The first synthesis of nitroacetylene was recently reported by Zhang et al. (Zhang, M.-X.; Eaton, P. E.; Steele, I.; Gilardi, R. Swithesis 2002, 2013). They found it to react in a seemingly anomalous fashion with furan and with vinyl ethers, yielding nitrovinylisoxazoles. Mechanisms were proposed that would account for these unexpected products. We have investigated these mechanisms computationally in vinyl methyl ether at the B3PW91/6-311G(3df,2pd) level, calculating DeltaH and the activation barrier for each of the 10 steps. Our results fully support the interpretation of Zhang et al. All of the steps were found to be exothermic and to have low barriers, between 1 and 14 kcal/mol. Using other computational procedures, we also determined the molecular geometry of nitroacetylene, its gas and liquid phase heats of formation, and its molecular surface electrostatic potential.