video tutorial Potassium thiocyanate preparation

Summary

• Shake‑and‑bake synthesis of potassium thiocyanate from ferrocyanide, sulfur, and sodium carbonate, using anhydrous reagents.
• Emphasizes safety: cyanogen gas can form; require ventilation and outdoor work; cyanogen tends to burn off but risk remains.
• Reaction produces a black solid; initial mass around 21 g after heating.
• Extraction and purification via absolute ethanol, with grinding, heating, hot filtration, and crystallization by cooling/freezing; two successive ethanol extractions performed.
• First crystallization yielded 8.7 g of product (about 55% of starting ferrocyanide); a second batch yielded 4.1 g with similar tests.
• Product found to be hygroscopic; tests show solubility in water and formation of a red iron–thiocyanate complex with iron(III) chloride, confirming thiocyanate presence.
• Acid test with sulfuric acid produced a pink color briefly but no gas; iocyanic acid mentioned as unstable.
• Final observation: crystals can form readily; product suitable for further experimentation, with plans for additional work.