Zerfall von Nitrosylazid, N 4 O: Existieren auch cyclische Stickstoff‐Oxide?

Decomposition of Nitrosyl Azide, N 4 O: Are Cyclic Nitrogen Oxides Existent? The unimolecular decomposition of nitrosyl azide (tetranitrogen monoxide), N 4 O, was studied at the electron‐correlated, spin‐restricted RMP2 level with the 6–31G(d,p) and 6–31+G* basis sets. Frequency calculations were performed at 6–31+G* on the optimized structures. It is demonstrated that the experimentally established trans‐trans ‐N 4 O ( C s ) may either interconvert into cis‐cis ‐N 4 O which upon decomposition forms cyclic N 4 O ( C 2v ) as an intermediate species to finally give N 2 O ( C ∞v ) and N 2 , or trans‐trans ‐N 4 O may directly dissociate into cyclic N 2 O ( C 2v ) and N 2 . All structures determined were rationalized by energy hypersurface calculations.