Theoretical study of the isomers of the anions N2 −, P3 −, N2P−, and NP2 −

It has been shown by nonempirical calculations of the potential surfaces of the isomers that for the anions N₃^– and N₂P^– linear structures are somewhat more favorable than others. For P₃^– and P₂N^– there are several isomers lying close together: linear, angular, and cyclic. The stability of the cyclic relative to the linear isomers increases sharply when two or all of the atoms of the 2nd period are replaced by their analogs in the subgroups of the 3rd or later periods.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 7, pp. 1590–1597, July, 1990.