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Concept
Potassium cyanide
Summary
Potassium cyanide is a compound with the formula KCN. This colorless, highly toxic salt, similar in appearance to sugar, is highly soluble in water. Most KCN is used in gold mining, organic synthesis, and electroplating. Smaller applications include jewellery for chemical gilding and buffing.
The moist solid emits small amounts of hydrogen cyanide due to hydrolysis (reaction with water). Hydrogen cyanide is often described a having an odor resembling that of bitter almonds.
The taste of potassium cyanide has been described as acrid and bitter, with a burning sensation similar to lye.
KCN is produced by treating hydrogen cyanide with an aqueous solution of potassium hydroxide, followed by evaporation of the solution in a vacuum:
About 50,000 tons of potassium cyanide are produced yearly.
Before 1900 and the invention of the Castner process, potassium cyanide was the most important source of alkali metal cyanides. In this historical process, potassium cyanide was produced by decomposing potassium ferrocyanide:
In aqueous solution, KCN is dissociated into hydrated potassium (K+) ions and cyanide (CN−) ions. As a solid, KCN has structure resembling sodium chloride: with each potassium ion surrounded by six cyanide ions, and vice versa. Despite being diatomic, and thus less symmetric than chloride, the cyanide ions rotate so rapidly that their time-averaged shape is spherical. At low temperature and high pressure, this free rotation is hindered, resulting in a less symmetric crystal structure with the cyanide ions arranged in sheets.
KCN and sodium cyanide (NaCN) are widely used in organic synthesis for the preparation of nitriles and carboxylic acids, particularly in the von Richter reaction. It also finds use for the synthesis of hydantoins, which can be useful synthetic intermediates, when reacted with a carbonyl compound such as an aldehyde or ketone in the presence of ammonium carbonate.
KCN is used as a photographic fixer in the wet plate collodion process. The KCN dissolves silver where it has not been made insoluble by the developer.
Official source
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