Thorium Nitride, Th₃N₄

A Thorium Nitride, Th₃N₄, was first obtained as a white powder by Chydenius, who heated a mixture of thorium and ammonium chlorides in a current of hydrogen chloride gas; Moissan and Etard also obtained a nitride by heating the carbide in a stream of ammonia. The nitride may also be prepared by heating a mixture of thoria and magnesium or aluminium in a current of nitrogen, or by strongly heating the metal itself in the same gas. Thus obtained it is a yellowish maroon powder having the composition Th₃N₄; it is slowly. decomposed by cold water, quickly by hot, according to the reaction:

Th₃N₄ + 6H₂O = 3ThO₂ + 4NH₃.