Used a lot by the Nazis during World War II in various forms, potassium cyanide was a terror to millions of Europeans at that time.
Used in the jewelry industry, people use potassium cyanide for plating or polishing by chemical methods. Occasionally, potassium cyanide is also used in the gold mining industry to separate gold from gold ore. Until the 1970s, this compound was also used in rat poison.
Potassium cyanide was first discovered in 1704 in Berlin, Germany in the experiments of German physician Johann Conrad Dippel. He mixed a mixture of dried blood with Potassium and Ion Sulfate to produce a dark blue mixture called “Berlin blue”.
Potassium cyanide or potassium cyanide is the name for a colorless chemical compound of potassium with the formula KCN.
In 1782, a Swedish scientist heated the compound with dilute sulfuric acid. He noticed that a newly formed acid was hydrogen cyanide (a compound form of cyanide) . This acid is very soluble in water.
Today, scientists have more research and better understanding of the characteristics and properties of cyanide and their compounds, especially the toxic potassium cyanide.
According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Hong Con (Faculty of Chemistry, University of Natural Sciences, VNU) Potassium cyanide or potassium cyanide is the name of a colorless chemical compound of potassium with the formula KCN. It has an almond-like odor , has a sugar-like appearance, and is highly soluble in water.
Potassium cyanide smells like almonds.
According to the classification in European Union directive 67/548/EEC, it is extremely toxic (T+), which can kill people in low doses. However, as one of the very few substances capable of forming complexes of water-soluble gold (Au), it is used in the jewelry industry for chemical plating or polishing. It is also sometimes used in the gold mining industry to separate gold from gold ore.
Because it is a colorless substance with an almond-like aroma, just 200 to 250 mg of this deadly poison can cause a healthy person to lose consciousness within 30 seconds to 2 minutes. After about 1 hour, she falls into a coma and can die after about 3 hours if there is no timely treatment.
Just 0.15 – 0.2 g of cyanide can kill a healthy person. People who eat, drink or inhale the above poison often have symptoms such as dizziness, headache, vomiting, anxiety, fear, cold hands and feet, convulsions, coma, etc., leading to death.
Humans often get cyanide poisoning in 3 main ways:
Like other cyanide compounds, potassium cyanide is toxic by blocking cellular metabolism . Potassium cyanide has the ability to form chemical bonds with hemes in the blood (such as hemoglobin), making cells unable to get oxygen and destroy.
When being poisoned with potassium cyanide, people who are poisoned often have symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, convulsions and can completely die soon after if the concentration of potassium cyanide in the blood is greater than 1mg/l.
It is estimated that when intoxicated with a large amount of potassium cyanide, the brain and heart will be severely damaged before leading to death. And yet, scientists say that just one 500g bottle of potassium cyanide can kill 2,500 healthy people if accidentally poisoned.
According to Wikipedia, when poisoning with potassium cyanide, it is necessary to give first aid to the victim by giving oxygen . In workshops that use potassium cyanide, a first aid kit for poisoning is often available, consisting of amyl nitrite, sodium nitrite, methylene blue, and sodium thiosulfate.
Glucose has the ability to significantly slow down the toxicity of potassium cyanide, while protecting cells by forming chemical bonds with potassium cyanide. However, people need to remember clearly that glucose is not capable of detoxifying when intoxicated with potassium cyanide.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Due (Poison Control Center, Bach Mai Hospital) further noted, when being poisoned with cyanide, people cannot handle it themselves but must quickly go to a medical facility for active treatment and use antidote. When going to the emergency room, place the patient on a safe side (lower half on stomach, face to one side) when the patient has a seizure. Do not let the patient fall. Do not use a hard object to insert a convulsion victim’s mouth, but rather use a soft object such as a towel.