Synthesis and characterization of a new ternary nitride, Ca3VN3

Rational Solid-State Synthesis Routes for Inorganic Materials

The rational solid-state synthesis of inorganic compounds is formulated as catalytic nucleation on crystalline reactants, where contributions of reaction and interfacial energies to the nucleation barriers are approximated from high-throughput thermochemical data and structural and interfacial features of crystals, respectively. Favorable synthesis reactions are then identified by a Pareto analysis of relative nucleation barriers and phase selectivities of reactions leading to the target. We demonstrate the application of this approach in reaction planning for the solid-state synthesis of a range of compounds, including the widely studied oxides LiCoO₂, BaTiO₃, and YBa₂Cu₃O₇, as well as other metal oxide, oxyfluoride, phosphate, and nitride targets. Pathways for enabling the retrosynthesis of inorganics are also discussed.

Elastic, electronic, chemical bonding and thermodynamic properties of the ternary nitride Ca4TiN4: Ab initio predictions

In order to shed light on the unexplored properties of the ternary nitride Ca₄TiN₄, we report for the first time the results of an ab initio study of its structural, electronic, elastic, chemical bonding and thermodynamic properties. Calculated equilibrium structural parameters are in excellent concordance with available experimental data. Electronic properties were explored through the calculation of the energy band dispersions and density of states. It is found that Ca₄TiN₄ has an indirect band gap (Z-Γ) of 1.625 (1.701) eV using LDA (GGA). Nature of the chemical bonding was studied via Mulliken population analysis and charge density distribution map. It is found that the Ca-N bond is dominantly ionic, whereas the Ti-N one is dominantly covalent. Elastic properties of both single-crystal and polycrystalline phases of the title compound were explored in details using the stain-stress approach. Analysis of the calculated elastic moduli reveals that the title compound is mechanically stable, ductile and elastically anisotropic. Temperature and pressure dependencies of the unit-cell volume, bulk modulus, heat capacities, volume thermal expansion coefficient, Grüneisen parameter and Debye temperature were investigated based on the quasiharmonic Debye model.

Theoretical study on the structural, electronic and physical properties of layered alkaline-earth-group-4 transition-metal nitrides AEMN2

Thermodynamic, structural, and electronic properties of the layered ternary nitrides AEMN₂ (AE = alkaline-earth; M = group 4 transition metal) both with the KCoO₂ and α-NaFeO₂ structure-types are examined within density-functional theory.

Synthesis of New Nitrides Using Solid State Oxide Precursors

Several novel transition metal nitrides were synthesized via ammonolysis of solid state oxide precursors at temperatures ranging from 700°C-900°C and reaction times ranging from 12 hours to 4 days. Both intermetallic nitrides, Fe3Mo3N and Co3Mo3N, and ionic/covalent nitrides, FeWN2, MnWN2, Ta5N6 and Nb5N6, were prepared by this method. The products were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction and their structures were determined by powder X-ray Rietveld refinement. The intermetallic nitrides were found to be isostructural with the eta-carbide structure, Fe3W3C, while the ionic/covalent nitrides have layered structures, with metals in octahedral and trigonal prismatic coordination environments. Two polymorphs of the MnWN2 composition, α-MnWN2 and β-MnWN2, were isolated after ammonolysis at 700°C and 800°C, respectively. While the alpha phase can be converted into the beta phase by heating to 800°C under ammonia, annealing the beta phase at 700°C did not result in a structural transformation. Magnetic measurements show that FeWN2 orders antiferromagnetically at 45K. The magnetic ordering temperature was confirmed by M6ssbauer spectroscopy. All the other nitrides were paramagnetic down to 5K. Conductivity measurements show that FeWN2 and MnWN2 are metallic.

Nitridocompounds of manganese: manganese nitrides and nitridomanganates

The chemistry of nitrides and nitridometalates is a rapidly growing field in solid state chemistry. This short review is intended to give a brief but comprehensive over-view on the compounds and phases formed with manga-nese, which cover an especially broad range of oxidation states. Furthermore, the present paper tries to put the ob-served structures and properties of the compounds into a broader context.

Two New Structurally Related Strontium Gallium Nitrides: Sr4GaN3O and Sr4GaN3(CN2)

The strontium gallium oxynitride Sr(4)GaN(3)O and nitride-carbodiimide Sr(4)GaN(3)(CN(2)) are reported, synthesized as single crystals from molten sodium at 900 degrees C. Red Sr(4)GaN(3)O crystallizes in space group Pbca (No. 61) with a = 7.4002(1) Angstroms, b = 24.3378(5) Angstroms, c = 7.4038(1) Angstroms, and Z = 8, as determined from single-crystal X-ray diffraction measurements at 150 K. The structure may be viewed as consisting of slabs [Sr(4)GaN(3)](2+) containing double layers of isolated [GaN(3)](6-) triangular anions arranged in a "herringbone" fashion, and these slabs are separated by O(2-) anions. Brown Sr(4)GaN(3)(CN(2)) has a closely related structure in which the oxide anions in the Sr(4)GaN(3)O structure are replaced by almost linear carbodiimide [CN(2)](2-) anions [Sr(4)GaN(3)(CN(2)): space group P2(1)/c (No. 14), a = 13.4778(2) Angstroms, b = 7.4140(1) Angstroms, c = 7.4440(1) Angstroms, beta = 98.233(1) degrees, and Z = 4].

