561. Ammonium Thiocyanate

Nomenclature

CAS number: 1762-95-4
Thiocyanic acid ammonium salt (1:1); ammonium rhodanide; ammonium sulfocyanate; ammonium sulfocyanide.
CH4N2S; mol wt 76.12.
C 15.78%, H 5.30%, N 36.80%, S 42.12%.
NH4SCN.

Description and references

Commercial grade is 98-99% pure. Prepn: Gmelins, Ammonium (8th ed.) 23, pp 372-383 (1936). 13C and 15N NMR study: R. M. Dickson et al., Can. J. Chem. 65, 941 (1987). Reagent in determn of carboxyl termini of peptides: G. Stark, Biochemistry 7, 1796 (1968); L. D. Cromwell, G. R. Stark, ibid. 8, 4735 (1969). Review of toxicology and human exposure: Toxicological Profile for Cyanide (PB98-101207, 1997) 291 pp. Synthetic applications in thiocyanation reactions: N. N. Karade et al., Synth. Commun. 35, 1197 (2005); G. Wu et al., Tetrahedron Lett. 46, 5831 (2005); P. Srihari et al., Synthesis 2006, 2772. Laboratory information profile: J. A. Young, J. Chem. Educ. 82, 1619 (2005).

Properties

Deliquesc crystals. mp ≈149°. Dec at 170°. Freely sol in water, ethanol; sol in methanol, acetone. Practially insol in CHCl3, ethyl acetate. Reacts violently with oxidizing agents, esp potassium chlorate. Protect from light.

Caution

Potential symptoms of overexposure by ingestion are hallucinations and distorted perceptions, nausea or vomiting, and other gastrointestinal effects.

Use

In matches; double-dyeing fabrics; photography; improving and increasing strength of silks weighted with tin salts; producing grayish-black coating on Zn; manuf transparent artificial resins, thiourea; in pesticides. Detection and determn of Fe, Ag, Hg.