  How to stabilize nitrogen-rich high-energy-density molecules under
conventional conditions is particularly important for the energy storage and
conversion of such systems and has attracted extensive attention. In this work,
our theoretical study showed for the first time that the stabilization
mechanism of the nitrogen ring conformed to the superatomic properties at the
atomic level. This result occurred because the stabilized anionic nitrogen
rings generally showed planar high symmetry and the injected electrons occupied
the superatomic molecular orbitals (SAMOs) of the nitrogen rings. According to
these results, we identified the typical stabilized anionic nitrogen ring
structures N64-, N5- and N42-, and their superatomic electronic configurations
were 1S21P41D41F22S21P21F21D42P41G41F4, 1S21P41D41P22S21F41D42P4 and
1S21P41D21P21D22S22P41D4, respectively. On this basis, we further designed a
pathway to stabilize nitrogen rings by introducing metal atoms as electron
donors to form neutral ThN6, LiN5 and MgN4 structures, thereby replacing the
anionization of systems. Our study highlights the importance of developing
nitrogen-rich energetic materials from the perspective of superatoms.
