PARACYANOGEN REEXAMINED

Samples of paracyanogen were prepared by the pyrolysis of silver cyanide, the photolysis of cyanogen, and by sputtering a carbon electrode in a nitrogen plasma. This work was undertaken to establish whether these materials are alike and to derive structural information on the basis of FT-IR, C-13-MAS-NMR, and through temperature-programmed thermal decomposition. Paracyanogen derived from the above sources is indeed alike spectrally and thermally. Paracyanogen is a polymer that incorporates carbon, mostly sp2, and nitrogen in a disordered structure. Cyanogen is the main volatile component released in the thermal decomposition of paracyanogen. The cyanogen released was identified by FT-IR and MS. The rate of release reaches a maximum at ca. 700-degrees-C. Paracyanogen is not an appropriate carbon nitride precursor because of its limited thermal stability. (C) 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.