20% of industrial river pollution worldwide is caused by the textile industry’s production and use of this compound. For 10 points each:
[10e] Name this compound. The beginning of organic chemistry is often dated to Adolf von Baeyer’s 1870 synthesis of this natural purple dye used to color blue jeans.
ANSWER: indigo dye
[10m] Today, indigo is made from petroleum, formaldehyde, and this other highly toxic compound. It consists of a carbon atom single-bonded to hydrogen and triple-bonded to nitrogen.
ANSWER: hydrogen cyanide [or prussic acid; prompt on HCN; prompt on cyanide]
[10h] Textile factories also pollute sodium dithionite, a carcinogen used as one of these chemical species to convert white indigo into blue indigo. Green chemists prefer safer examples of these species like ascorbate.
ANSWER: reducing agents [or reductants; prompt on antioxidants]
<Adam Silverman, Science - Chemistry> ~20852~ <Editor: Adam Silverman>