cyanogen

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cyanogen

cyanogen (sīănˈəjən), NCCN, colorless, flammable, extremely poisonous gas with a characteristic odor somewhat like that of hydrogen cyanide. It melts at −35℃, boils at −21℃, and is soluble in water, ethanol, or ether. It is chemically very active.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Cyanogen

N≡C—C≡N, the dinitrile of oxalic acid; a colorless gas, with a pungent odor, a melting point of –27.8°C, and a boiling point of –21.15°C. Cyanogen is poorly soluble in water but dissolves more readily in alcohol, ether, and acetic acid. Upon prolonged heating at 400°C, it is converted into the amorphous polymer paracyanogen (CN)_x, where x ranges from 2,000 to 3,000; at 800°C, paracyanogen is completely depolymerized. Cyanogen is characterized by pseudohalogen properties; for example, like chlorine, it reacts with aqueous solutions of alkalies:

(CN)₂ + 2KOH→KCN + KCNO + H₂O

Cyanogen may be produced by the catalytic oxidation of hydrocyanic acid, by the reaction of heated coke with nitrogen, or by the dehydration of the diamide of oxalic acid, (CONH₂)₂. It is also formed during the pyrolysis of nitrogen-containing organic compounds and thus is found in small amounts in coke gas and blast-furnace gas. Cyanogen has been detected spectroscopically in comets. It is used in organic synthesis.

Although poisonous, cyanogen is less toxic than hydrocyanic acid and its salts—the cyanides.

REFERENCE

Brotherton, T. K., and J. W. Lynn. “The Synthesis and Chemistry of Cyanogen.” Chemical Reviews, 1959, vol. 59, no. 5, p. 841.

S. K. SMIRNOV

cyanogen

[sī′an·ə·jən]

(chemistry)

A univalent radical, CN.

(inorganic chemistry)

C₂N₂ A colorless, highly toxic gas with a pungent odor; a starting material for the production of complex thiocyanates used as insecticides. Also known as dicyanogen.

cyanogen

an extremely poisonous colourless flammable gas with an almond-like odour: has been used in chemical warfare. Formula: (CN)₂

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

References in periodicals archive ?

Sample Cyanogen content in mg/g of sample SB 43.55 SB boil 0 FB boil 0 FB 1 12.14 FB 2 8.98 FB 3 12.58 FB 4 12.34 FB 5 8.98 FB 6 8.78 FB 7 14.18 FB 8 13.42 FB 9 13.90 FB 10 9.10 FB 11 17.89

Microbial Fermentation by Traditional Process using Intrinsic Microflora Reduces the Cyanide Content of Bamboo Shoots

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Santander to join consortium to fund Cyanogen

In-vitro cyanogen bromide degradation: The rates of weight loss (percent) of native and acellular pericardium due to cyanogen bromide degradation are presented in table2.

In vitro evaluation of cross-linked native and acellular caprine pericardium

A series of azo based dicyanate resins were synthesized from biphenol precursors by treatment of cyanogen bromide (CNBr) in the presence of triethylamine.

Synthesis, characterization, and thermal properties of cyanate esters with azo linkages

The cyanogen plating waste liquid generated when processing plating such as semiconductor components contain cyanogen compounds and inorganic carbonates, in addition to valuable metals such as precious metals.

Tanaka Precious Metals Succeeds in Recovery of Trace Amounts of Precious Metals by Detoxifying Cyanogen Plating Waste Liquid

Insoluble ferrocyanide also releases toxic cyanogen gas in a reducing atmosphere.

Union Showa Develops Method of Stable Solidification of Insoluble Ferrocyanide

Analysis of crosslinking was conducted by pepsin solubility and cyanogen bromide digestion.

Advanced glycation end products induce crosslinking of collagen in vitro

In long exposure pictures Lulin appeared noticeably green in colour, caused by cyanogen (CN: a poisonous gas found in many comets) and diatomic carbon ([C.sub.2]) in its Jupiter-sized atmosphere.

Comet Lulin

The materials used in the experiment include; Streptococcus equisimilis group C, strain H46A (ATCC 12449, USA), Todd Hewitt Broth media (THB, HiMEDIA Laboratories), Trypticase Soy Agar (TSA, BBL, USA), Lysine monohydrochloride (Sigma Chemical, USA), Hexyl resorcinol (Merck, Germany), [rho]-nitro phenyl guanidinobenzoate (NPGB, Sigma Chemical, USA), 3-amino-n-caproic acid (EACA, Sigma Chemical, USA), Cyanogen bromide activated Sepharose 4B (Sigma Chemical, USA), Chromogenic substrate S-2251 (Chromogenix laboratories, Italy), Buffer salts, acids and bases (Merck, Germany).

Production and purification of streptokinase by protected affinity chromatography

Itoham blamed the Friday revisions on larger-than-expected expenses stemming from a temporary halt to operations of the Kashiwa factory, where toxic cyanogen compounds were detected last October from underground water used for its production.