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Published online: 1 September 2010 | doi:10.1038/nchina.2010.100

General chemistry: Eight in a row

Felix Cheung

Introduction

© (2010) ACS

Nitrogen-rich compounds tend to be high-energy materials and often have unique properties that are useful for a variety of applications. In 2007, Siping Pang and co-workers at the Beijing Institute of Technology have synthesized 4,4′-azo-1,2,4-triazole, a nitrogen-rich compound with four interconnected nitrogen atoms. Now they have successfully synthesized 1,1′-azobis-1,2,3-triazole (pictured), a nitrogen-compound with eight interconnected nitrogen atoms.

To prepare the compound, the researchers mixed solution of 1-amino-1,2,3-triazole with sodium dichloroisocyanurate. Thirty minutes after mixing, yellow crystals precipitated and were later characterized as 1,1′-azobis-1,2,3-triazole.

1,1′-azobis-1,2,3-triazole has a crystal density of 1.640 g cm⁻³ and an estimated heat of formation of 962 kJ mol⁻¹. The compound also displays photochromism — it changes colour on exposure to light.

Increasing the number of interconnected nitrogen atoms in a compound has never been easy. The findings will help develop the methodology for preparing such a compound.

The authors of this work are from:
School of Material Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Explosion Science and Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China.

Reference

1. Li, Y. C. et al. 1,1′-azobis-1,2,3-triazole: a high-nitrogen compound with stable N8 structure and photochromism. J. Am. Chem. Soc. doi:10.1021/ja103525v (2010). | Article | OpenURL