The crystal structures of LiN_3*H₂O (P63/mcm (No. 193), Z = 6; 924.01(13); 560.06(7) pm); NH₄N₃ (Pmna (No. 53), Z =4; a=889.78(18), b=380,67(8), c=867.35(17) pm); Ca(N₃)₂ (Fddd (No. 70), Z = 8; a=595.4(2), b=1103.6(5), c=1133.1(6) pm), Sr(N₃)₂ (Fddd (No. 70), Z =8; a= 612.02(9), b = 1154.60(18), c = 1182.62(15) pm); Ba(N₃)₂ (P2₁/m (No. 11), Z = 2; a = 544.8(1), b = 439.9(1), c = 961.3(2) pm, β = 99.64(3)°) and TlN₃ (I4/mcm (No. 140), Z = 2; 618.96(9); 732.71(15) pm) have been either determined for the first time or redetermined by X-ray diffraction on single crystals. The afore mentioned compounds, AN₃ (A = Na, K, Rb, Cs), M(N₃)₂ · 2.5 H₂O (M = Mg, Zn) and the cyanamides Li₂CN₂, CdCN₂ and CuCN₂ were investigated by Raman and IR spectroscopy (KBr technique). Structural features and spectroscopic data of azides and cyanamides from this work and from literature are listed and compared.

α-Be₃N₂ powder was obtained by reacting Be metal with dry, flowing N₂ at 1600 K. The product contained 5.9(7) wt.% of BeO. The anti-bixbyite structure suggested earlier was verified through Rietveld refinement on the basis of X-ray powder data (Ia3 (#206); a = 814.518(6) pm). The optical band gaps of α-Be₃N₂, Mg₃N₂ and Ca₃N₂ are compared with newly measured values for Mg₃N₂, Ca₃N₂ and CaMg₂N₂.