Fulminate
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Fulminates are chemical compounds which include the fulminate anion. The fulminate anion is a pseudohalic anion, acting like a halogen with its charge and reactivity. Due to the instability of the anion, they are friction-sensitive explosives. The best known is mercury fulminate which has been used as a primary explosive in detonators. Fulminates can be formed from metals, like silver and mercury, dissolved in nitric acid and reacted with alcohol. The chemical formula for the fulminate anion is O-N+C-. It is largely the presence of the weak single nitrogen-oxygen bond which leads to its instability. Nitrogen very easily forms a stable triple bond to another nitrogen atom, forming gaseous nitrogen.
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[edit] Historical notes
Fulminates were discovered by Edward Charles Howard in 1800.[1][2][3]. Their use in firearms in a fulminating powder was first demonstrated by a Scottish minister, A. J. Forsyth, in 1807. Joshua Shaw then made the transition to their use in metallic encapsulations, to form a percussion cap, but did not patent his invention until 1822.
In the 1820's the organic chemists Justus Liebig discovered silver fulminate (Ag-CNO) and Friedrich Wöhler discovered silver cyanate (Ag-NCO). The fact that these substances have the same chemical composition led to an acrid dispute, which was not resolved until Jöns Jakob Berzelius came up with the concept of isomers[4].
[edit] Compounds
- Silver fulminate
- Mercury(II) fulminate
- Fulminic acid
- Cyanate - has related OCN- structure
[edit] References
- ^ Edward Howard (1800). "On a New Fulminating Mercury.". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 90 (1): 204-238.
- ^ F. Kurzer (1999). "The Life and Work of Edward Charles Howard". Annals of Science 56: 113-141. DOI:10.1080/000337999296445.
- ^ Edward Charles Howard (1774-1816), Scientist and sugar refiner publisher = National Portrain Gallery (January 5, 2005). Retrieved on 2006-08-30.
- ^ Greenberg, Arthur (2000). A Chemical History Tour. John Wiley & Sons, 198-203. ISBN 0-471-35408-2.
