Pentasulfur hexanitride, S5N6, has been prepared in good yield by the reaction of [n-Bu4N+][S4N5−] with bromine (or iodine) in methylene chloride at 0 °C. In contrast, the tetrasulfur pentanitride(−1) ion reacts smoothly with chlorine to give S4N5Cl, while the reaction with sulfuryl chloride produces S4N5Cl and S5N6 and the reaction with thionyl chloride produces a mixture of S3N2O, S3N2O2, S4N4, and S5N6. Pentasulfur hexanitride is an air-sensitive, explosive, yellow-orange solid which sublimes at ca. 45 °C/10−2 Torr without significant decomposition. It has been characterised by infrared, Raman, uv–visible, and mass spectra and by a single crystal X-ray structure determination. The crystals are monoclinic and belong to the space group C2/c, a = 8.787(2), b = 11.190(2), c = 7.427(2) Å, β = 106.46(2)°, V = 700.3(5) Å3, Z = 4, Dc = 2.317 g cm−3. The refined structure (Rw = 0.040) has twofold symmetry and resembles a basket in which an —N=S=N— unit (d(S—N) = 1.54 Å) is the handle which bridges an S4N4 cradle via S—N single bonds (d(S—N) = 1.70 Å). The introduction of this bridge widens one of the [Formula: see text] transannular separations in S4N4 to 3.94 Å while the other is shortened to 2.43 Å. Thus, the S4N4 cradle can be viewed as two five-membered rings fused at the S—S bond.
X-Ray crystal-structure analysis and magnetic and spectral properties of tetrachlorotris[dichloro(methyl)phosphine]molybdenum(IV)–carbon disulphide (3/1)
