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Science 18 January 2002:
Vol. 295. no. 5554, pp. 480 - 481
DOI: 10.1126/science.1067681
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Reports

Experimental Detection of Tetranitrogen

F. Cacace,* G. de Petris, A. Troiani

Tetranitrogen (N4), which has been the subject of great theoretical interest, has been prepared from the N4+ cation and positively detected as a gaseous metastable molecule with a lifetime exceeding 1 microsecond in experiments based on neutralization-reionization mass spectrometry. An examination of the geometry of N4+ and the fragmentation pattern of the 14N215N2 neutral molecule has revealed that the latter is characterized by an open-chain geometry with two distinct, closely bound N2 units joined by a longer weaker bond.

Dipartimento di Studi di Chimica e Tecnologia delle Sostanze Biologicamente Attive, Università di Roma "La Sapienza," Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5-00185 Roma, Italy.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: fulvio.cacace{at}uniroma1.it

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)