ammonium cyanate

American  

noun

Chemistry.

1. a white, crystalline solid, CH 4 N 2 O, soluble in alcohol, that is converted into urea when heated.

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Example Sentences

So when Friedrich Wöhler turned ammonium cyanate, which is an inorganic salt, into urea, which is a natural compound produced by the kidneys, he basically set the stage for the question of what is life and where is the boundary between an inorganic molecule and something that is alive.

From Forbes

Substituted ammonias were also made to combine with cyanic acid, and it was found that the substituted ammonium cyanates produced pass much more readily into the corresponding ureas than ammonium cyanate itself.

From Project Gutenberg

In 1828 he made the remarkable discovery that when an aqueous solution of ammonium cyanate, CNONH4, is evaporated, the salt is completely transformed into urea, which has the same percentage composition.

From Project Gutenberg

By showing that ammonium cyanate can become urea by an internal arrangement of its atoms, without gaining or losing in weight, Wöhler furnished one of the first and best examples of isomerism, which helped to demolish the old view that equality of composition could not coexist in two bodies, A and B, with differences in their respective physical and chemical properties.

From Project Gutenberg