Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Heating Plastic Chemical Bottles

jmneissa - 22-7-2010 at 09:08

Hey Guys I just received and order of chemicals from my local supplier and well one of them was 2-pyrrolidone which has a melting point of about 25 degrees centigrade. As such in the bottle it is a sort of semi-solid mass. To use this chemical can I place the bottle in a warm water bath to melt it into the liquid stage or would this damage the plastic bottle?

Jimmymajesty - 22-7-2010 at 09:16

I do not want to be an asshole but what do you plan to do with the substance if you do not even know how to pick it out of the bottle:)

You can heat it dude:)

Picric-A - 22-7-2010 at 10:07

Every chemical i have ever bought that requires to be slightly above R.T to be usable (eg, t-butanol) comes in aluminium or SS bottles so they can be heated in a waterbath no problem. It is odd that they would supply 2-pyrrolidone in a plastic bottle...
But hey.... heating it would be fine, just do so slowly on a waterbath and only heat it as much as it needs to melt the 2-pyrrolidone, dont over-do it.

jmneissa - 22-7-2010 at 10:21

Thanks thats what I suspected. Jimmy I have never used this chemical before it is a new type of catalyst I am using in a reaction. Most chemicals I have dealt with do not have near room temperature melting points. It is funny though that it came in a plastic bottle especially from a big name chemical company.

unionised - 22-7-2010 at 10:26

When the stuff was put in the bottle it must have been liquid. It follows that the bottle won't be damaged by warming up to the melting point of the stuff.
Warm water should be OK, I'd not risk boiling water.
Incidentally does anyone know why the chemical companies package materials in this stupid manner?

Picric-A - 22-7-2010 at 10:34

Quote: Originally posted by unionised  
When the stuff was put in the bottle it must have been liquid. It follows that the bottle won't be damaged by warming up to the melting point of the stuff.
Warm water should be OK, I'd not risk boiling water.
Incidentally does anyone know why the chemical companies package materials in this stupid manner?


I would guess its because its cheaper and easier for them!

Annoying realy becuase it makes the jobs of the chemists a lot harder and in some cases more dangerous.

turd - 22-7-2010 at 10:46

Quote: Originally posted by Picric-A  
Every chemical i have ever bought that requires to be slightly above R.T to be usable (eg, t-butanol) comes in aluminium or SS bottles so they can be heated in a waterbath no problem..

Really? I've got DMSO and ethylene carbonate in plastic bottles and they crystallize all the time. Cyclohexanol OTOH came in a glass bottle.
Quote:
Incidentally does anyone know why the chemical companies package materials in this stupid manner?

IMHO it got much worse lately. The new glass bottles with plastic caps for moisture sensitive chemicals are an affront. Either I refill it or try to use duct tape to seal it. Once I ordered 100 g of a powder and got a huge plastic bottle with enough space for 1.5 kg. Fantastic if you are already low on rack space. :(

Picric-A - 22-7-2010 at 13:04

Quote: Originally posted by turd  
Quote: Originally posted by Picric-A  
Every chemical i have ever bought that requires to be slightly above R.T to be usable (eg, t-butanol) comes in aluminium or SS bottles so they can be heated in a waterbath no problem..

Really? I've got DMSO and ethylene carbonate in plastic bottles and they crystallize all the time. Cyclohexanol OTOH came in a glass bottle.
Quote:
Incidentally does anyone know why the chemical companies package materials in this stupid manner?

IMHO it got much worse lately. The new glass bottles with plastic caps for moisture sensitive chemicals are an affront. Either I refill it or try to use duct tape to seal it. Once I ordered 100 g of a powder and got a huge plastic bottle with enough space for 1.5 kg. Fantastic if you are already low on rack space. :(


DMSO in a plastic bottle?! that is ridiculous and dangeorus IMHO but i guess companies always go for the cheaper option...

Ill second that on the large containers however on the other side of the spectrum when i ordered 100g of sodium nitrite it came in a tiny bottle and the powder was crammed down and right up to the lid so in this case the bottle used was not big enough!

Acros Organics have always been good at packaging chemicals, however BDH are useless. I bought 250ml of thionyl chloride and when i got it about 1/3 of the bottle had leaked... now that was a discrace!

anotheronebitesthedust - 22-7-2010 at 13:32

Quote:

Once I ordered 100 g of a powder and got a huge plastic bottle with enough space for 1.5 kg. Fantastic if you are already low on rack space.

This is a pet peeve of mine. I once ordered 25 kilos of iodine and the company sent me 50 amber glass bottles that were a third full! Very annoying, however on the other end of the spectrum when I bought 10 kilos of sodium borohydride from china it was packed in one big poly bag which was even more annoying.

Back on topic, just make a water bath with hot tap water to melt the contents of the bottle.

Picric-A - 22-7-2010 at 13:44

Quote: Originally posted by anotheronebitesthedust  
Quote:

Once I ordered 100 g of a powder and got a huge plastic bottle with enough space for 1.5 kg. Fantastic if you are already low on rack space.

This is a pet peeve of mine. I once ordered 25 kilos of iodine and the company sent me 50 amber glass bottles that were a third full! Very annoying, however on the other end of the spectrum when I bought 10 kilos of sodium borohydride from china it was packed in one big poly bag which was even more annoying.

Back on topic, just make a water bath with hot tap water to melt the contents of the bottle.


If you dont mind me asking, what do you do with 25kg of iodine and 10kg of NaBH4?

DJF90 - 22-7-2010 at 13:49

DMSO in a plastic bottle is not ridiculous or dangerous at all, and its how its sold for equine use, without fail. t-Butanol is another that is commonly supplied in plastic bottles.

Just heat the bottle in the waterbath set to a temperature ~10*C higher than the m.p. of the reagent.

[Edited on 22-7-2010 by DJF90]

Panache - 22-7-2010 at 18:29

Quote: Originally posted by Picric-A  
Quote: Originally posted by anotheronebitesthedust  
Quote:

Once I ordered 100 g of a powder and got a huge plastic bottle with enough space for 1.5 kg. Fantastic if you are already low on rack space.

This is a pet peeve of mine. I once ordered 25 kilos of iodine and the company sent me 50 amber glass bottles that were a third full! Very annoying, however on the other end of the spectrum when I bought 10 kilos of sodium borohydride from china it was packed in one big poly bag which was even more annoying.

Back on topic, just make a water bath with hot tap water to melt the contents of the bottle.


If you dont mind me asking, what do you do with 25kg of iodine and 10kg of NaBH4?


Disinfect a bus load of earthquake victims whilst using the hydride to power your bus and get the fuck out of there.
Or perhaps it was a tsumani?

Picric-A - 23-7-2010 at 02:09

Quote: Originally posted by DJF90  
DMSO in a plastic bottle is not ridiculous or dangerous at all, and its how its sold for equine use, without fail. t-Butanol is another that is commonly supplied in plastic bottles.

Just heat the bottle in the waterbath set to a temperature ~10*C higher than the m.p. of the reagent.

[Edited on 22-7-2010 by DJF90]


Sorry your right, plastic bottles are used for medicinal DMSO, i completly forgot.