Silver Thiocyanate Formula

The chemical formula for silver thiocyanate is AgSCN. It consists of one atom of silver (Ag), one atom of sulfur (S), one atom of carbon (C), and one atom of nitrogen (N) that are bonded covalently with a sulfur atom, forming the thiocyanate (-SCN) group. The nitrogen atom in the thiocyanate group has an unshared electron pair, which can form coordinate bonds with positively charged ions.

Silver thiocyanate is a white crystalline solid and is sparingly soluble in water. It is used as a reagent in analytical chemistry to detect the presence of chloride, bromide, and iodide ions. When a solution containing these ions is added to silver thiocyanate, a precipitate of silver chloride, silver bromide, or silver iodide is formed, which indicates the presence of the respective ion.

The formation of a precipitate occurs due to the insolubility of the silver halides in water. Similarly, when silver nitrate reacts with potassium thiocyanate, silver thiocyanate is formed along with potassium nitrate. This reaction is also used to prepare silver thiocyanate in the laboratory.