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Nitroxylic acid

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Nitroxylic acid
Names
IUPAC name
Hydrazine-1,1,2,2-tetrol
Identifiers
3D model (JSmol)
ChemSpider
  • InChI=1S/H4N2O4/c3-1(4)2(5)6/h3-6H
    Key: HAEJYKGCOSKNFL-UHFFFAOYSA-N
  • N(N(O)O)(O)O
Properties
H4N2O4
Molar mass 96.042 g·mol−1
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).

Nitroxylic acid or hydronitrous acid is an unstable reduced oxonitrogen acid. It has formula H4N2O4 containing nitrogen in the +2 oxidation state.[1] It consists of a central pair of bonded nitrogen atoms with four hydroxyl groups around them, giving rise to hydrazine-1,1,2,2-tetrol as an alternate chemical name.

The corresponding anion called nitroxylate is N
2
O4−
4
; its empirical formula NO2−
2
is the basis for the original names of some of its salts.

The first clue that nitroxylic acid exists was when Edward Bedford Maxted electrolysed sodium nitrite dissolved in liquid ammonia. A bright yellow substance deposited on the cathode. He called this disodium nitrite. The disodium nitrite could also be made by mixing ammonia solutions of sodium and sodium nitrite in the complete absence of water. Disodium nitrite reacts with water to form sodium nitrite, sodium hydroxide and hydrogen.[2] Other ways to make the disodium nitrite include reacting sodium with ammonium nitrate or electrolysing sodium nitrate solution. The substance is called sodium nitroxylate by current systematic nomenclature rules.

Disodium nitrite is very unstable and experimenters often had their apparatus destroyed when making it. Disodium nitrite reacts with oxygen and carbon dioxide explosively.[3] Lithium sodium nitroxylate LiNaNO2 also exists and explodes at 130 °C.[4]

The parent compound, nitroxylic acid, might be produced when nitrous acid is reduced by the Eu2+ ion.[5]

References

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  1. ^ Sahoo, Balaram; Nayak, Nimai Charan; Samantaray, Asutosh; Pujapanda, Prafulla Kumar (2012). Inorganic Chemistry. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. p. 353. ISBN 9788120343085.
  2. ^ Maxted, Edward Bradford (1917). "LXXXVII.—Disodium nitrite, an additive compound of sodium nitrite and sodium". J. Chem. Soc., Trans. 111: 1016–1019. doi:10.1039/CT9171101016.
  3. ^ Suekichi, ABE; Taijiro, OKABE (10 February 1953). On the Electrolysis of Liquid Ammonia Solution of Alkali Nitrates. The Chemical Research Institute of Non-Aqueous Solutions (Thesis). pp. 189–201. hdl:10097/26573.
  4. ^ Bretherick, L. (27 October 2016). Bretherick's Handbook of Reactive Chemical Hazards. Elsevier. p. 1318. ISBN 9781483162508.
  5. ^ Fraser, R. T. M.; Lee, R. N.; Hayden, K. (1967). "The europium(II) ion reduction of nitrite and nitropenta-amminecobalt(III) ions". Journal of the Chemical Society A: Inorganic, Physical, Theoretical: 741. doi:10.1039/J19670000741.