Potassium Cyanide

Description

What is Potassium cyanide?

Potassium cyanide is a highly poisonous compound that is an inhibitor of many metabolic processes, but has been shown to be an especially potent inhibitor of heme enzymes and hemeproteins. It is used in many industrial processes.

Potassium cyanide is a compound with the formula KCN. This colorless crystalline salt, similar in appearance to sugar, is highly soluble in water.

APPEARANCE of Potassium cyanide: White, granular or crystalline solid.

Major uses of Potassium

Most KCN is commonly used in gold mining, organic synthesis, and electroplating. Smaller applications include jewelry for chemical gilding and buffing.

KCN is used in photography; in plastic, paper and textile processing; for metal coating, cleaning or polishing etc. KCN can be also used as a fumigant in agriculture, and as a
poison against rats and pests

Human toxicity

Acute poisoning with HCN and KCN is dramatic, acute, and severe, and can produce death within minutes. In the initial phase of cyanide poisoning, lower exposure doses may produce nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, confusion, hyperventilation, anxiety, circulatory collapse, tachycardia, hypertension, headache etc. In the later phases, metabolic acidosis, seizures, pulmonary edema, apnea, convulsions, bradycardia, hypotension, coma, and death may occur. Death occurs mainly by cardiac arrest.

The fatal dose of KCN is estimated at 200 to 300 mg for an adult; however, there are cases when people survived ingestion of 1 g of KCN. The median lethal dose of cyanide is approximately 2 mg/kg. Whole blood cyanide levels about 3 mg/l and higher have been estimated fatal; coma occurred at the levels of 2.5 mg/l (sub-lethal cyanide level). In 32 fatal cases (post-mortem observations) a blood cyanide concentration range was from 0.4 to 230 mg/l, with an average of 37 mg/l. Most of the cyanide found in the blood is in red cells, with a red cell:plasma ratio of at least 10:1.

Potassium cyanide is a highly poisonous compound that is an inhibitor of many metabolic processes, but has been shown to be an especially potent inhibitor of heme enzymes and hemeproteins. It is used in many industrial processes.

Effects of Potassium 

Effect of potassium cyanide on behaviour and time to death in possums. It is known as a highly toxic chemical, and can certainly cause death at the right concentrations.

Potassium cyanide releases hydrogen cyanide gas, a highly toxic chemical asphyxiant that interferes with the body’s ability to use oxygen. Exposure to potassium cyanide can be rapidly fatal.