Hydrogen cyanide Miller-Urey experiment

As already mentioned, hydrogen cyanide is formed in simulation experiments using reducing primeval atmospheres. CN was discovered in interstellar space as early as 1940 by optical spectroscopy (Breuer, 1974), and later HCN itself (from measurements using millimetre wavelengths). Only a few years after the Miller-Urey experiments, Kotake et al. (1956) obtained HCN in good yields by reacting methane with ammonia over aluminium-silicate contacts ... 

H FIGURE 1.4 An example of the Miller-Urey experiment. Water is heated in a closed system that also contains CH, NH, and An electric discharge is passed through the mixture of gases to simulate lighming. After the reaction has been allowed to take place for several days, organic molecules such as formaldehyde (HCHO) and hydrogen cyanide (HCN) accumulate. Amino acids are also frequently encountered as products of such reactions. 

Figure 2. Variations in the concentrations of ammonia, aldehydes and hydrogen cyanide in the Miller-Urey experiment.

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