Gaara of the Desert
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Cyanide in apricot pits?
I heard that apricot pits are a good source of cyanide. Is this true?
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chemoleo
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Don't know if it is a good source, but yes, apricot pits do contain a derivative of HCN (as far as I remember it's some phenyl derivative),
and that's why they are poisonous.
However, boiling those together with the fruit actually kills the cyanide. Peach is another source by the way.
Never Stop to Begin, and Never Begin to Stop...
Tolerance is good. But not with the intolerant! (Wilhelm Busch)
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DDTea
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Cyanide derivatives are present in Apple seeds, Peach Pits, Apricot Pits, Cherry pits, and Lima Beans.
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BromicAcid
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From my old toxicology notes:
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Amygdalin is a complex of glucose, benzaldehyde, and cyanide. Found in sweet almonds, apricot, peach, and other fruit pits. Cyanide is released by
the action of glucosidase, a enzyme not found in other mammals, but present in normal human intestinal microflora. As a result, Amygdalin is
extraordinarily toxic upon ingestion as opposed ot its intravenous administraion in a quack anticancer remedy called Laetrile. |
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KABOOOM(pyrojustforfun)
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damn!
I love apricot Kernel so much that I eat the flesh just to reach the pit. now I hear it has cyanide derivatives 
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DDTea
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The concern of cyanide in apricot pits is a matter of concentration... If you only eat one or two, you should be alright. But problems being when you
eat dozens or so. The amount of cyanide is very small, and so it wouldn't be fatal or even harmful from the occasional pit.
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Theoretic
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Well... I eat my apples whole, pips and all... ... without remnant, I can eat up to four in a single day, and I'm fine (apparently).
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PHILOU Zrealone
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C6H5-CH=O + H-C#N --> C6H5-CHOH-C#N
Cyanhydrin formation by addition of cyanhydric acid on an organocarbonyl group from a keton or an aldehyd.
C6H5-CH(C#N)-OH + O=CH-R (glucose) -H(+)-> C6H5-CH(C#N)-O-CHOH-R + H2O
Acid catalysed hemiacetal formation and finally acetal formation by cyclisation of the glucose moiety.
In gastric acid Amygdalin is decomposed into its components...HCN, benzaldehyd and suggar ....not calorie free !!!! 
The tolerance towards those toxic compounds (HCN and benzaldehyd) depends on the person (genetic you know  ).
Also to eat the pits doesn't mean to eat the almond inside and to chew it to effectively allow saliva and its enzymes (amylase, maltase) to
hydrolyse amigdalin in the mouth.Pits are "designed" to survive the travel through all your intestinal tractus way (usually it goes in birds
poop or other mammals animals- but sometimes it goes in humans).
Yeahh I see .... macrobiotic food, vegetalian eating... 
PH Z (PHILOU Zrealone)
"Physic is all what never works; Chemistry is all what stinks and explodes!"-"Life that deadly disease, sexually transmitted."(W.Allen)
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thunderfvck
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Yes, I believe the seeds have to be chewed in order to release the cyanide
I used to eat the apples whole as well. I still do occasionaly. The core, seeds, stem, everything. My friends thought I was crazy. I'm glad to
see someone else likes apples as much as I do! Or used to anyway...
The cyanide is also found in Hawaain Baby Woodrose seeds along with many other plants...
"Members of the rose family, Rosaceae, often contain compounds called cyanogenic glycosides. These compounds, when broken down in the body,
liberate cyanide, one of the most toxic substances known to man. It's lethal dose is only 1 mg/kg body weight. Luckily for us, the concentration
in these plants is usually far below the toxic dose, and the breakdown of the cyanogenic glycosides is often not complete. However, several species in
common cultivation do have high concentrations of the glycosides in their seeds, and eating these seeds can (and has been) fatal. These toxic seeds
include apple seeds, argyreia nervosa seeds, cultivated cherries, peach and apricot pits, almonds, and pears, which are all members of the rose
family. It is only in the crushed, moistened seed which releases an enzyme can the hydrolysis of amygdalin be effected. Soaking and grating release
the enzymes that can turn cyanogenic glycosides to active cyanide inside the body. The leaves of wild cherries will also contain the poison. Some
other common plants which can generate cyanide include hydrangeas, tropical lima beans (not the white american ones), bamboo sprouts, sorghum shoots,
and cassava tubers. Cassava, in particular, is very toxic, and cannot be eaten raw; this is important since large parts of the world use cassava as a
main carbohydrate source."
http://www.erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=7110
[Edited on 7-5-2004 by thunderfvck]
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battery
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one of the best place to get cyanide from is the pips of wild cherrys i herd if i get as many as needed then you crush into powder and leave 4 a
couple of weeks the gently heat rely low heat i mean low and it should start to priciptate a type of cyanide in pure form
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JohnWW
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I have some wild Taiwan cherry trees on my property. They are usually the first trees to start flowering in spring in New Zealand; in these parts
usually in July, with bright carmine flowers - and often with many of their previous season's leaves still present. The fruit are edible but rather
bitter, and birds go for them. I must try what Battery suggests; the fruit usually ripen in about September or October.
BTW The use of amydalin, or laetrile, as found in apricot/peach/plum/cherry kernels, to prevent or cure cancer, which anecdotal cases indicate has
some effectiveness (but which has been allegedly largely suppressed by medical associations and drug companies just to "protect their patches"), is
probably due to the HCN released on its acid hydrolysis in digestion preferentially inhibiting the metabolism and reproduction of cancerous or
pre-cancerous cells. This would have to be by complexing with the Fe in the myoglobin in the cancer cells, which in such cells would have to be
modified to make it more susceptible to complexing by cyanide.
[Edited on 1-7-2006 by JohnWW]
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