Question

According to this article an acid-base reaction was attempted but produced junk above -40 C. What are some plausible bits of junk they could have gotten? https://www.sciencenews.org/article/elusive-acid-finally-created

Answer 1

Here's the expected reaction described in the paper that didn't work: \[ H_2SO_4 + Na C(CN)_3 \cancel \longrightarrow NaHSO_4 + HC(CN)_3\]

So what possibly happens with these molecules to cause this to fail? Try to suggest mechanisms or ideas or whatever!

Answer 2

Additionally he says he ends up with a greenish concoction. I wonder if this implies that the molecules formed a larger chromophore that we can predict?

Answer 3

Oooh according to wikipedia it produces: (Z)-3- amino-2-cyano-3-hydroxyacrylamide (H2N)(OH)C=C(CN)CONH2 which looks like this:

I am curious how this happens, it would seem that the oxygen atoms both come from H2SO4 in some kind of concerted reaction which is what forces this to become the Z isomer.We can see that all 4 carbon atoms are here.