Nitration with nitric acid alone, or in combination with acetic acid, acetic anhydride, or sulfuric acid, are common examples of adding nitro (-NO₂) functional groups to aromatic hydrocarbons. Aliphatic (i.e, straight or branched chain hydrocarbon) nitration is less common than aromatic, but propane can be nitrated under pressure to yield nitropropanes.

The nitro group is a very strong deactivating group, i.e, when added to a benzene ring, the ring becomes less reactive. This deactivation results from the very strong electron-withdrawing property of the nitro group. Nitrobenzene, for example, undergoes nitration at a rate that is one-ten-thousandth the rate exhibited by benzene. In nitrated alkanes (nitroalkanes), depending on the location of the hydrogen atom in the molecule, a hydrogen ion may be produced by the reaction of the nitroalkane with a strong base, as a result of the powerful electron-withdrawal effects of an...