Nitric oxide, chemical formula NO, molecular weight 30.0 1, is a nitrogen oxide with valence +2. It is a colorless and odorless gas, which is insoluble in water. Because nitric oxide has free radicals, its chemical properties are very active. When it reacts with oxygen, it can generate corrosive gas-NO2, which can react with water to generate nitric acid. The equation is: 3NO2+H2O = = 2HNO3+NO.
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1980, a scientist completed a well-designed experiment and published a paper based on it. This is no big deal, but it is a turning point for nitric oxide, although the scientific community has not known that that special substance is nitric oxide this year.
The American pharmacologist named Robert F. Fauchergott, who published a paper in the famous journal Nature, pointed out that the vasodilation effect of acetylcholine (ACh) depends on some diffusing substance released by vascular endothelium. Later, they found that bradykinin (BK) and other substances also follow a similar mechanism to dilate blood vessels, and named it vascular endothelial relaxing factor (EDRF).