Ammonium cyanide

Uses

Ammonium cyanide is generally used in organic synthesis. Being unstable, it is not shipped or sold commercially.

Preparation

Ammonium cyanide is prepared by combining solutions of hydrogen cyanide and ammonia: :

It may be prepared by the reaction of calcium cyanide and ammonium carbonate: :

In dry state, ammonium cyanide is made by heating a mixture of potassium cyanide or potassium ferrocyanide with ammonium chloride and condensing the vapours into ammonium cyanide crystals: :

Reactions

Ammonium cyanide decomposes to ammonia and hydrogen cyanide, often forming a black polymer of hydrogen cyanide: :

It undergoes salt metathesis reaction in solution with a number of metal salts to form metal–cyanide complexes.

Reaction with ketones and aldehydes yield aminonitriles, as in the first step of the Strecker amino acid synthesis: :

Toxicity

Ammonium cyanide is highly toxic.

Notes

References

• A. F. Wells, Structural Inorganic Chemistry, 5th ed., Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, 1984.

References

1. (1991). "Bioastronomy: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life—The Exploration Broadens".