Cyanate ion (OCN⁻)
- Charge
- −1
- Atoms
- O, C, N
- Atoms in total
- 3
- Mass of the ion
- 42.017 g/mol
Cyanate is a straight chain of oxygen, carbon and nitrogen atoms with a 1− charge. It has one more oxygen than cyanide, CN⁻, but the same charge, and the extra electron is spread over the oxygen and nitrogen ends. In 1828 Friedrich Wöhler heated ammonium cyanate and obtained urea, showing that a compound from living things could be made from simple chemicals.
- Cyanate is far less toxic than cyanide, so gold mines often oxidize cyanide waste into cyanate to make it safer.
- Swapping its oxygen for sulfur gives thiocyanate, SCN⁻, while the same atoms joined in the order C–N–O give fulminate, an explosive ion.
- Potassium cyanate, KOCN, is a common lab reagent for making urea compounds.
Compounds that contain cyanate
KOCN Potassium cyanate
NaOCN Sodium cyanate
NH4OCN Ammonium cyanate