Abstract
A NEW gaseous compound of nitrogen and hydrogen has been obtained by Dr. Theodore Curtius, the discoverer of amidogen, and its nature and properties were described by him in the Chemical Section during the recent scientific meetings at Bremen. The composition of the gas is HN3, and its constitution. It is, in fact, the hydrogen compound corresponding to the well-known diazobenzene imide of Griess, the three nitrogen atoms being united in the form of a closed chain. The gas dissolves in water with great avidity, forming a solution which possesses strongly acid properties, and dissolves many metals, such as zinc, copper, and iron, with evolution of hydrogen gas and formation of nitrides, the metal taking the place of the liberated hydrogen. The derivation name of the gas, azoimide, is somewhat unfortunate in view of its strongly acid nature, and Prof. Curtius proposes the name “Stickstoffwasser-stoffsäure.” Perhaps the nearest English equivalent, open to the least objection, is hydrazoic acid—a name which will serve to recall the many analogies which this acid bears to hydrochloric and the other halogen acids.
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TUTTON, A. Hydrazoic Acid—A New Gas. Nature 42, 615–616 (1890). https://doi.org/10.1038/042615c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/042615c0