Talk:Sodium azide

Alternative preparation
I recall reading that NaN3 can also be obtained by oxidizing hydrazine with sodium nitrite.


 * NO2– + N2H4 &rarr; N3– + 2H2O

If I can find a reference for this, I will post it to the article. Karlhahn 16:43, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Antibodies
It seems to be a normal thing to dilute antibodies in, why is this? --David Munch 14:24, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Sodium_azide&action=edit Editing Talk:Sodium azide - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


 * It is common to add azide to prevent bacterial growth, and this is probably also the reason in your case. Iridos (talk) 21:45, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Preservative
Sodium Azide is used as a preservative in solutions containing antibodies.

Other Name?
Can there be something in the introduction that says it is also known as heavy sodium? I was searching for heavy sodium and was referred to this article which was 100%.

Half life in Water?
I read on here that NaN3 will slowly convert to HN3. I looked on the internet and it seemed like HN3 is a gas? Also, the wiki page on HN3 makes it seem like it has properties are similar to NaN3. I am asking because we have a 1 molar solution of this dissolved in water that has been around since 2004 or so. I was curious how fast it degrades and if the solutions are still good. We are using it in a protease cocktail to preserve skinned (demembranated) straited muscle. Also, if it does go bad, how long would a 1M solution last at room temp? Thanks a lot, Rjkd12 15:29, 11 October 2007 (UTC)
 * I revised that misleading statement. Prototonations virtually do not require time, the conversion ot HN3 is instantaneous but fortunately proceeds to a limited extent.  --Smokefoot 18:11, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks a lot for the response. I'm still curious its 1/2 life in water. I tried looking it up with sigma, but none of the pages talk about a 1/2 life. As I said earlier I have some from around 05 that is 1 molar and want to know if its ok. A lot of things say its not stable in water due to the conversion, but you claim thats to a limited extent. Also, if it is to a limited extent, does uncapping and recapping the same container, which allows fresh air to get in there keep the equilibrium down so it continuously converts? Thanks a lot, I appreciate everything. Also, if you have a 1/2 life a source would be very helpful so I can put it in my lab notebook. Thanks again, Rjkd12 15:24, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

Toxicity
The article states that: "No toxicity has been reported from spent airbags." But right after it says: "The toxicity of this substance led to an unfortunate incident in early 2011 when a driver inhaled the chemical from a punctured airbag after a road traffic incident" Shouldn't the first sentence be removed? Sensnom (talk) 17:53, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

The fact that it is a cytochrome oxidase inhibitor does not account for all of the findings in sodium azide intoxication. Hypotension is the most common symptom, and there is no universal consensus on how this occurs. (Chang and Lamm, 2003) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 160.94.142.16 (talk) 22:50, 12 September 2017 (UTC)

Where is value for 'lethal dose for an adult human' coming from?
The MSDS gives different LD50s depending on route of exposure and species. "0.7g" is not specifically named; where exactly is this figure coming from? You need to state which LD50 you are using and its value. Which species was tested? Via which route were they exposed? I know I'm being fairly picky, but there is a difference between eating chocolate and injecting it.

Also, while the average adult weight is illustrative, this excludes children and over-/under-weight or short/tall people (I'm reasonably certain that they die too, but I'm not going to test this). It might not represent the average man or women very well either. This doesn't necessarily matter; more importantly, this is misleading if you don't mention that the size of the dose is related to body mass. Sure, have an average or set of averages for an at-a-glance impression, but name the LD50, not just the basic MSDS.

The oral LD50 for mice is 27mg/kg of body weight. The average adult is [apparently] around 70kg, which makes 1.89g. Even a small adult, eg me (50kg), will have a corresponding dose of 1.35g. 0.7g seems a very low figure to get from the MSDS sheet; about half what I'd expect the oral dose to be.

The skin LD50 for rabbits is around the same at 20mg/kg, so this isn't much better. The only other things I see on the MSDS sheet are airborne exposure limits - about 0.3mg/L - but these don't describe fatal doses.

It might be better to remove this value if it isn't explained in text or a footnote; anyone else want to have a go at calculating it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.29.75.227 (talk) 21:26, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

Pretty sure the crystal lattice diagram is wrong
I've folded that around in my head as many ways as I can, but I can't see a 1:3 ratio anywhere, nor triple-nitrogen bonds except in the center, which are endwise triple-bonded (tetrahedrally) to sodium. Someone have a look at this.

Riventree (talk) 01:14, 19 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks for checking. We need that and no offense taken.  The structure puzzled me for a while too, but I am pretty sure it is fine (it is drawn from the atomic coordinates, so it more or less must be ok). You are correct in the sense that the picture do not show a unit cell, which would allow you to calculate the stoichiometry.  I made a cut-out that would illustrate the coordination spheres of the two kinds of ions.

The way I think about it is that each azide has three Na+'s bound to each end, sort of ethane-like. And each Na+ is bound to six different N's. The structure can be viewed as an expanded version of the NaCl structure, where instead of six-connecting Cl-'s, one has six-connecting azides. The rod-like shape of azide reduces the crystal symmetry. Another way to look at it is as a CdCl2 structure (layered) wherein pairs of chlorides are replaced by single azides that link across the "van der Waal's layer". --Smokefoot (talk) 01:48, 19 June 2015 (UTC)

Water solubility
Why does the solubility section describe the water solubility as ""(clarification needed, says highly soluble in water above)" Why should a "clarification needed" note be in the main article? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.193.125.177 (talk) 23:01, 27 September 2020 (UTC)

"in many car airbag systems..."
I don't think NaN3 has been used for many decades in airbag systems -- In fact, I think the Takata problems were due to the switch to NH4NO3 because of toxicity concerns (and ended up getting bitten by the NH4NO3 formulation becoming fouled by moisture). 139.138.6.121 (talk) 07:12, 13 November 2020 (UTC)

"Acutely Toxic"
I think "acutely poisonous" is the proper way to describe this. 139.138.6.121 (talk) 07:48, 12 May 2021 (UTC)

Euthanasia/Assisted Suicide
I've seen reports that NaN3 is or can be used in assisted-suicide procedures. The ref. was not a primary one, e.g. to a medical or bioethical journal, so I can't quote it, but someone with better medical knowledge might like to check it out. I assume that given its acute toxicity, it's used to cause death following anesthesia. (I know I'm posting this on April Day, but I'm not making a sick joke.) Chrismorey (talk) 13:21, 1 April 2024 (UTC)


 * I looked it up and found that it was mainly used in self-euthanasia according to an article from Toxics (journal). Is this what you're looking for to add? Debatable honestly since it's an MDPI one.  Recon  rabbit  13:47, 1 April 2024 (UTC)
 * It is currently used as a method of self euthanasia in the netherlands, with a major court case being held on the topic. They are persecuting 7 elderly supporting a campaign in which they have supplied 'middle x' to a few dozen people. It has been used by atleast 172 people in the netherlands for suicide in the last 8 years. (Article is in dutch)
 * https://www.nu.nl/gezondheid/6309490/zeker-172-mensen-overleden-door-zelfdoding-met-middel-x.html?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F Varjagen (talk) 18:49, 18 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks for this article. I was able to find some sources to add it to the safety section. Recon  rabbit  20:16, 18 April 2024 (UTC)