Isocyanic acid

Isocyanic acid is a chemical compound with the structural formula HNCO, which is often written as . It is a colourless, volatile and poisonous substance, with a boiling point of 23.5 °C. It is the predominant tautomer and an isomer of cyanic acid (aka. cyanol) (). The derived anion of isocyanic acid is the same as the derived anion of cyanic acid, and that anion is , which is called cyanate. The related functional group is isocyanate; it is distinct from cyanate (), fulminate (), and nitrile oxide (). Isocyanic acid was discovered in 1830 by Justus von Liebig and Friedrich Wöhler. Isocyanic acid is the simplest stable chemical compound that contains carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, the four most commonly found elements in organic chemistry and biology. It is the only fairly stable one of the four linear isomers with molecular formula HOCN that have been synthesized, the others being cyanic acid (cyanol, ) and the elusive fulminic acid () and isofulminic acid . Although the electronic structure according to valence bond theory can be written as H−N=C=O, the vibrational spectrum has a band at 2268.8 cm−1 in the gas phase, which some say indicates a carbon–nitrogen triple bond. If so, then the canonical form is the major resonance structure. The tautomer, known as cyanic acid, HOCN, in which the oxygen atom is protonated exists in equilibrium with isocyanic acid to the extent of about 3%. The vibrational spectrum is indicative of the presence of a triple bond between the nitrogen and carbon atoms. However, classic vibrational analysis would indicate that the 2268.8 cm−1 is the asymmetric N=C=O stretch, as per Colthup et al., as well as the NIST Chemistry WebBook, which also reports the corresponding symmetric N=C=O stretch (weak in infrared, but strong in Raman) to be 1327 cm−1. Based on these classic assignments, there is no need to invoke a full charged state for the N and O atoms, to explain the vibrational spectral data. In aqueous solution it is a weak acid, having a pKa of 3.