Talk:Cyanide

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I'm going to put this in talk so people can understand this clearly. I worked on heme proteins (and for that matter cyanide) well over ten years in graduate school and through a couple postdocs. Cyanide is a deadly compound because of its effects on ferric heme proteins. It doesn't bind especially well to ferrous heme proteins (that's carbon monoxide that does so). Cutting off cytochrome c oxidase, which cyanide does very well, will shut off aerobic metabolism, and because of the rise in concentration of metabolic intermediates, eventually shut down all anaerobic metabolism as well.

Hemoglobin is a ferrous heme protein. One therapy for cyanide poisoning is to convert part of the hemoglobin in the blood to the ferric form, to provide a pool for internal cyanide and dilute the poison. That therapy would be useless if cyanide preferentially bound to the ferrous form of hemoproteins.dwmyers

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I'm not really stalking you, Bryan. Two queries. (1) I didn't really understand the vitamin B13 sentence-can this be clarified. the second (2) I thought, possibly incorrectly, that almond oil was extrcated from sweet almonds? jimfbleak 06:59 6 Jun 2003 (UTC)

How fast can cyanide kill?

Cyanide's toxicity is well-known. I'm under the impression that a large amount of the stuff is enough to deaden an adult person in seconds. It seems rather weird, though, so is it true? One imagines the suicide pills mentioned in the article would have to be pretty quick. -- Kizor 23:38, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)

• Seconds is a bit of an exageration for mortality. A few minutes seems the consensus, although loss of consciousness would be quicker and maybe as little as 30 seconds for a lethal dose of hydrogen cyanide gas. Physchim62 09:32, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)

LD100

What is the LD-100 (lethal dose at which point 100% of the subjects die) of (pure) cyanide? P.S. is this link (https://www1.fishersci.com/Coupon?gid=218110&cid=1336) just CN? How can one have just CN? I thought CN was an ion...

• LD₁₀₀ values do not have much meaning as there is always variability in the reaction of individauls to different poisons: this is notoriously true of cyanides. Quoted LD₅₀ values for potassium cyanide are 5–10 mg/kg for rodents. The IDLH (Immediate Danger to Life and Health) value is 25 mg/m³ (measured as cyanide, source NIOSH (US) (http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg/npgd0522.html)). Physchim62 10:54, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
• The "Cyanide standard solution" that you cite will of course contain a counter-ion to ensure its electrical neutrality, doubtless either sodium or potassium. Physchim62 10:54, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Antidote

The article does not mention about amyl nitrate being the antidote. Does anyone have any information regarding how soon after exposure to cyanide that amyl nitrate would be affective? Thank you

• Amyl nitrite is not strictly an antidote. It is used as first aid, as it can be given my non-medically qualified people, while waiting for a doctor to arrive and administer an intravenous antidote. As amyl nitrite is inhaled, it would only be effective while the victim is still breathing, say during the first five minutes after acute poisoning (in any case, as soon as possible). Having said that, there is some debate as to whether amyl nitrate is effective at all (see the HSE link on the article page). Physchim62 09:29, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)