Boron nitride is a thermally and chemically resistant refractory compound of boron and nitrogen with the chemical formula BN. It exists in various crystalline forms that are isoelectronic to a similarly structured carbon lattice. The hexagonal form corresponding to graphite is the most stable and soft among BN polymorphs, and is therefore used as a lubricant and an additive to cosmetic products. The cubic variety analogous to diamond is called c-BN; it is softer than diamond, but its thermal and chemical stability is superior. The rare wurtzite BN modification is similar to lonsdaleite but slightly softer than the cubic form.
The Haber process, also called the Haber–Bosch process, is the main industrial procedure for the production of ammonia. It converts atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3) by a reaction with hydrogen (H2) using finely divided iron metal as a catalyst:
Nitrogen is a chemical element; it has symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at seventh in total abundance in the Milky Way and the Solar System. At standard temperature and pressure, two atoms of the element bond to form N2, a colourless and odourless diatomic gas. N2 forms about 78% of Earth's atmosphere, making it the most abundant chemical species in air. Because of the volatility of nitrogen compounds, nitrogen is relatively rare in the solid parts of the Earth.
Aluminium nitride (AlN) is a solid nitride of aluminium. It has a high thermal conductivity of up to 321 W/(m·K) and is an electrical insulator. Its wurtzite phase (w-AlN) has a band gap of ~6 eV at room temperature and has a potential application in optoelectronics operating at deep ultraviolet frequencies.
A superhard material is a material with a hardness value exceeding 40 gigapascals (GPa) when measured by the Vickers hardness test. They are virtually incompressible solids with high electron density and high bond covalency. As a result of their unique properties, these materials are of great interest in many industrial areas including, but not limited to, abrasives, polishing and cutting tools, disc brakes, and wear-resistant and protective coatings.
In chemistry, a nitride is a chemical compound of nitrogen. Nitrides can be inorganic or organic, ionic or covalent. The nitride anion, N3- ion, is very elusive but compounds of nitride are numerous, although rarely naturally occurring. Some nitrides have a found applications, such as wear-resistant coatings (e.g., titanium nitride, TiN), hard ceramic materials (e.g., silicon nitride, Si3N4), and semiconductors (e.g., gallium nitride, GaN). The development of GaN-based light emitting diodes was recognized by the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics. Metal nitrido complexes are also common.
Lithium nitride is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Li3N. It is the only stable alkali metal nitride. It is a reddish-pink solid with a high melting point.
Borazine, also known as borazole, is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula B3H6N3. In this cyclic compound, the three BH units and three NH units alternate. The compound is isoelectronic and isostructural with benzene. For this reason borazine is sometimes referred to as “inorganic benzene”. Like benzene, borazine is a colourless liquid with an aromatic odor.
Robert H. Wentorf Jr. was a staff scientist at General Electric Corporate Research and Development Laboratory in Schenectady, N.Y. and a professor of chemical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.
Ammonia borane, also called borazane, is the chemical compound with the formula H3NBH3. The colourless or white solid is the simplest molecular boron-nitrogen-hydride compound. It has attracted attention as a source of hydrogen fuel, but is otherwise primarily of academic interest.
An electride is an ionic compound in which an electron serves the role of the anion. Solutions of alkali metals in ammonia are electride salts. In the case of sodium, these blue solutions consist of [Na(NH3)6]+ and solvated electrons:
Zinc nitride (Zn3N2) is an inorganic compound of zinc and nitrogen, usually obtained as (blue)grey crystals. It is a semiconductor. In pure form, it has the anti-bixbyite structure.
Boron compounds are compounds containing the element boron. In the most familiar compounds, boron has the formal oxidation state +3. These include oxides, sulfides, nitrides, and halides.
The chemical element nitrogen is one of the most abundant elements in the universe and can form many compounds. It can take several oxidation states; but the most common oxidation states are -3 and +3. Nitrogen can form nitride and nitrate ions. It also forms a part of nitric acid and nitrate salts. Nitrogen compounds also have an important role in organic chemistry, as nitrogen is part of proteins, amino acids and adenosine triphosphate.
In chemistry, ammonolysis (/am·mo·nol·y·sis/) is the process of splitting ammonia into . Ammonolysis reactions can be conducted with organic compounds to produce amines (molecules containing a nitrogen atom with a lone pair, :N), or with inorganic compounds to produce nitrides. This reaction is analogous to hydrolysis in which water molecules are split. Similar to water, liquid ammonia also undergoes auto-ionization, , where the rate constant is k = 1.9 × 10-38.
The inorganic imide is an inorganic chemical compound containing
Abiological nitrogen fixation describes chemical processes that fix (react with) N2, usually with the goal of generating ammonia. The dominant technology for abiological nitrogen fixation is the Haber process, which uses iron-based heterogeneous catalysts and H2 to convert N2 to NH3. This article focuses on homogeneous (soluble) catalysts for the same or similar conversions.
Polynitrides are solid chemical compounds with a large amount of nitrogen, beyond what would be expected from valencies. Some with N2 ions are termed pernitrides. Azides are not considered polynitrides, although pentazolates are.
Molybdenum nitride (Mo2N) is a binary inorganic compound composed of molybdenum and nitrogen. It belongs to the family of transition metal nitrides and exhibits properties that make it useful in applications such as a catalyst and a coating material.
Manganese nitrides are salts of manganese and the nitride ion. Four of these compounds are stable at atmospheric pressure. The most important is Mn3N2, which catalyzes nitrogen fixation and is a high-temperature antiferromagnet. The others are Mn6N5–6, Mn4N, and Mn2N. The compounds generally form as surface layer during combustion of manganese metal in nitrogen or ammonia gas, and homogenous samples can be difficult to obtain.
