methyleeneenheden

Methylenenitrilmonoxide (MNEOH or Me methylenenitrilmonoxide) is a chemical compound with the molecular formula C7H8N3O. It is a highly reactive and unstable nitric oxide product, having been described as one of the more reactive compounds in organic chemistry.

The compound is formed through the reaction of butyronitrile (or isobutyronitrile) with nitric oxide or nitric acid. It has a molecular weight of 140.15 g/mol. MNEOH is an alkaline, nitrogen-contained aliphatic compound with a single double bond between a carbon atom and the nitric oxide. In organic chemistry, this compound is investigated as a highly reactive intermediate.

Different attempts to characterize it in solution were largely unsuccessful because its common degradation results in its immediate release of NO and five compounds including, mainly, ethanal (acetaldehyde) or aldehydes. The analysis in solution thus proves challenging.

To stably keep MNEOH in a preparation requires maintaining it frozen at a temperature below -50 degrees Celsius with the remaining problem of obtaining a sufficiently consistent sample for experimental analysis.