All-nitrogen chemistry: how far are we from N₆₀?

Abstract

Two hundred years of research have produced only a handful of synthesized all-nitrogen molecules and ions but a lot of stable N _n candidates are waiting to be detected. Experimentally, besides the long-known neutrals N₂ and linear-N₃ there are recent reports of N₄ and cyclic-N₃ production. In the ions, and have been reported. Ongoing theoretical work has predicted species like N₄, N₆, N₈, N₁₀ and even N₆₀ to be stable. We review the work that has been done recently in this area in both experiment and theory.

Table