Potassium cyanate is an inorganic compound with the formula KOCN (sometimes denoted KCNO[1]). It is a colourless solid. It is used to prepare many other compounds including useful herbicide. Worldwide production of the potassium and sodium salts was 20,000 tons in 2006.[2]
The potassium and sodium salts can be used interchangeably for the majority of applications. Potassium cyanate is often preferred to the sodium salt, which is less soluble in water and less readily available in pure form.
Potassium cyanate has been used to reduce the percentage of sickled erythrocytes under certain conditions and has also increased the number of deformalities. In an aqueous solution, it has prevented irreversibly the in vitro sickling of hemoglobins containing human erythrocytes during deoxygenization. Veterinarians have also found potassium cyanate useful in that the cyanate salts and isocyanates can treat parasite diseases in both birds and mammals.[8]
The reaction produces a liquid. Intermediates and impurities include biuret, cyanuric acid, and potassium allophanate (KO2CNHC(O)NH2), as well as unreacted starting urea, but these species are unstable at 400 °C.[2]
Protonation gives a 97:3 mixture (at room temperature) of two tautomers, HNCO (isocyanic acid) and NCOH (cyanic acid). This mixture is stable at high dilution but trimerizes on concentration to give cyanuric acid.
Potassium carbonate crystals are destroyed by the melting process so that the urea can react with almost all potassium ions to convert to potassium cyanate at a higher rate than when in the form of a salt. This makes it easier to reach higher purities above 95%. It can also be made by oxidizing potassium cyanide at a high temperature in the presence of oxygen or easily reduced oxides, such as lead, tin, or manganese dioxide, and in aqueous solution by reacting with hypochlorites or hydrogen peroxide. Another way to synthesize it is to allow an alkali metal cyanide to react with oxygen in nickel containers under controlled conditions. It can be formed by the oxidation of ferrocyanide. Lastly, it can be made by heating potassium cyanide with lead oxide.[9]
^Recreation of Wöhler’s Synthesis of Urea: An Undergraduate Organic Laboratory Exercise James D. Batchelor, Everett E. Carpenter, Grant N. Holder, Cassandra T. Eagle, Jon Fielder, Jared Cummings The Chemical Educator 1/Vol .3,NO.6 1998 ISSN 1430-4171 Online articleArchived 2006-09-30 at the Wayback Machine
^ abcPeter M. Schalke1, "Cyanates, Inorganic Salts" Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry2006, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim. doi:10.1002/14356007.a08_157.pub2. Article Online Posting Date: July 15, 2006
^T. C. Waddington "Lattice parameters and infrared spectra of some inorganic cyanates" J. Chem. Soc., 1959, 2499-2502. doi:10.1039/JR9590002499
^Ulrich Müller "Verfeinerung der Kristallstrukturen von KN3, RbN3, CsN3 und TIN3" Zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine Chemie 1972, Volume 392, 159–166. doi:10.1002/zaac.19723920207
^INEOS Paraform GmbH, Potassium Cyanate (KOCN) product information.Online version accessed on 2009-06-30.
