It is a white solid that is soluble in many organic solvents but not water or alkanes.

It thus provides a way to convert C-Cl to C-H.[3] With ketones and aldehydes, it condenses to give the hydrazones: Upon heating in solution, it degrades, releasing diimide (N2H2), a useful reducing agent.

The compound is an important reagent in organic synthesis, serving as a source of reactive diimide and its subsequent chemical reactions.

It condenses with ketones and aldehydes to form hydrazones, which can be further transformed into reactive intermediates such as diazo compounds or carbenes.

Ketone hydrazones are defunctionalized using mild reagents in a modified Wolff-Kishner reaction.