Phosphoryl nitride is an inorganic chemical with the structure O=P≡N. It is a linear molecule consisting of oxygen, phosphorus, and nitrogen. It has a formal double bond between P and O (a phosphoryl substructure) and a triple bond between P and N (a nitride). It can be obtained in argon matrix isolation at 16 K by laser photolysis of phosphoryl triazide, OP(N3)3. The O=P≡N molecule and its isomer O––N+≡P can interconvert by photoisomerization. Both of these linear molecules are valence isoelectronic to . The stabilities of OPN, ONP, and a cyclic isomer have been studied theoretically in terms of relative stability and periodic-table trends.
Bulk phosphoryl nitride has many polymorphs, similar to its isoelectronic counterpart, silicon dioxide.
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