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In chemistry, cyanide (from Greek kyanos 'dark blue') is a chemical compound that contains a C≡N functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. [1] In inorganic cyanides, the cyanide group is present as the cyanide anion − C≡N. This anion is extremely poisonous.
[1] [2] [3] Introduced by Gilbert N. Lewis in his 1916 article The Atom and the Molecule, a Lewis structure can be drawn for any covalently bonded molecule, as well as coordination compounds. [4] Lewis structures extend the concept of the electron dot diagram by adding lines between atoms to represent shared pairs in a chemical bond.
Cyanogen is typically generated from cyanide compounds. One laboratory method entails thermal decomposition of mercuric cyanide: . 2 Hg(CN) 2 → (CN) 2 + Hg 2 (CN) 2 Or, one can combine solutions of copper(II) salts (such as copper(II) sulfate) with cyanides; an unstable copper(II) cyanide is formed which rapidly decomposes into copper(I) cyanide and cyanogen.
A CN bond is strongly polarized towards nitrogen (the electronegativities of C and N are 2.55 and 3.04, respectively) and subsequently molecular dipole moments can be high: cyanamide 4.27 D, diazomethane 1.5 D, methyl azide 2.17, pyridine 2.19. For this reason many compounds containing CN bonds are water-soluble.
The unimolecular decompositions that acetyl cyanide undergo have been confirmed to be less energetically favorable than the molecule undergoing isomerization to acetyl isocyanide. However, through other photolysis experiments have resulted in the formation of a CN radical through acetyl cyanide decomposing into CH 3 CO + CN or CH 3 COCN. [4]
Structurally the isomers can be distinguished by the geometry of the complex. In N-bonded cyanate complexes the M−NCO unit sometimes has a linear structure, but with O-bonded cyanate the M−O−C unit is bent. Thus, the silver cyanato complex, [Ag(NCO) 2] −, has a linear structure as shown by X-ray crystallography. [13]
Bonding in the cyano radical can be described as a combination of two resonance structures: the structure with the unpaired electron on the carbon is the minor contributor, while the structure with the unpaired electron on the nitrogen (the isocyano radical) is the major contributor.
Cyanogen bromide is the inorganic compound with the formula (CN)Br or BrCN. It is a colorless solid that is widely used to modify biopolymers, fragment proteins and peptides (cuts the C-terminus of methionine), and synthesize other compounds. The compound is classified as a pseudohalogen.