Hydrazoic acid
Hydrazoic acid is the highly toxic, explosive inorganic acid HN₃, composed of hydrogen and three nitrogen atoms. Its salts are called azides.
Azide ion: The linear N₃⁻ anion formed when hydrazoic acid loses a proton. Deprotonation produces the ion responsible for the chemistry of many azide salts.
Sodium azide: The inorganic compound NaN₃, a widely used azide salt and source of azide ions. It is a prominent salt of hydrazoic acid, with distinct laboratory and industrial uses.
Nitrous acid: The weak nitrogen oxoacid HNO₂, containing hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. Unlike hydrazoic acid, it is an oxygen-containing acid with different reactions and hazards.
Inorganic compound: A chemical compound not classified as an organic compound, though boundaries vary by convention. Hydrazoic acid is conventionally classified as an inorganic acid.
Hydrogen bonding: An attractive interaction involving hydrogen bonded to an electronegative atom and another electron-rich site. Intermolecular hydrogen bonding influences hydrazoic acid’s physical properties.
Organic azide: An organic compound containing the functional group R–N₃. Azide ions derived from hydrazoic acid enable preparation of this useful compound class.
Hydrogen cyanide: A volatile, highly toxic compound with formula HCN. Both are acutely toxic volatile acids, but hydrogen cyanide contains carbon rather than an azide chain.
Brønsted–Lowry acid: A species that donates a proton to another species. Hydrazoic acid acts as a proton donor in aqueous acid–base reactions.
Acid dissociation constant: A quantitative measure of how readily an acid donates a proton in solution. Its dissociation constant describes hydrazoic acid’s strength in water.
Click chemistry: A family of efficient, selective reactions used to join molecular building blocks. Azide–alkyne cycloaddition made azides valuable tools in chemical synthesis.