INFRARED STUDY OF THE PHOTOLYSIS OF $HN_{3}$ IN SOLID $N_{2}$

Author Institution: Chemistry Department, University of CaliforniaThe infrared study of the photolytic reaction of hydrazoic acid in a solid nitrogen matrix has been reinvestigated under higher resolution and with isotopically substituted hydrazoic acid. The rate of photolytic decomposition has been found to be considerably higher for dimer and higher polymers than for isolated, monomeric hydrazoic acid molecules. Furthermore, the products formed from polymers seem to be different from those obtained from monomers. Under conditions where a high concentration of monomer is initially present an absorption peak grows at $3127 cm^{-1}$ and the shift to $2306 cm^{-1}$ when $DN_{2}$ is photolyzed favors the suggestion that these absorptions are due to NH and ND radicals, respectively. The report will include results of experiments with $N^{15}$ labeled hydrazoic acid aimed to identify the various reaction products obtained from polymers