Nitrogen-rich energetic compounds have received a lot of attention in the research fields of propellants， explosives and gas generant thanks to their high enthalpy of formation and clean decomposition products. However， as a significant branch of nitrogen-rich energetic materials， research and development on the compounds with all-nitrogen and chain-like nitrogen structures are hampered by the lack of suitable nitrogen sources and efficient synthetic methods for the construction of nitrogen chain backbone. In this review， the design ideas， synthetic methods， and breakthrough progress of all-nitrogen ionic energetic compounds and long nitrogen chains energetic materials containing at least six nitrogen atoms linked together are systematically analyzed， and the references for the design and development of milestone high energy density materials are offered.