Sciencemadness Discussion Board
Not logged in [Login ]
Go To Bottom

Printable Version  
 Pages:  1  ..  9    11    13  ..  23
Author: Subject: Best and worst smelling chemicals?
zajcek01
Harmless
*




Posts: 11
Registered: 6-5-2007
Member Is Offline

Mood: No Mood

[*] posted on 13-7-2009 at 00:00


I hate:
Cl2
Br2
H2S
ethylamine,diethylamine, triethylamine and other amines
chloropirin (I just hate that chemical smell)
NO2
HN3
Phenol
methyl ethyl ketone
PH3

acetone peroxide smel is somewhere in the middle of the list. I can't decide if I like it or not. It smells so interestingly-confusing :D
It is associated with the smell of danger, the smell I don't want to be around, but it smells quite pleasant and fresh :S

I love:
the smell of burning gunpowder
burning black powder(that SO2 smell brings back some nice memories from my childhood)
burning matches(same as gunpowder)
benzaldehyde (in low concentrations)
propiophenone (in low concentrations)
ether
ammonia smells nice in low concentrations
nitric acid
methyl and ethyl iodide
ethyl acetate
dichloromethane
isopropyl nitrate
dinitrotoluene (so sweet....)
View user's profile View All Posts By User This user has MSN Messenger
ammonium isocyanate
Hazard to Others
***




Posts: 124
Registered: 13-7-2009
Location: USA - Midwest
Member Is Offline

Mood: sick :(

[*] posted on 14-7-2009 at 01:14


Biodiesel, alkyl amides, and dilute methyl esters are my tops for smell...

As for worst, Id say P4S10 (evolves H2S and has its own distinct nasty smell), ethanethiol, strong ammonia, diphosphine, and diethyl ether (when the vapour is very concentrated- and it often is for me, because I work at 9300ft, which is only 71.1kPa).

[Edited on 14-7-2009 by ammonium isocyanate]
View user's profile View All Posts By User
Formatik
National Hazard
****




Posts: 927
Registered: 25-3-2008
Member Is Offline

Mood: equilibrium

[*] posted on 15-7-2009 at 20:46
thiols and sulfides


Found this chart from The Practical Handbook of Compost Engineering by R.T. Haug, from which t-butyl mercaptan takes the cake.

sulf.png - 31kB
View user's profile View All Posts By User
Enolator
Harmless
*




Posts: 1
Registered: 24-7-2009
Location: UK
Member Is Offline

Mood: No Mood

[*] posted on 24-7-2009 at 06:36


I'd have to say the smell i hate most is pyridine. Being in university labs at the undergraduate level, there's always someone doing organic synthesis with pyridine every coupla weeks!
It's rather ironic in a way that pyridine gives instant and temporary infertility in men with just a sniff, and yet it smells quite alot like.....well I'm sure i dont need to tell those of you that have experienced the smell... :P
View user's profile View All Posts By User
TheOrbit
Hazard to Self
**




Posts: 59
Registered: 4-4-2009
Location: deepth point of a black hole
Member Is Offline

Mood: manic bipolar science dis/order

[*] posted on 24-7-2009 at 09:18


the worst smell ever is sodium dithionite " may be because i work with it weekly" lol:D
View user's profile View All Posts By User
turd
National Hazard
****




Posts: 800
Registered: 5-3-2006
Member Is Offline

Mood: No Mood

[*] posted on 24-7-2009 at 13:14


Quote: Originally posted by Enolator  
[...]that pyridine gives instant and temporary infertility in men with just a sniff[...]

Seriously?
View user's profile View All Posts By User
kclo4
National Hazard
****




Posts: 916
Registered: 11-12-2004
Location:
Member Is Offline

Mood: No Mood

[*] posted on 25-7-2009 at 01:05


That sounds like a bad rumor to me, I'd like to see a source.
Seems like that would have patents, etc on it if that were the case, and it would be easier to get! lol




View user's profile Visit user's homepage View All Posts By User
woelen
Super Administrator
*********




Posts: 8005
Registered: 20-8-2005
Location: Netherlands
Member Is Offline

Mood: interested

[*] posted on 26-7-2009 at 23:56


Pyridine is a risk when you still want offspring, but it certainly is not the ideal method of sterilization of men. Just taking a whiff of a compound and then being sterile for a certain period of time? No way :P



The art of wondering makes life worth living...
Want to wonder? Look at https://woelen.homescience.net
View user's profile Visit user's homepage View All Posts By User
User
Hazard to Others
***




Posts: 339
Registered: 7-11-2008
Location: Earth
Member Is Offline

Mood: Passionate

[*] posted on 27-7-2009 at 03:33


Man I love the smell of nitric acid.



What a fine day for chemistry this is.
View user's profile View All Posts By User
Randle Patrick
Harmless
*




Posts: 4
Registered: 31-5-2010
Member Is Offline

Mood: No Mood

[*] posted on 31-5-2010 at 06:44
Isonitrile stench. Shrek Breath.


