Abstract A comparative study of some isocyanide dichlorides RN [DOUBLE BOND] CCl 2 and their isomeric N-chloro-formimidoyl chlorides RC (Cl)[DOUBLE BOND] NCl is described. For this purpose we tried to synthesize N-cyano-isocyanide dichloride (III) and diisocyano tetrachloride (tetrachloroformalazine)(IX). Chlorination of S, S′-dimethyl cyanodithiocarbonimidate (II) did not yield III but the dimeric 2, 4-dichloro-6- ...