[Frijolebunny]

Hello, I am having some trouble understanding why some compounds are weak acids or strong bases/nucleophiles. I was wondering why n3- is a weak base? Its conjugate acid seems stable to me, it has a formal charge of 0. Wouldn't this make n3- a strong base? Or is my logic wrong somewhere? I would appreciate any clarity, thank you!

[rolnor]

I guess you mean azide?
It has several resonance structures so the charge is on all three nitrogens making this a weak base.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azide

[chenbeier]

The Problem here is the writing. Correct N₃^- that is Azid. But if meant N^3- is Nitrid.

That is different.

[rolnor]

True, but nitrid would be very strong base?

[chenbeier]

Not Sure, But if I compare Na₃N with Na₂O what is stronger.
Or NaNH₂ and NaOH.
For Nitrid I couldnt find a pKb value

[rolnor]

NaNH2 is one if the strongest  bases, imagine if you take 2 more protons away from it. I have a feeling that nitrides are more covalent compounds, not ionic.