Regarding isonitriles - I had run across them some twenty years ago. Methyl isonitrile, used under a fume hood, still managed to sneak out a bit as deposited on gloves/skin from volatilized CH3NC

It has a certain dental stink about it, a bad-breath character. Shrek breath.

The intensity, even from what devolatilized from a fume hood onto surfaces, was immense. If it were a fecal smell, I'd suggest that a full porta-potty placed on a giant hot-plate and heated unto boiling - that degree of intensity.

I recall it was as equally toxic as cyanogen. Perhaps my recollection is wrong. Beware.
View user's profile View All Posts By User
Fleaker
International Hazard
*****




Posts: 1252
Registered: 19-6-2005
Member Is Offline

Mood: nucleophilic

[*] posted on 31-5-2010 at 10:01


Had the great pleasure of working with hexamethyldisilathiane the past several months. It is exceedingly potent in its own right. Opening the bottle to syringe out several microliters in the hood with the damper full open, and the sash down, I can still smell a distinct natural gas odour. My Eppendorf and my gloves must stay in the hood for at least 2 days for the reek to be off of them. I imagine if I spilled a couple milliliters, the neighbours downwind would probably think there was a natural gas leak.

Another stench I hate is morpholine. I also dislike butylamine and ethylenediamine. I also hate the smell of old DMF, and diisopropylcarbodiimide (which many of you will argue that it is not something one should ever smell!).




Neither flask nor beaker.


"Kid, you don't even know just what you don't know. "
--The Dark Lord Sauron
View user's profile View All Posts By User
The WiZard is In
International Hazard
*****




Posts: 1617
Registered: 3-4-2010
Member Is Offline

Mood: No Mood

[*] posted on 31-5-2010 at 12:03


Quote: Originally posted by guaguanco  
My favorites: piperonal (heliotrope) and vanillin. I just love those smells.
Worst: Thiophenol; just a foul sulfury smell. Phthalyl chloride; a nasty acrid smell.




Aniline - not a bad smell just an annoying one.

Anhydrous aluminium chloride - me thinks it doesn't emit
Cl2 it produces Cl.

The strangest odour - the better part of a lifetime ago...
I worked in the lab of a rendering plant... granted a
5-day old dead elephant doesn't smell like roses ...
the problem was the plant on the other side of the fence
that re-refined used car oil. Not a bad smell but it had
a curious effect — ever get pains in your stomach when
you were hungry? One whiff and you instantly got the same
felling.


For a God awful smell .... dead clams! Their odour will bring your breakfast up that fast.

Stumbled upon this a moment ago —

Angelic acid From the root of Anthemis nobilis by distillation.
Use: Flavoring extracts.

Wonder what it smells/tastes like.
View user's profile View All Posts By User
hissingnoise
International Hazard
*****




Posts: 3940
Registered: 26-12-2002
Member Is Offline

Mood: Pulverulescent!

[*] posted on 31-5-2010 at 12:09


Quote:
[quote
Angelic acid From the root of Anthemis nobilis by distillation.
Use: Flavoring extracts.

Wonder what it smells/tastes like.

(hmmm) Sour maybe. . . ?

View user's profile View All Posts By User
The WiZard is In
International Hazard
*****




Posts: 1617
Registered: 3-4-2010
Member Is Offline

Mood: No Mood

[*] posted on 31-5-2010 at 12:36


Quote: Originally posted by guaguanco  
My favorites: piperonal (heliotrope) and vanillin. I just love those smells.
Worst: Thiophenol; just a foul sulfury smell. Phthalyl chloride; a nasty acrid smell.



Brings upon my mind this —


Suffocating Balls

"Are made in the same way as the smoke balls [dust of sea coal, pitch, fine
powder, nitre, and tallow]. The composition contains in addition, rasped horses'
and asses' hoofs, burnt in the hoof, assafatida [aka Devils dung], seraphine gum
&c."

No doubt -- these didn't smell like roses

SO: Manual of Military Pyrotechny for use of the Cadets
of the U.S. Military Academy, West Point. 1831

Several years back out of curiosity I bought 4-oz's
of asafoetida it has a funky smell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asafoetida

I am not planning on cooking with it. That said I do
like limburger cheese. Must have come from my
Prussian born grandfather. (186?)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limburger_cheese



You can never find a hippologist when you need one!
What prey-tell is — "burnt in the hoof"?
Text
View user's profile View All Posts By User
mewrox99
Hazard to Others
***




Posts: 321
Registered: 7-6-2010
Location: New Zealand
Member Is Offline

Mood: No Mood

[*] posted on 11-6-2010 at 20:55


Best: Methyl Salicylate, Vanillin

Worst: Acrolein, SO2, NH3




View user's profile Visit user's homepage View All Posts By User
Sedit
International Hazard
*****




Posts: 1939
Registered: 23-11-2008
Member Is Offline

Mood: Manic Expressive

[*] posted on 11-6-2010 at 21:28


Uggg vanillin.... once so sweet.... getting to be so bitter.....

Not sure I will ever tire of benzaldahyde though since the smell is just heavenly.

