Response to Comment on "Synthesis and characterization of the pentazolate anion cyclo-N5- in (N5)6(H3O)3(NH4)4Cl"

Abstract

Huang and Xu argue that the cyclo-N5- ion in (N5)6(H3O)3(NH4)4Cl we described in our report is theoretically unfavorable and is instead protonated. Their conclusion is invalid, as they use an improper method to assess the proton transfer in a solid crystal structure. We present an in-depth experimental and theoretical analysis of (N5)6(H3O)3(NH4)4Cl that supports the results in the original paper.