[Q] Is it true that CA glue is made from Cyanide? Can I poison myself with it?
[A]
[email protected] (Mark and/or Mary Shannon)
[I had to wade through several layers of email attributions to figure out who authored this - please let me know if I got it wrong.]
As a qualified chemist (Ph.D. in the ruddy subject), let me try to clarify the point.
Cyanoacrylate glues contain the group H2C=CH-CN: Where the = represents a double bond between two carbons and there is a triple bond between the carbon and nitrogen of the CN. CN is the 'cyano' group, and a three-carbon chain with a double bond next to another type of multiple bond (or some other form of electron rich group such as a radical or anion) is an 'acrylic' group -- the combination gives a relatively high reactivity to the compounds and allows them to polymerize like a plastic. Many non-toxic compounds contain both types of groups, and many medicines have cyano groups. Along with this group, there are other chemicals and can be other chains attached to that cyanoacrylate group in place of one or more of the hydrogens.
There is NO, NONE, NADA cyanide released on curing these glues and hardening. There are some obnoxious fumes released -- some of them just parts that boil out from the heat of the curing reaction. BUT, whenever an organic chemical that contains nitrogen is burned, some cyanogen/hydrogen cyanide is released. This happens with tobacco, meat, veggies, fireplace wood, etc. This release is worst when there is not enough oxygen present in the burning zone to ensure complete combustion -- so if there is a lot of smoke formation, there is more likelyhood of cyanide formation.
As with any chemical process, it is best to have good ventilation when dealing with these compounds, but most Cyanoacrylate glues have been formulated as non-toxic (some of the original uses were as skin and tissue glues to replace sutures in surgery). If you are burning CA glues, do it in the same hood you use for spray painting. This goes for operations where you are using CA glue to hold parts for soldering, especially, since the fluxes and the modest burning temperatures add their own brew to the mix. Combustion Chemistry is a field in itself, and there are many things not understood about general rules of chemical formation in various conditions of burning organic compounds. I would suggest that everyone play it safer than they might normally when they are burning any of the materials used in this hobby.