Anyone else experiance a chemiphobe type reaction where after being around it to much it turns your stomach just thinking about it? Its really becoming a problem considering I will almost throwup(have on one occassion) from looking at a vial of HgCl2. I now have to keep many reagents far out of sight to avoid discomfort.





Knowledge is useless to useless people...

"I see a lot of patterns in our behavior as a nation that parallel a lot of other historical processes. The fall of Rome, the fall of Germany — the fall of the ruling country, the people who think they can do whatever they want without anybody else's consent. I've seen this story before."~Maynard James Keenan
View user's profile View All Posts By User
Lambda-Eyde
National Hazard
****




Posts: 859
Registered: 20-11-2008
Location: Norway
Member Is Offline

Mood: Cleaved

[*] posted on 12-6-2010 at 10:11


I simply LOVE the smell of dilute ozone. I also like most organic solvents and aromatics. The exeption is impure carbon disulfide...
View user's profile View All Posts By User
mr.crow
National Hazard
****




Posts: 884
Registered: 9-9-2009
Location: Canada
Member Is Offline

Mood: 0xFF

[*] posted on 12-6-2010 at 10:44


The WiZard is In: I would imagine burning hoofs smell like burning hair. I saw this on Dirty Jobs, thats how they install horse shoes!

SO2 isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Ammonia was pretty bad, smells like when you get a bloody nose. HCl is the worst of the three.

Iodine smells nice :)

Oh yeah a relay exploded in my fridge and this horrible phenolic smell lingered for a few days.




Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble
View user's profile View All Posts By User
mnick12
Hazard to Others
***




Posts: 404
Registered: 30-12-2009
Location: In the lab w/ Dr. Evil
Member Is Offline

Mood: devious

[*] posted on 12-6-2010 at 11:53


The best would be:
Bromine-love it so much reminds me of summer, more so than chlorine which is kinda funny.
Ammonia- but I can only handle a little.
Acetic acid- Salt and vinegar anyone?
Benzaldehyde-very nice.


The worst would be:
SO2- I absolutely HATE this stuff the tinyest amounts make me cough and gag.
Formic acid: Hate it because it smells like SO2(anyone else notice that?) and because it gives terrible burns.
HNO3- I dont exactly "hate" this acid, but to me at least it kinda smells like BO which is why I dont really like it.

But In general I can tolerate the smells of almost any standard chemical, even some of the grosser ones.
View user's profile View All Posts By User
12AX7
Post Harlot
*****




Posts: 4803
Registered: 8-3-2005
Location: oscillating
Member Is Offline

Mood: informative

[*] posted on 12-6-2010 at 13:47


I LOVE the smell of phenol. It reminds me of old circuit boards. :D

Tim




Seven Transistor Labs LLC http://seventransistorlabs.com/
Electronic Design, from Concept to Layout.
Need engineering assistance? Drop me a message!
View user's profile Visit user's homepage View All Posts By User This user has MSN Messenger
zajcek01
Harmless
*




Posts: 11
Registered: 6-5-2007
Member Is Offline

Mood: No Mood

[*] posted on 14-6-2010 at 13:33


Today I opened a new plastic bottle of potassium cyanate (KOCN). The smell was very.....hard to describe........special, fruity, sweet, interesting. I just wanted to smell it a bit more, but judging by the chemical it might not be a god idea. It is probably some HCN.

One of my favorite smells so far.
View user's profile View All Posts By User This user has MSN Messenger
rrkss
Hazard to Others
***




Posts: 193
Registered: 18-12-2009
Member Is Offline

Mood: No Mood

[*] posted on 14-6-2010 at 14:13


Best:

Ethyl Bromide
Ethyl Acetate
Isoamyl Acetate
Diethyl Malonate

Worst:

SO2
H2S
Diethyl Ether
View user's profile View All Posts By User
mnick12
Hazard to Others
***




Posts: 404
Registered: 30-12-2009
Location: In the lab w/ Dr. Evil
Member Is Offline

Mood: devious

[*] posted on 14-6-2010 at 16:03


Woah! be careful about sniffing the ethyl bromide, as I have a feeling you do not want that stuff hanging around your DNA! Also zajcek01 I do not think you are going to have HCN evolving from any cyanate very easily, also for those who can smell it, HCN is described as having an almond odor not really fruity.
View user's profile View All Posts By User
mr.crow
National Hazard
****




Posts: 884
Registered: 9-9-2009
Location: Canada
Member Is Offline

Mood: 0xFF

[*] posted on 14-6-2010 at 18:42


Ohhh we made isoamyl acetate in high school. Maybe that's why I like chemistry so much.

The teacher brought in this old bottle that smelled like a dirty old man, then turned it into bananas.

We have this superglue at work that smells like candy. Well the activator does. Contains N,N-Dimethyltoluidine




Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble
View user's profile View All Posts By User
gutter_ca
Hazard to Others
***




Posts: 173
Registered: 7-6-2010
Location: California
Member Is Offline

Mood: Bored at work!

[*] posted on 14-6-2010 at 18:54


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putrescine

Worst. Smell. Ever.
View user's profile Visit user's homepage View All Posts By User
 Pages:  1  ..  9    11    13  ..  23

  Go To Top