Adamanzane


Adamanzanes are compounds containing four nitrogen atoms linked by carbons. Often coordinated to a central ligand, the nitrogens occupy the vertices of a tetrahedron, with potentially four faces and six edges, with the carbon chains running approximately along the edges. They can have a "bowl" or "cage" structure, with varying lengths or omission of the carbon chains. In the nomenclature of Springborg et al. these can be described according to the number of chains of specified length: thus, for example, adz is 1,3,6,8-tetraazatricyclo-dodecane, a compound which contains four one-carbon chains and two two-carbon chains linking the nitrogens.
36Adamanzane has found a special use in the preparation of "inverse sodium hydride", a compound in which Na− and H+ ions coexist, due to the ability of the adamanzane to encapsulate the H+ and render it kinetically inert to react with the Na−.