Formation of O2CNO− in the reaction of (CO2)n- with NO

The (CO2)n- cluster anions react with NO to form O2CNO−, which has a covalent C-N linkage between the CO2 and NO units. In the reaction, (CO2)n- behaves as a 'synthetic equivalence' to CO2-; the relevant intracluster reaction proceeds as a radical addition process, CO2-+NO→O2CNO-(1A′).