Fluorine azide

Fluorine azide or triazadienyl fluoride is a yellow green gas composed of nitrogen and fluorine with formula. Its properties resemble those of [Chlorine azide|], [Bromine azide|], and [Iodine azide|]. The bond between the fluorine atom and the nitrogen is very weak, leading to this substance being very unstable and prone to explosion. Calculations show the F–N–N angle to be around 102° with a straight line of 3 nitrogen atoms.
It was first made by John F. Haller in 1942.

Reactions

Fluorine azide can be made by reacting hydrazoic acid or sodium azide, with fluorine gas.
Fluorine azide decomposes without explosion at normal temperatures to make dinitrogen difluoride:
At higher temperatures such as 1000 °C fluorine azide breaks up into nitrogen monofluoride radical:
The FN itself dimerizes on cooling.
Solid or liquid can explode, releasing a large amount of energy. A thin film burns at the rate of 1.6 km/s. Due to the explosion hazard, only very small quantities of this substance should be handled at a time.
adducts can be formed with the Lewis acids boron trifluoride and arsenic pentafluoride at -196 °C. These molecules bond with the first nitrogen atom from the fluorine.

Properties

Shape

Distances between atoms are F–N 0.1444 nm, FN=NN 0.1253 nm and FNN=N 0.1132 nm.

Physical

s on to solid surfaces of potassium fluoride, but not onto lithium fluoride or sodium fluoride. This property was being investigated so that could boost the energy of solid propellants.
The ultraviolet photoelectric spectrum shows ionisation peaks at 11.01, 13,72, 15.6, 15.9, 16.67, 18.2, and 19.7 eV. Respectively these are assigned to the orbitals: π, n_N or n_F, n_F, π_F, n_N or σ, π and σ.