Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Basic chemicals for organic experiments

kaviaari - 16-2-2007 at 13:36

I am about to order some new chemicals, mostly for organic synthesies. Because I am not very familiar with organics I would like to hear what you think about the following.

Acetic acid >95%, benzene, chloroform, ethyl acetate, methanol, glycerol, sodium, toluene, potassium permanganate, formic acid >95%, iodine, urea, magnesium sulphate, calcium chloride and decolorising charcoal.

I already have the basic acids, acetone, ethyl ether, ammonia etc. I would like to work with quite basic synthesies and if possible use the products as well.

kaviaari - 16-2-2007 at 13:54

Quote:
Originally posted by ~
draw a plan of what you want to do. check all items needed ,buy them,enjoy.


.. I have somewhat done that, haven't I? I am just asking someone with more experience to say if the stuff that I am going to buy is even somewhat usefull.

not_important - 16-2-2007 at 14:05

Quote:
Originally posted by kaviaari
I am just asking someone with more experience to say if the stuff that I am going to buy is even somewhat usefull.
It depends on what you want to do. Some of your list is useless for some areas of orgchem, essential for others. What you've asked is a bit like "are these ingredients useful for cooking?", yhe only possible answer is 'yes and no'

I'd suggest getting an orgchem lab book, even downloading some from here ( http://www.sciencemadness.org/library/index.html ). Read through those and see what's needed to do some of the experiements in them.

Magpie - 16-2-2007 at 14:53

Acetic acid, ethyl acetate, benzene, NaBr (for Br2 & HBr), chloroform, and ethanol have been generally useful to me. CaCl2, MgSO4, Na2SO4 are good drying agents.

I think your list looks pretty good for a start. But I agree that preferably you should first identify a few syntheses that you would like to do (say 5 or 6) then just get a list of materials off the procedures.

LoKi - 2-3-2007 at 00:36

Out of curiousity, where are you getting your supplies? An online supplier, from a university, your local chem distribitor? No need to give the name of the company, it's just that I thought most sources for chemicals were prone to declining sales to individuals, even if you're not buying anything especially suspicious.

kaviaari - 2-3-2007 at 01:17

From local chemists and from a special company that sells chemicals on the net. This company sells quite about anything (including shipping glassware) and even individuals can buy stuff from them. I have also made some connections to universities so I get some of their old glassware and chemicals.

[Edited on 2-3-2007 by kaviaari]

quicksilver - 2-3-2007 at 06:46

You can get so many chemicals and materials from OTC sources - it's incredible. I know someone who has a whole OTC lab and it looks great. He has (no exaggeration) about 36-40 chemicals (tech grade) and one of the best setups for doing org-syth I have seen from a hobbiest. Costs him; maybe $100 max.

kaviaari - 2-3-2007 at 08:34

Quote:
Originally posted by quicksilver
You can get so many chemicals and materials from OTC sources - it's incredible. I know someone who has a whole OTC lab and it looks great. He has (no exaggeration) about 36-40 chemicals (tech grade) and one of the best setups for doing org-syth I have seen from a hobbiest. Costs him; maybe $100 max.


If I may ask, what does OTC stand for? I think that is very hard to find any even quite dangerous chemicals from everyday stuff that one can buy from supermarket.

[Edited on 2-3-2007 by kaviaari]

not_important - 2-3-2007 at 08:41

Quote:
Originally posted by kaviaari

If I may ask, what does OTC stand for? I think that is very hard to find any even quite dangerous chemicals from everyday chemicals that one can buy from supermarket.

Over The Counter, or sitting on the shelves.
Solvents, a number of inorganics, pain killers, moth balls, and so on.