nitride, any of a class of chemical compounds in which nitrogen is combined with an element of similar or lower electronegativity, such as boron, silicon, and most metals. Nitrides contain the nitride ion (N3−), and, similar to carbides, nitrides can be classified into three general categories: ionic, interstitial, and covalent.
Certain metal nitrides are unstable, and most react with water to form ammonia and the oxide or hydroxide of the metal; but the nitrides of boron, vanadium, silicon, titanium, and tantalum are very refractory, resistant to chemical attack, and hard—and thus are useful as abrasives and in making crucibles.
Preparation of nitrides
There are two principal methods of preparing nitrides. One is by direct reaction of the elements (usually at elevated temperature), shown here for the synthesis of calcium nitride, Ca3N2.3Ca + N2 → Ca3N2A second method is through the loss of ammonia by thermal decomposition of a metal amide, shown here with barium amide. 3Ba(NH2)2 → Ba3N2 + 4NH3Nitrides are also formed during surface hardening of steel objects when ammonia is heated to temperatures usually between 500–550 °C (950–1,050 °F) for 5 to 100 hours, depending on the depth of hardened case desired.
Another method used to form nitrides is the reduction of a metal halide or oxide in the presence of nitrogen gas, as, for example, in the preparation of aluminum nitride, AlN.Al2O3 + 3C + N2 → 2AlN + 3CO
Lithium (Li) appears to be the only alkali metal able to form a nitride, although all the alkaline-earth metals form nitrides with the formula M3N2. These compounds, which can be considered to consist of metal cations and N3− anions, undergo hydrolysis (reaction with water) to produce ammonia and the metal hydroxide. The stability of ionic nitrides exhibits a wide range; Mg3N2 decomposes at temperatures above 270 °C (520 °F), whereas Be3N2 melts at 2,200 °C (4,000 °F) without decomposition.
The largest group of nitrides are the interstitial nitrides that form with the transition metals. They are similar to the interstitial carbides, with nitrogen atoms occupying the interstices, or holes, in the lattice of close-packed metal atoms. The general formulas of these nitrides are MN, M2N, and M4N, although their stoichiometries may vary. These compounds have high melting points, are extremely hard, and are usually opaque materials that have metallic lustre and high conductivities. They are typically prepared by heating the metal in ammonia at roughly 1,200 °C (2,200 °F). The interstitial nitrides are chemically inert, and few reactions involving them are known. The most characteristic reaction is hydrolysis, which is usually very slow (and may require acid, as does vanadium, V, in the reaction shown below), to produce ammonia or nitrogen gas.2VN + 3H2SO4 → V2(SO4)3 + N2 + 3H2
Because of their chemical inertness and ability to withstand high temperatures, interstitial nitrides are useful in several high-temperature applications, including their use as crucibles and high-temperature reaction vessels.
Covalent binary nitrides possess a wide range of properties depending on the element to which nitrogen is bonded. Some examples of covalent nitrides are boron nitride, BN, cyanogen, (CN)2, phosphorus nitride, P3N5, tetrasulfur tetranitride, S4N4, and disulfur dinitride, S2N2. The covalent nitrides of boron, carbon, and sulfur are discussed here.
Because boron and nitrogen together contain the same number of valence electrons (eight) as two bonded carbon atoms, boron nitride is said to be isoelectronic with elemental carbon. Boron nitride exists in two structural forms, which are analogous to two forms of carbon—graphite and diamond. The hexagonal form, similar to graphite, has a layered structure with planar, six-membered rings of alternating boron and nitrogen atoms stacked in such a way that a boron atom in one layer is located directly over a nitrogen atom in the adjacent layer. In contrast, successive hexagonal layers of graphite are offset so that each carbon atom is directly above an interstice (hole) in an adjacent layer and directly over a carbon atom of alternate layers. Hexagonal boron nitride can be prepared by heating boron trichloride, BCl3, in an excess of ammonia at 750 °C (1,400 °F). The properties of hexagonal boron nitride are in general different from those of graphite. While both are slippery solids, boron nitride is colourless and is a good insulator (whereas graphite is black and is an electrical conductor), and boron nitride is more stable chemically than graphite. Hexagonal BN reacts with only elemental fluorine, F2 (forming the products BF3 and N2), and hydrogen fluoride, HF (producing NH4BF4). The diamond (cubic) form of BN can be prepared by heating hexagonal BN to 1,800 °C (3,300 °F) under very high pressure (85,000 atmospheres; the pressure at sea level is one atmosphere) in the presence of an alkali metal or alkaline-earth metal catalyst. Like the analogous diamond form of carbon, cubic boron nitride is extremely hard.
Cyanogen, (CN)2, is a toxic, colourless gas that boils at −21 °C (−6 °F). It can be prepared by oxidation of hydrogen cyanide (HCN). A variety of oxidizing agents can be used, including oxygen gas, O2, chlorine gas, Cl2, and nitrogen dioxide gas, NO2. When NO2 is used, the product NO can be recycled and used again to produce the reactant NO2.2HCN + NO2 → (CN)2 + NO + H2O Trace impurities in (CN)2 appear to facilitate polymerization at high temperatures (300–500 °C [600–900 °F]) to paracyanogen, a dark solid that has a polycyclic structure of six-membered rings of alternating carbon and nitrogen atoms. The cyanogen molecule, N≡C−C≡N, is linear and flammable. It burns in oxygen to produce an extremely hot flame (about 4,775 °C [8,627 °F]).
Sulfur forms a variety of covalent binary nitrides, but the two most interesting ones are tetrasulfur tetranitride, S4N4, and disulfur dinitride, S2N2, because they are precursors to an unusual polymer called polythiazyl, (SN)x. This polymeric sulfur nitride is unusual because, even though it is composed solely of two nonmetals, it exhibits some properties normally associated only with metals. The best preparation of S4N4 involves bubbling NH3 into a heated (50 °C [120 °F]) solution of S2Cl2 dissolved in CCl4 or C6H6.6S2Cl2 + 16NH3 → S4N4 + S8 + 12NH4Cl Tetrasulfur tetranitride forms thermochromic crystals, which are crystals that change colour with temperature. They are red at temperatures above 100 °C (210 °F), orange at 25 °C (80 °F), and colourless at −190 °C (−310 °F). The crystals are stable in air but will explode in response to shock or friction. The compound has a cage structure with a plane of four nitrogen atoms with two sulfur atoms above and below the plane. When S4N4 vapour is pumped through silver wool at 250–300 °C (480–570 °F) and low pressure (less than 1.0 mm Hg), an unstable dimer, S2N2, can be condensed. This compound has an essentially square structure with alternating sulfur and nitrogen atoms. Like S4N4, it is sensitive to shock and can explode when heated to temperatures higher than 30 °C (90 °F). At 25 °C (80 °F), S2N2 slowly polymerizes through a ring opening mechanism to polythiazyl, (SN)x. This rather amazing material has a bronze colour, a metallic lustre, and the electrical and thermal conductivity of a metal. It becomes a superconductor at 0.26 kelvin (K; see superconductivity).