N₂O₃ is a covalent compound. This is because it is formed between two non-metals: nitrogen (N) and oxygen (O). In general, ionic compounds are formed when there’s a transfer of electrons from a metal to a non-metal, leading to the formation of charged ions. However, since both nitrogen and oxygen are non-metals, they share electrons rather than transferring them, resulting in covalent bonds.
When it comes to naming N₂O₃, we use the molecular (covalent) naming conventions. The rules state that we should use prefixes to denote the number of atoms of each element present in the compound. In this case, ‘di-‘ is used for the two nitrogen atoms and ‘tri-‘ for the three oxygen atoms. Thus, N₂O₃ is named as ‘dinitrogen trioxide’. The prefix ‘di-‘ indicates the two nitrogen atoms, and ‘tri-‘ indicates the three oxygen atoms in the compound.