Sodium nitroprusside
Hexacyanoferrate whose one cyanide group is replaced by a nitroso group
Sodium nitroprusside (SNP), sold under the brand name Nitropress among others, is a medication used to lower blood pressure. This may be done if the blood pressure is very high and resulting in symptoms, in certain types of heart failure, and during surgery to decrease bleeding. It is used by continuous injection into a vein. Onset is nearly immediate and effects last for up to ten minutes.
Common side effects include low blood pressure and cyanide toxicity. Other serious side effects include methemoglobinemia. It is not generally recommended during pregnancy due to concerns of side effects. High doses are not recommended for more than ten minutes. It works by increasing nitric oxide levels in the blood, which increases cGMP levels in cells, and causes dilation of blood vessels.
Sodium nitroprusside was discovered as early as 1850 and found to be useful in medicine in 1928.
“Sodium nitroprusside” enters the record as hexacyanoferrate whose one cyanide group is replaced by a nitroso group. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Sodium, nitroprusside and Hexacyanoferrate can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Sodium nitroprusside” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Sodium, nitroprusside and Hexacyanoferrate provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q27108300. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1850 and 1928.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Sodium nitroprusside”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Sodium nitroprusside primary sources, Sodium nitroprusside archive and Sodium research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Sodium nitroprusside”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Sodium nitroprusside” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.