Sulfur-nitrogen compounds tetrasulfur tetranitride

H. Tetrasulfur Tetranitride and Related Sulfur-Nitrogen Compounds... 

A considerable number of sulfur-nitrogen compounds exist, and some of them have unusual properties. The most common compound of this type is S4N4, tetrasulfur tetranitride. The compound can be prepared by the following reaction ... 

The hydrohalide elimination route is also widely employed for the synthesis of cyclic sulfur-nitrogen compounds, such as tetrasulfur tetranitride (cyclotetrathiazyl), thiazyl halides, and sulfanuric halides ... 

Sulfur-nitrogen chemistry is an area that has seen major developments over the last few decades, in part because of the conductivity of the polymer (SN). The following discussion is necessarily selective, and more detailed accounts are listed at the end of the chapter. Probably the best known of the sulfur-nitrogen compounds is tetrasulfur tetranitride, S4N4. It has traditionally been obtained using reaction 16.119, but a more convenient method is reaction 16.120. Tetrasulfur tetranitride is a diamagnetic orange solid (mp 451 K) which explodes when heated or struck pure samples are very sensitive (see exercise 1 at the end of the section). It is hydrolysed slowly by water (in which it is insoluble) and rapidly by warm alkali (equation 16.121). 

The chemistry of sulfur-nitrogen compounds is rich and varied. Tetrasulfur tetranitride, S4N4, with its closed, basket-like shape (Figure 12.17a) is prepared by passing NH3 into a warm solution of S2CI2 in benzene ... 

Compounds which contain sulfur-nitrogen rings were known in the last century, but many new ones have been prepared in the last decade. It is currently an area of considerable interest. The ammonolysis of sulfur monochloride. S CIj, either in solution in an inert solvent or heated over solid ammonium chloride, yields tetrasulfur tetranitride ... 

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