Nitrogen Family : Anamalous behaviour of Nitrogen

Anamalous behaviour of Nitrogen

Nitrogen is known to differ form other members of the family because of the following facts,

(i)      Its small size (ii) Its high electronegativity (iii) Its high ionisation energy (iv) non-availability of d-orbital in the valence shell. (v) Its capacity to form  multiple bonds.

          The main points of difference are,

(1)     Nitrogen is a gas (N2) while other members are solids.

(2)     Nitrogen is diatomic while other elements like phosphorus and arsenic form tetra-atomic molecules (P4, As4).

(3)     Nitrogen form five oxides (N2O, NO, N2O3, N2O4 and N2O5) while other members of the family form two oxides (tri and pentaoxides).

(4)     Hydrides of nitrogen show H-bonding while those of other elements do not.

(5)     Nitrogen does not show pentacovalency because of absence of d-orbitals while all other elements show pentacovalency.

(6)     Nitrogen dos not form complexes because of absence of d-orbitals while other elements show complex formation e.g., [PCl6], [AsCl6]  etc.

(7)     The hydride of nitrogen (NH3) is highly basic in nature while the hydrides of other elements are slightly basic.

(8)     Except for NF3, other halides of nitrogen e.g., NCl3, NBr3 and NI3 are unstable while the halides of other elements are fairly stable.