Is there anything interesting I can do with tert butanol? basically I bought 500ml of it for potassium synthesis and unfortunately I tried but I
didn't really have the proper setup, now I am left with alot of tert butanol and I am not sure if I can synthesis or make something interesting with
it.
[Edited on 6-12-2018 by CrimsonRed]DoctorOfPhilosophy - 6-12-2018 at 09:22
Just out of curiosity, what do you mean you don't have the proper setup? Aren't the other components basically OTC?CrimsonRed - 6-12-2018 at 13:05
Should've phrased it properly, I didn't have a Condenser nor a proper heating source, I was using a small stove with a thick aluminium plate on top of
it, I do have the chemicals just not the right glassware. I wanted to buy a condenser and a flask but they were kinda expensive and I could've ordered
them from china but it takes way too long.DoctorOfPhilosophy - 6-12-2018 at 18:35
Without that kind of basic equipment there's not going to be much you can do anyway, I would suggest you still give it a try even just going to the
hardware store and jury rigging something out of a clear wine bottle and some copper tubing. For the heat source you can get a replacement stove
spiral and plug it into the outlet via switch, so that you can keep the reaction going by eye. Or a 20 dollar hotplate from walmartCrimsonRed - 6-12-2018 at 21:26
You know I did try making a condenser out of a test tube, I wrapped teflon tape around one end of the test tube (I broke it from below) and got it
stuck in the flask, it didn't really work out. I do think the temperature reached probably over 200 C but I don't know if I just didn't wait long
enough or something. Also I live in South Asia and I doubt I would find a cheap electric stove here. I might probably order some condensers from
china I guess, they are certainly cheaper than buying them from the local market. Still though I don't know what I am gonna do with the left over
t-butanol even if I use say 50ml of it. I couldn't find a smaller packaging and I think I got it for a decent price and it seems to be imported.Ubya - 7-12-2018 at 08:28
even if you have to wait a month for the package to arrive just do it, 90% you won't find anything cheaper locally, better to wait 30 days and in the
end get what you need than search for 30 days and you still git nothing to work.
as for what to do with it, you could chlorinate it (tertiary alcohols are easy to halogenate), you could make grignards, esters, etcDoctorOfPhilosophy - 7-12-2018 at 13:06
as for what to do with it, you could chlorinate it (tertiary alcohols are easy to halogenate), you could make grignards, esters, etc
Going to be difficult without the basic lab equipment, and the options to follow up and make something useful will be limited.
I strongly encourage you to put together some basic lab equipment by scavenging scrap yards etc... I have shamelessly gone to local factories and on
at least two occasions they gave me damaged scrap parts for free. Local university might be giving old stuff. Just go to some meetups or networking
event.CrimsonRed - 7-12-2018 at 20:11
You know I am quite interested in the grignard reaction but for ether but it is quite restricted to buy here because I assume its used to make
explosives (I think) and drugs, for some reason I wasn't able to get my hands on ether because it was kinda expensive too, same price for the 500ml of
ether as the tert butanol, I really thought it would be cheaper since it would be easily made locally but its probably imported. I was able to buy
some carbon disulfide for really cheap although I think its really impure. Any idea as to where I can ship chemicals to my home country without
getting into any sort of trouble? I live in Pakistan btw.
Edit : Also isn't ether very scary to store and work with?
