Semicarbazide (SM) is a metabolite of the nitrofurane Nitrofurazone (5-nitro-2- furaldehyde-semicarbazone), used as indicator to detect the use of nitrofurazone in food-producing animals
due to their carcinogenic properties the use of nitrofurans is prohibited within the EU in animal breeding (Commission Regulation 37/2010) .
to harmonise the detection of semicarbazide a Minimum Required Performance Limit (MRPL) of 1 µg/kg is set within the EU (Commission Decision 2003/181).
Semicarbazide is used as a potent nucleophile; forms many crystalline carbonyl derivatives.
ChEBI: A monocarboxylic acid amide that is urea where one of the amino groups has been replaced with hydrazine.
Limited toxicological data are available for semicarbazide. It belongs, however, to a family of chemicals (hydrazines) which are known to cause cancer in animals. Semicarbazide is weakly genotoxic in some in vitro tests. The limited in vivo experimental data available are insufficient to assess whether the activity observed in vitro is also expressed in vivo. Semicarbazide appears to be only a weak carcinogen.
Semicarbazide is a reactive nucleophile with significant ability to bind to various enzymes; exercise reasonable caution.
