Flash Photolysis of Matrix-Isolated Cyanogen Azide in Solid Nitrogen

Flash photolysis combined with matrix-isolation spectroscopy has been employed to investigate the decomposition of a cyanogen azide—nitrogen solid at 20.4°K. Two primary processes have been observed leading to the formation of NCN radicals either in an electronically excited 1Δg level or in the 3Σg− ground state. The first-order decay of NCN (1Δg) has been studied and the mean lifetime in the solid found to be approximately 500 μsec.