25 August 2023 Bulletin

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Hydrazine

Hydrazine is an inorganic compound with the formula N2H4. It is a colourless flammable liquid with an ammonia-like odour. It is highly toxic and dangerously unstable unless handled in solution.

There are many kinds of hydrazine compounds, including hydrazine, 1,1-dimethylhydrazine, and 1,2-dimethylhydrazine. 

Hydrazine is a very hydroscopic liquid at room temperature and is a highly polar solvent. Anhydrous hydrazine is a very strong reducing agent. It is a very reactive molecule, which can decompose at incredible speed, very exothermically, which makes it ideal as a rocket fuel. Hydrazine is reasonably stable to store if protected from air although the smaller hydrazines are very flammable.

Some nitrogen-fixing bacteria may create hydrazine as a by-product while some derivatives (N-methyl-N-formylhydrazine and agaritine) have been obtained from edible mushrooms. Despite these few natural occurrences, hydrazine is primarily manufactured.[1,2]

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