Talk:Sodium amide

NaNH2 as a reagent
I made some changes that organic chemists may choose to revise further. NaNH2 has no odor, it's a salt after all. Its use in the lab has almost disappeared with the introduction of stronger, more soluble, or more easily handled bases. I am skeptical of the comment that O2 converts NaNH2 to nitrogen oxides.--Smokefoot 04:37, 30 March 2006 (UTC)

Safety: Burns in air to form nitrogen?
You mean nitrogen dioxide, right? Scot.parker 19:27, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

pKb = 33?
I thought strong bases had low pKb's. Does 33 refer to pKa?
 * Agree something is odd here - either the value should be negative i.e. -33 (seems it has been changed from 33 to 38 at some point) or it is pKa value. At any rate it should have a reference -- Quantockgoblin (talk) 00:29, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

From acid dissociation constant, $$K_b = \frac{K_w}{K_a}$$.

The pKa of NH3 is around 33, i.e. Ka ≈ 10−33, so its pKb should be approximately $$- \log_{10} \left ( \frac{10^{-14}}{10^{-33}} \right ) = - \log_{10} \left ( 10^{19} \right ) = -19$$.

Acid dissociation constant gives the pKb of sodium amide as −19.

Ben (talk) 08:37, 22 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Added reference to page as cited in the pKa table in Jerry March Advanced Organic Chemistry p 252, fourth ed. -- Quantockgoblin (talk) 11:31, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

name alternative
the -NR2 ion is sometimes referred as "azanide". It also appears to be the most correct IUPAC name (since "amide" properly refers to the -CONR2 group). Such page does not exist, maybe it can be created so that there is a specific page, instead of relying on disambiguations. I'd do it myself but I don't know how... 79.56.184.112 (talk) 10:51, 29 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Well in a long career as a chemist, I have never heard anyone use that term except one editor at Wikipedia. In fact its usage is a sure sign that the the user is not a practicing chemist! IUPAC's intentions are certainly good, but sometimes their nomenclature recommendations are so out of step with contemporary chemistry that they should be politely ignored. That seems to be the prevailing view around here.  --Smokefoot (talk) 12:12, 29 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Indeed this user is still a student.. However, that was merely a suggestion. It might be outdate and unused as a term, but in case it's an official name, it could be included for the sake of knowledge, if not for practical use. I believe the prevaling view here is that wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a handbook. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.55.62.150 (talk) 11:01, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

Amide (has two meanings)
Isnt amide used both for acid amides and the name of the conjugate base of ammonia? I am thinking of the newly added "Sodium amide, despite its name, is not technically an amide as it does not contain the carbonyl functional group." Christian75 (talk) 07:34, 23 August 2015 (UTC)
 * Its an old problem in nomenclature. It also applies to lithium diisopropylamide, lithium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide],] [[potassium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide, and many related derivatives. My feeling had been that those looking at thee pretty specialized article are sophisticated and would find such an explanation to be distracting.  Possibly the best place to do your explaining is in metal amides. --Smokefoot (talk) 14:26, 23 August 2015 (UTC)


 * The use of the systematic name (sodium) azanide solves the problem of disambiguation.--109.166.206.2 (talk) 18:03, 9 September 2018 (UTC)

Kinetic data of direct synthesis
What kinetic data are avalaible to the direct synthesis of this compound from sodium and liquid ammonia (to be inserted in article)?--5.2.200.163 (talk) 16:11, 9 March 2016 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 06:26, 30 April 2016 (UTC)