Cappy - 15-4-2003 at 21:35
"I accidentally made Potassium nitrousamine (which is really carcenogenic), and then inhaled a great lungfull of it..." - Ramiel
How do you make this? I think it would be good if people knew how (not) to make it since it can be accidentally made so easily.
Ramiel - 15-4-2003 at 22:21
It's spelled 'nitrosamine'.
A Google search reveals that it is commonly encountered via an incubated environment, from nitrites and gastric juices. I certainly didn’t spew in
the reaction (although I may have later 
)
It was just Potassium nitrite and Al/Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> at temperatures of around 60-80 deg. C (I can’t remember).
As <html><u>do</u></html> remember, I was evaporating the water in a nitrite solution.
I suspect the Aluminum catalyzed the reaction somehow, I don’t know exactly how that would work though (primarily why I didn’t anticipate such a
calamity).
Perhaps more 3l3te chemists can shed some light on this little matter.
Potasssium nitrosamine?
Nick F - 19-4-2003 at 04:12
Is that the same as potassium hyponitrite, K2N2O2?
2 K (+) O-N=N-O (2-)
Which is formed by reducing nitrites with Al/Hg,
Or do you think you produced a bit of ammonia (which is done by reducing nitrates/nitrites in alkaline conditions with metals - Al, Zn etc), and then
this reacted further with nitrite ions to produce the potassium salt of nitrosamine, K (+) H-N-N=O (-)
I remember that I once tried to produce hydrazine by reducing NaNO2 with Al, I don't remember exactly what I did but I came back to the reaction
a little while later to find that it'd thrown caustic solution all over the place, with a strong ammonia smell.