Preparation of hydrogen cyanide (prussic acid)
Preparación del cianuro de hidrógeno (ácido prúsico)
- Date
- 1782 · confidence high
- Place
- Köping, Sweden
- Credited to
- Carl Wilhelm Scheele
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Scheele obtains prussic acid by heating Prussian blue, identifying a highly volatile and poisonous gas he calls 'blue acid'.
The name 'cyanide' was coined later by Gay-Lussac, from the Prussian blue it derives from.
What it led to
- Identification of the cyanide family
- Forensic toxicology of volatile poisons
- Isolation in pure liquid form by Gay-Lussac (1811)