Energetic materials (explosives, propellants and pyrotechnics) are used extensively for both civilian and military applications. There are ongoing research programs worldwide to develop pyrotechnics with reduced smoke and new explosives and propellants with higher performance or enhanced insensitivity to thermal or shock insults. In recent years, the synthesis of energetic, heterocyclic compounds have received a great amount of interest, Heterocycles generally have a higher heat of formation, density, and oxygen balance than their carbocyclic analogues. This review will concentrate on recent advances in the synthesis of heterocycles as energetic materials and will complement the excellent review of recent advances in energetic materials published in 1998 by Agrawal [Prog. Energy Combust. Sci. 24 (1998) 1].