Silver nitrite is an

inorganic compound An inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds⁠that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as ''inorganic chemistry''. Inorgan ...

with the formula AgNO₂.

Applications

Silver nitrite has many applications. Notable examples include: * The production of

aniline Aniline (From , meaning ' indigo shrub', and ''-ine'' indicating a derived substance) is an organic compound with the formula . Consisting of a phenyl group () attached to an amino group (), aniline is the simplest aromatic amine. It is an in ...

compounds. * General

oxidizing agent An oxidizing agent (also known as an oxidant, oxidizer, electron recipient, or electron acceptor) is a substance in a redox chemical reaction that gains or " accepts"/"receives" an electron from a (called the , , or ''electron donor''). In ot ...

. *

Victor Meyer Viktor Meyer (8 September 18488 August 1897) was a German chemist and significant contributor to both organic chemistry, organic and inorganic chemistry. He is best known for inventing an apparatus for determining vapour densities, the Viktor Meye ...

type

nucleophilic substitution In chemistry, a nucleophilic substitution (SN) is a class of chemical reactions in which an electron-rich chemical species (known as a nucleophile) replaces a functional group within another electron-deficient molecule (known as the electrophile) ...

reactions with

organobromide Organobromine chemistry is the study of the synthesis and properties of organobromine compounds, also called organobromides, which are organic compounds that contain carbon Chemical bond, bonded to bromine. The most pervasive is the naturally produ ...

s or organoiodides forming

nitro compound In organic chemistry, nitro compounds are organic compounds that contain one or more nitro functional groups (). The nitro group is one of the most common explosophores (functional group that makes a compound explosive) used globally. The nit ...

s. * Nitroalkene synthesis with nitryl iodide generated ''in-situ'' from silver nitrite and elemental

iodine Iodine is a chemical element; it has symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists at standard conditions as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , and boils to a vi ...

. * 1,2,3-Benzothiadiazoles synthesis via skeletal editing (S,N-heteroarene ring transformation) of variously functionalized 2-halobenzothiazoles and benzothiazolinones

Production

Silver nitrite is produced from the reaction between

silver nitrate Silver nitrate is an inorganic compound with chemical formula . It is a versatile precursor to many other silver compounds, such as those used in photography. It is far less sensitive to light than the halides. It was once called ''lunar causti ...

and an alkali nitrite, such as

sodium nitrite Sodium nitrite is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a white to slightly yellowish crystalline powder that is very soluble in water and is hygroscopic. From an industrial perspective, it is the most important nitrite sa ...

. Silver nitrite is much less soluble in water than silver nitrate, and a solution of silver nitrate will readily precipitate silver nitrite upon addition of sodium nitrite: :AgNO₃ _(aq) + NaNO₂ _(s) → NaNO₃ _(aq) + AgNO₂ _{(precipitate)} Alternatively, it can be produced by the reaction between silver sulfate and barium nitrite.

References

{{Silver compounds Silver compounds Nitrites