Sodium cyanate is the
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 NaOCN. A white solid, it is the sodium salt of the cyanate anion.
Structure
The anion is described by two
resonance structure
In chemistry, resonance, also called mesomerism, is a way of describing bonding in certain molecules or polyatomic ions by the combination of several contributing structures (or ''forms'', also variously known as ''resonance structures'' or '' ...
s:
The salt adopts a body centered rhombohedral crystal lattice structure (
trigonal crystal system) at room temperature.
Preparation
Sodium cyanate is prepared industrially by the reaction of
urea
Urea, also called carbamide (because it is a diamide of carbonic acid), is an organic compound with chemical formula . This amide has two Amine, amino groups (–) joined by a carbonyl functional group (–C(=O)–). It is thus the simplest am ...
with
sodium carbonate
Sodium carbonate (also known as washing soda, soda ash, sal soda, and soda crystals) is the inorganic compound with the formula and its various hydrates. All forms are white, odourless, water-soluble salts that yield alkaline solutions in water ...
at elevated temperature.
:2OC(NH
2)
2 + Na
2CO
3 → 2Na(NCO) + CO
2 + 2NH
3 + H
2O
Sodium
allophanate is observed as an intermediate:
:
It can also be prepared in the laboratory by oxidation of a cyanide in aqueous solution by a mild oxidizing agent such as
lead oxide
Lead oxides are a group of inorganic compounds with formulas including lead (Pb) and oxygen
Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), gr ...
.
Uses and reactions
The main use of sodium cyanate is for
steel hardening.
[
Sodium cyanate is used to produce ]cyanic acid
Isocyanic acid is a chemical compound with the structural formula HNCO, which is often written as . It is a colourless, volatile and poisonous gas, condensing at 23.5 °C. It is the predominant tautomer and an isomer of cyanic acid ''(a ...
, often in situ:
:
This approach is exploited for condensation with amines to give unsymmetrical ureas:
:
Such urea derivatives have a range of biological activity
In pharmacology, biological activity or pharmacological activity describes the beneficial or adverse effects of a drug on living matter. When a drug is a complex chemical mixture, this activity is exerted by the substance's active ingredient or ...
.
See also
* Cyanate
The cyanate ion is an anion with the chemical formula . It is a resonance of three forms: (61%) ↔ (30%) ↔ (4%).
Cyanate is the derived anion of isocyanic acid, H−N=C=O, and its lesser tautomer cyanic acid (a.k.a. cyanol), H−O−C� ...
References
Cyanates
Sodium compounds
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