation of the title compounds. Based on the Mulliken populations and bond lengths, the fission of the O 2 -N 3 can be acceptable reasonably. Charge distribution analysis indicates that the five nitrates produce NO 2 gas during the dissociation of the O 2 -N 3 weak bond. We also order the relative thermal stability of five nitrates on the basis of frontier orbital energy (E HOMO , E LUMO ) and energy gap ( E = E HOMO − E LUMO ).