title: Formation and characterization of the tetranuclear scandium nitride: Sc4N4.
abstract: The scandium dimer reacts with dinitrogen in solid argon to form the previously characterized planar cyclic Sc(mu-N)2Sc molecule, with the N-N bond being completely cleaved. The cyclic Sc(mu-N)2Sc molecules dimerize on annealing to form a cubic Sc4N4 cluster with tetrahedral symmetry, which is a fundamental building block for ScN nanoparticles and crystals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysts and Innovative Materials, Advanced Materials Laboratory, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.forename: YanYing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Mingfei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhou