Caesium azide or cesium azide is an inorganic compound of caesium and nitrogen. It is a salt of azide with the formula CsN3.
Structure
CsN3 adopts the same structure as KN3, RbN3, and TlN3, crystallizing in a tetragonal distorted caesium chloride structure where each azide ion coordinates to eight metal cations, and each metal cation coordinates to eight terminal N centers.1 When heated to 151 °C, it transitions to a cubic structure.2
Preparation and reactions
Caesium azide can be prepared from the neutralization reaction between hydrazoic acid and caesium hydroxide:3
CsOH + HN3 → CsN3 + H2O
Caesium carbonate can also be used as the base:
Cs2CO3 + HN3 → CsN3 + CO2 + H2O
Caesium sulfate reacts with barium azide to form insoluble barium sulfate and caesium azide:
Cs2SO4 + Ba(N3)2 → 2CsN3 + BaSO4↓
The thermal decomposition of CsN3 in vacuo can be used as a method of generating high purity caesium metal:4
2 CsN3 → 2 Cs + 3 N2
References
Müller, Ulrich (1972). "Verfeinerung der Kristallstrukturen von KN3, RbN3, CsN3 und TIN3". Zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine Chemie. 392 (2): 159–166. doi:10.1002/zaac.19723920207. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩
McIntyre, J.E. (ed.). Dictionary of Inorganic Compounds Volume 3: C46 – Zr. Chapman & Hill. p. 3096. ISBN 0-412-30120-2. 0-412-30120-2 ↩
Steudel, R.; Schenk, P. W. (1975). "Stickstoff". In Brauer, Georg (ed.). Handbuch der Präparativen Anorganischen Chemie, 3. Auflage, Band I. F. Enke. p. 458. ISBN 3-432-02328-6. 3-432-02328-6 ↩
Blatter, Fritz; Schumacher, Ernst (15 January 1986). "Production of high purity caesium". Journal of the Less Common Metals. 115 (2): 307–313. doi:10.1016/0022-5088(86)90153-0. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