Octaazacubane
| Names | |
|---|---|
| IUPAC name Octaazacubane | |
| Other names Octaazapentacyclo[4.2.0.02,5.03,8.04,7]octane; Cubaazane; Nitrogen octaatomic molecule | |
| Identifiers | |
| 3D model (JSmol) | |
| ChemSpider | |
| PubChem CID | |
| CompTox Dashboard (EPA) | |
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| Properties | |
| N8 | |
| Molar mass | 112.056 g·mol−1 | 
| Density | 2.69 g/cm3 (predicted) | 
| Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa). Infobox references | |
Octaazacubane is a hypothetical explosive allotrope of nitrogen with formula N8, whose molecules have eight atoms arranged into a cube. (By comparison, nitrogen usually occurs as the diatomic molecule N2.) It can be regarded as a cubane-type cluster, where all eight corners are nitrogen atoms bonded along the edges. It is predicted to be a metastable molecule, in which despite the thermodynamic instability caused by bond strain, and the high energy of the N–N single bonds, the molecule remains kinetically stable for reasons of orbital symmetry.