Formation of Cyanide Ion by the Reaction of Amines and Nitrite Ion. I. Formation of Cyanide Ion at the Distillation of the Reaction Mixture

Abstract

An interesting fact was found that the nitrite ion reacted not only with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) but with most of the amines to liberate a cyanide ion, the concentration of which frequently exceeded the regulation limit provided by the Japanese law (source limit : 1ppm, environmental limit : 0.1ppm). Therefore, in the case of waste water containing a nitrite ion, a denitriting agent should be added before distillation of the sample solution. Only ammonium sulfamate was suitable as a denitriting agent, because sulfanilamide reacted with the nitrite ion to form a cyanide ion, sodium azide reacted with a cyanide ion to decompose the cyanide ion itself, and urea did not eliminate the nitrite ion sufficiently.