9 Hydrazoic Acid Uses: Facts You Should Know!

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Hydrazoic acid is a mineral acid having the chemical formula HN3. Let us know take a look at the uses of hydrazoic acid.

Hydrazoic acid has several uses as listed below-

  • Industrial uses
  • Preparation of  Azides
  • Organic reactions

In this article we will discuss various uses of Hydrazoic acid in details.

Industrial uses

  • Hydrazoic acid is used to prepare 2-Furonitrile, an artificial sweetening agent.
  • The conjugate base of HN3 i.e., N3– is useful in specialized processes.
  • The gaseous hydrazoic acid is mixed with chlorine in AGIL, i.e., all gas-phase iodine laser to produce excited nitrogen chloride, which is then used to cause iodine to lase.

Preparation of  Azides

  • HN3 is used in the preparation of silver, lead and mercury azide. HN3 reacts with heavy metal salt solutions to form insoluble azides. E.g. – silver azide (AgN3), lead azide, copper(I) azides which decompose to form nitrogen plus the metal.
  • The reaction of Hydrazoic acid with metals like magnesium, zinc, and a few other metals to forms azides or hydrazoates.
  • NH4OH reacts with Hydrazoic acid thus forming ammonium azide NH4N3.
  • HN3 is also used in the preparation of azides that hydrolyze in aqueous solution such as antimony oxide.

Organic reactions

  • HN3 is used as a reagent in Schmidt rearrangement. It reacts with carbonyl derivatives, including aldehydes, and ketones, to give an amide with an explulsion of nitrogen.
  • Sodium Amalgam reacts with Hydrazoic acid to form NH3 with some hydrazine.
  • Hydrazoic acid reacts with potassium permanganate to form nitrogen and water.
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HYDRAZOIC ACID USES

Conclusion

Hydrogen azide is a highly volatile and toxic solution having a very pungent smell. It is colourless in nature . It should be stored and handled with extra care.