Synthesis and structure of Sr3GaN3 and Sr6GaN5: strontium gallium nitrides with isolated planar [GaN3]6- anions

Two new strontium gallium nitrides were obtained as single crystals by reaction in molten Na. Black Sr(3)GaN(3) is isostructural with its transition metal analogues, Sr(3)MnN(3), Ba(3)MnN(3), Sr(3)CrN(3), Ba(3)CrN(3), and Ba(3)FeN(3), and is the first example of a 313-ternary nitride containing only main group metals. It crystallizes in space group P6(3)/m (No. 176) with a = 7.584(2) A, c = 5.410(3) A, and Z = 2. Black Sr(6)GaN(5) is isostructural with Ca(6)GaN(5) and also with its transition metal analogues, Ca(6)MnN(5) and Ca(6)FeN(5). It crystallizes in space group P6(3)/mcm (No. 193) with a = 6.6667(6) A, c = 12.9999(17) A, and Z = 2. Both Ga compounds contain isolated planar [GaN(3)](6)(-) nitridometallate anions of D(3)(h)() symmetry.

Li24[MnN3]3N2 and Li5[(Li1-xMnx)N]3, two intermediates in the decomposition path of Li7[MnN4] to Li2[(Li1-xMnx)N]: an experimental and theoretical study

The crystal structure of Li7[Mn(V)N4] was re-determined. Isolated tetrahedral [Mn(V)N4](7-) ions are arranged with lithium cations to form a superstructure of the CaF2 anti-type (P4bar3n, No. 218, a = 956.0(1) pm, Z = 8). According to measurements of the magnetic susceptibility, the manganese (tetrahedral coordination) is in a d(2) S = 1 state. Thermal treatment of Li7[Mn(V)N4] under argon in the presence of elemental lithium at various temperatures leads to Li24[Mn(III)N3]3N2, Li5[(Li1-xMnx)N]3, and Li2[(Li1-xMn(I)x)N], respectively. Li24[Mn(III)N3]3N2 (P3bar1c, No. 163, a = 582.58(6) pm, c = 1784.1(3) pm, Z = 4/3) crystallizes in a trigonal unit cell, containing slightly, but significantly nonplanar trigonal [MnN3](6-) units with C3v symmetry. Measurements of the magnetic susceptibility reveal a d(4) S = 1 spin-state for the manganese (trigonal coordination). Nonrelativistic spin-polarized DFT calculations with different molecular models lead to the conclusion that restrictions in the Li-N substructure are responsible for the distortion from planarity of the [Mn(III)N3](6-). Li5[(Li1-xMnx)N]3 (x = 0.59(1), P6bar2m, No. 189, a = 635.9(3) pm, c = 381.7(2) pm, Z = 1) is an isotype of Li5[(Li1-xNix)N]3 with manganese in an average oxidation state of about +1.6. The crystal structure is a defect variant of the alpha-Li3N structure type with the transition metal in linear coordination by nitrogen. Li2[(Li1-xMn(I)x)N] (x = 0.67(1), P6/mmm, No. 191, a = 371.25(4) pm, c = 382.12(6) pm, Z = 1) crystallizes in the alpha-Li3N = Li2[LiN] structure with partial substitution of the linearly nitrogen-coordinated Li-species by manganese(I). Measurements of the magnetic susceptibility are consistent with manganese (linear coordination) in a low-spin d(6) S = 1 state.

Synthesis and Structure of the New Ternary Nitride SrTiN(2)

A new ternary nitride, SrTiN(2), has been synthesized by the solid-state reaction of Sr(2)N with TiN and characterized by powder X-ray diffraction. SrTiN(2) crystallizes in the tetragonal space group P4/nmm (a = 3.8799(2) Å, c = 7.6985(4) Å, Z = 2) and is isostructural with KCoO(2). Titanium is coordinated to five nitrogens in a distorted square-based pyramidal geometry, forming layers of edge-sharing pyramids which stack along the (001) direction. Strontium is situated between the Ti-N layers and is coordinated to five nitrogen atoms. The title compound is only the third example of a ternary titanium nitride.

The chemical bonding topology of ternary and quaternary transition metal nitrides containing low-coordinate metal atoms

Solid state ternary and quaternary metal nitrides containing a transition metal and one or two very electropositive metals such as alkali and (or) alkaline earth metals exhibit a number of structures containing low-coordinate transition metals in the transition metal – nitrogen subnetwork. Transition metal – nitrogen double and even triple bonds are found in these structures involving dπ → pπ bonding from a filled transition metal d orbital to an otherwise empty nitrogen p orbital. Such multiply bonded nitrogen atoms function as strong field ligands in contrast to amido ligands such as (Me3Si)2N−, which generally function as weak field ligands in transition metal chemistry. The transition metal environment in these ternary nitrides can be modelled by "banana bonds" from the polyhedron using the atomic orbitals required for both the σ- and π-bonding to the nitride ligands, e.g., the trigonal prism for the trigonal planar derivatives MIIIN36− (M = V, Cr, Mn, Fe) with three M=N double bonds as well as FeIIN24− in Li4FeIIN2 with two Fe≡N triple bonds and the planar square for the discrete linear CoIN25− in LiSr2CoN2. Reasonable electron counts are also obtained for the anionic metal–nitrogen networks in Ca2FeN2, Sr2LiFe2N3, Ba2LiFe2N3, Li3FeN2, CaNiN, Li3Sr3Ni4N4, BaNiN, and Ba8Ni6N7. Keywords: chemical bonding, topology, nitrides, transition metals.