Sodium cyanate belongs to the sodium salt of cyanic acid, which is commonly applied in the fields of chemical industry and medicine. Its industrial application is to serve as an intermediate in the production of dye-stuffs, bulk drug, heat treatment salts for metals, fungicides, herbicides, and photographic initiators. It is also an ideal nucleophile. The nucleophile properties of sodium cyanate makes it a major contributor to the stereospecificity in certain reactions such as in the production of chiral oxazolidone. Besides, it also acts as a reagent in the production of asymmetrical urea which have a range of biological activity mostly in aryl isocyanate intermediates. These intermediates and sodium cyanate have been applied in medicine, displaying counterbalancing carcinogenic effects on human body, which is probably effective with sickle cell anemia and helpful to block certain receptors for melanin which has been indicated to be helpful with obesity.
