Research and development of a kit for the rapid detection of cyanide in water using p-nitrobenzaldehyde and o-dinitrobenzene reagents

Abstract

Cyanide is a chemical warfare agent belonging to the group of blood agents. It is a compound capable of destroying cellular oxygen exchange, causing systemic toxicity and rapid death. Many methods have been studied for cyanide detection based on chromogenic reactions, but they often have poor sensitivity, long detection times, and are dangerous due to direct chemical exposure. This paper presents new method for the detection of cyanide in aqueous environment. Under established optimal conditions, cyanide was detected with limit of detection at 50 ppb. Semi-quantitative results of the field samples showed that the method was not effected by factors, capable of detecting cyanide within 15 minutes. In particular, after 30 min, the detection limit can be reached around 2-10 ppb. This method could be applied to detect cyanide in water in the field.