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| Hydrogen cyanide is a member of the “blood agent” category, so-named because of the traditional view of its systemic activity throughout the body. Also known as Prussic acid, hydrogen cyanide (NATO code AC) has been known as a classic poison for centuries. The French military made many attempts to use hydrogen cyanide as a weapon during World War I, with decidedly mixed results. Although liquid at room temperature, hydrogen cyanide’s high volatility makes it difficult to create large enough concentrations for effective battlefield use. Some Japanese soldiers carried glass bottles of a stabilized hydrogen cyanide compound to throw at enemy soldiers in World War II. Nothing is known of the effects these tactics may have had against Allied forces in the Pacific theater. The largest role hydrogen cyanide played in World War II was its use as a means of mass murder during the Holocaust.
Past experience has shown that hydrogen cyanide poses many problems for military chemists, and, thus, is not a very likely threat in modern warfare. However, due to the availability of precursors, as well as its widespread use in the civilian chemical industry, hydrogen cyanide could be utilized by terrorists for more limited, localized targets. Japanese terrorists from the cult Aum Shinrikyo devised binary devices in 1995, for example, that combined cyanide components to produce hydrogen cyanide gas, but these were thwarted before being activated. Hydrogen cyanide is a Schedule 3 compound in the Chemical Weapons Convention list of controlled chemicals, while the cyanide salts (e.g., sodium cyanide) are included in the voluntary export control lists of the Australia Group.
Cyanide forms an inhibitory complex with cytochrome oxidase in cells and thereby halts the normal utilization of oxygen. The median lethal concentration (LCt50) of hydrogen cyanide chloride is estimated to be approximately 5 grams-min/m3 (versus about 11 grams for another blood agent, cyanogen chloride).
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