Cyanides from atmospheric nitrogen

The reaction furnishes a means of preparing cyanides from atmospheric nitrogen. 

A great many attempts have been made to manufacture cyanides directly from atmospheric nitrogen, and no doubt a large industry may ultimately result from these attempts. 

Cyanamide, 109 see also Calcium Cyanamide Cyanate, potassium, 73 Cyanides, 71 et seq. Erlentneyer process for, 72 from ammonia, carbon and alkali metal, or salt, 73 from atmospheric nitrogen, 78, 79 from blast furnace gases, 36 from coal gas, 81, 8a from cyanamide, 66, 78 from ferro-cyanides, 7a, 73 from prussiates, 72 73 from schlempe, 76 from sodamide, 74, 75 statistics, 71 from stilpho-cyamdes, 75, 76... 

Morley, C. 1976. The formation and destruction of hydrogen cyanide from atmospheric and fuel nitrogen in rich atmospheric-pressure flames. Combust. Flame 27(2) 189-204. 

Potassium tellurocyanate, prepared from potassium cyanide and tellurium in DMSO, reacts with benzyl halides to produce benzyl tellurium cyanides in good yields. Because of the sensitivity of potassium tellurocyanate to oxygen and of some of the benzyl tellurium cyanides to light, the reactions must be carried out in an inert atmosphere (nitrogen or argon) under red light. 

Synthesis of a cyanide from a carbonate was actually the earliest means of fixing atmospheric Ni by a chemical reaction in a laboratory in 1860 F. Margueritte and A. de Sourdeval heated a mixture of barium carbonate, nitrogen, and carbon to 1,200 °C and produced barium cyanide ... 

Preparation. Hexagonal boron nitride can be prepared by heating boric oxide with ammonia, or by heating boric oxide, boric acid, or its salts with ammonium chloride, alkaU cyanides, or calcium cyanamide at atmospheric pressure. Elemental nitrogen does not react with boric oxide even in the presence of carbon, though it does react with elemental boron at high temperatures. Boron nitride obtained from the reaction of boron trichloride or boron trifluoride with ammonia is easily purified. 

Emissions to the atmosphere from ammonia plants include sulfur dioxide (SOj), nitrogen oxides (NOJ, carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (COj), hydrogen sulfide (HjS), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate matter, methane, hydrogen cyanide, and ammonia. The two primary sources of pollutants, with typical reported values, in kilograms per ton (kg/t) for the important pollutants, are as follows ... 

Hydrogen cyanide is a reactant in the production of acrylonitrile, methyl methacrylates (from acetone), adiponitrile, and sodium cyanide. It is also used to make oxamide, a long-lived fertilizer that releases nitrogen steadily over the vegetation period. Oxamide is produced by the reaction of hydrogen cyanide with water and oxygen using a copper nitrate catalyst at about 70°C and atmospheric pressure ... 

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