The simplest stable carbon nitride, it is a colorless and highly toxic gas with a pungent odor.

[9] Based on experimental evidence, the structure of this polymeric material is thought to be rather irregular, with most of the carbon atoms being of sp2 type and localized domains of π conjugation.

People in New York wore gas masks, and merchants sold quack "comet pills" claimed to neutralize poisoning.

Inhalation can lead to headache, dizziness, rapid pulse, nausea, vomiting, loss of consciousness, convulsions, and death, depending on exposure.

Cyanogen produces the second-hottest-known natural flame (after dicyanoacetylene aka carbon subnitride) with a temperature of over 4,525 °C (8,177 °F) when it burns in oxygen.

[19][20] In the Doctor Who serial "The Brain of Morbius" (the 5th serial of season 13), the Doctor synthesizes cyanogen using hydrogen cyanide as a starting material and vents it through a pipe to stop Solon from performing surgery on the brain of Morbius's body.

In Dragnet (1987) Friday (Dan Aykroyd) and Streebek (Tom Hanks) are tracking down the villain who stole "the pseudohalogenic compound cyanogen".