Fruit hydrogen cyanide

Over 2,650 plant species can produce hydrogen cyanide (Seigler 1991 Swain et al. 1992). These include edible plants such as almonds, pits from stone fruits (e.g., apricots, peaches, plums, cherries), sorghum, cassava, soybeans, spinach, lima beans, sweet potatoes, maize, millet, sugarcane, and bamboo shoots (Fiksel et al. 1981). The cyanogenic glycoside content of a foodstuff is usually expressed as the amount of cyanide released by acid hydrolysis glycoside concentrations are rarely reported (WHO 1992). 

Complex glycosides, which upon hydrolysis yield hydrogen cyanide, are commonly found among plant materials. The uixlcity of this class of compounds, found in Ihc biller almond, pits of stone fruits, sorghum, and lima beans, is directly related to HCN liberation upon digestive hydrolysis. 

Hydrogen Cyanide and Its Salts. Hydrogen cyanide, HCN (structural formula H—-Ce==N I), is a gas which dissolves in water and acts as a very weak acid. It is made by treating a cyanide, such as potassium cyanide, KCN, with sulfuric acid, and is used as a fumigant and rat poison. It smells like bitter almonds and crushed fruit kernels, which in fact owe their odor to it. Hydrogen cyanide and its salts are very poisonous. 

Usually, donor and acceptor functions are located at different ring carbon atoms, but there are also examples in which both functions are linked to the same atom. The most prominent compound of this type is 1-aminocyclopropanecarboxylic acid (ACC, 6), a naturally occurring amino acid which is the precursor of the fruit-ripening hormone ethene. In fruit tissues, such as apple tissue, this amino acid is oxidized to ethene, carbon dioxide and hydrogen cyanide by the enzyme ACC oxidase, also known as ethene-forming enzyme (EFE). This reaction has been studied in detail. ... 

Fruits that have a pit, such as cherries or apricots, often contain small quantities of hydrogen cyanide in the pit (Okafor et al., 2005). 

Hazardous Decomp. Prods. CO, CO2, NOx, hydrogen chloride gas, hydrogen cyanide Uses Contact and stomach insecticide active against a wide variety of insect pests in cereals, fruits, cotton, forestry, oilseeds, tobacco, vegetables, vines in public health and veterinary applies. ectoparasiticide Trade Name Synonyms Cipermetrina [Canamex http //www. canamex. com.mx] o-Cypermethrin CAS 67375-30-8... 

Hydrogen cyanide, HCN, is a volatile, colorless liquid with the odor of certain fruit pits (such as peach and cherry pits). The compound is highly poisonous. How many molecules are there in 56 mg HCN, the average toxic dose ... 

Hydrogen cyanide is widely used in industry in the manufacture of plastics and nitrites and may also be produced by burning polyurethane foam. It is also found in very small quantities in the kernels of some fruits. It may be ingested or inhaled accidentally or deliberately. It may also form explosive mixtures. All cyanides are reversible cytochrome oxidase inhibitors, which prevent cellular respiration. 

Compounds of hydrogen or a metal and the monovalent N3 radical. Some azides are unstable and explode spontaneously. Act like cyanide block cytochrome oxidase. Hyperkinesia seen in animals. Sodium azide potent vasodilator. Highly toxic hypotension, tachycardia, tachyp-noea, severe headache and convulsions. Rat oral LD50 45 mg/kg bw. Used in automatic blood counters, as a propellant for inflating air-bags in cars, nematocide, rot control in fruit. 

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