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Dicyanamide is also known as dicyanamine. The dicyanimide ion is a chemical having the formula C2N3–. It contains two cyanide groups bound to a central nitrogen anion. The chemical is formed by decomposition of 2-cyanoguanidine. It is used extensively as a counterion of organic and inorganic salts, and also as a reactant for the synthesis of various covalent organic structures.
Dicyanimide was used as an anionic component in an organic superconductor that was, when reported in 1990, a superconductor with the highest transition temperature in its structural class. Dean Kenyon has examined the role of this chemical in reactions that can produce peptides. A co-worker then considered this reactive nature and examined the possible role dicyanamide may have had in primordial biogenesis.