Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Chemicals to get?

Chemicals to get?

WyattDaHooman - 29-8-2025 at 16:20

What are some basic chemicals that every lab should have?

bariumbromate - 29-8-2025 at 18:51

copper sulfate, calcium hypochlorite and/or tcca, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, sodium sulfite, potassium nitrate, potassium permanganate, calcium chloride, lead nitrate, silver nitrate, ammonia 25%, hydrogen peroxide, sodium metal, chloroform and/or dcm and/or diethyl ether, calcium carbide, bleach and potassium dichromate.

there are heaps more but these are the essentials

Sulaiman - 29-8-2025 at 22:22

basic chemicals include : KOH, NaOH, CaCO₃ and NaHCO₃
acidic chemicals include.......

_______________________________________________
Unless you have a significant budget
and
you do'nt mind unopened chemical containers in your storage for years,

I suggest that you only buy what you need for the next few experiments.
This includes neutralusation of products and waste and any emergency preparation products.
___________________________________
The most important lab chemical is H₂O

In some areas tap water is suitable for most experiments,
some experiments are sensitive to stuff dissolved in tap water,

A convenient cheap source of distilled or deionised water will be required.

I have lately been using deionised water for lead-acid batteries from petrol stations.

Because I have a glass distillation kit
I like to make my own distilled water,
but I have bought 10's of litres from commercial suppliers also.
________________________________________
The last time that checked (about 6 years ago) I had spent about the same ammount of money on equipment as on chemicals.
Unfortunately quite a lot of early chemistry costs are equipment
(glassware, heating, thermometer(s), scales, filtering ...etc.)

A distillation kit seems an essential part of home chemistry,
but MOST of my chemistry does not require it.
A distillation kit is not cheap - the glassware is less than half of the cost,
so I suggest that you delay buying such a kit until you really need it.

An inconvenieently expensive chemistry cost is PPE
when I started I skimped a lot on PPE,
slowly you will build up a good PPE collection.
Your first purchase should be a good set of goggles or a face shield.

Once you get over the initial expenses, chemistry is a relatively cheap hobby.

Niklas - 29-8-2025 at 22:33

Depends if you are interested in inorganic or organic chem (first being more friendly to start but second overall being more fun imo).
I‘ll just talk from the organic perspective, there are a handful of things any lab should have, sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium / magnesium sulfate, sodium hydroxide, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, acetone, DCM, toluene, ethanol, you‘ll definitely need those in a synthesis sooner or later.
But other than that it purely depends on the planned projects, it doesn’t make sense to get even seemingly basic building blocks like benzaldehyde if you don’t have an immediate use for it, just take on one project at a time, get the stuff for it (and if you think it may be useful elsewhere in the future just get a larger amount), and slowly you‘ll build up a collection that will eventually allow you to just do projects when you feel like it.

teodor - 30-8-2025 at 00:05

I like Sulaiman advice here.

But I would add that there are 2 things to do in chemical laboratory: experiments and replication of existing procedures. Experiments could be frustrating and even dangerous (in the less extend than frustrating) without good training in replication of well-checked procedures and studying related pieces of knowledge both as chemical theory and laboratory practice.

If you only start getting some acids and bases, oxidisers and reducers could be enough.

As I remember at some point I took Vogel’s book for study organic and few others (Fernellius, Walton etc) for inorganic from SM library here and arranged the sequence based on what I have, what I can buy in the nearest future, what is toxiticy of things and complexity of operations to study every operation on less toxic substances first.

This way having different alcohols and acetic acid and sulfuric acid you can start making esters, having K2CO3 and H2SO4 you can start studying crystallisation and washing etc.

So, take basic books and make such list. You will enjoy good written procedures, there are not so many in this science, and the proper way to study is to study by them to understand how to do those things properly.At some point you will have questions “what can happen if…” and this will be beginning of other story.

P.S. For organic also Fieser’s book is highly recommended.

[Edited on 30-8-2025 by teodor]

[Edited on 30-8-2025 by teodor]

MrDoctor - 30-8-2025 at 00:27

depending on the quality required, you can get quite a lot just perusing your local pool shop. additionally, if you want something basic under your belt to begin with, grab "purification of laboratory chemicals" from the sciencemadness library page, and try refining some bicarbonate or whatever technical grade stuff they sell at the hardware store.

Also personally i advocate for experimenting with the product called "oxone", potassium peroxymonosulfate. the yields are not great from a molecular mass point of view, as oxone isnt pure, it cant be, around half of it is sulfate and/or bisulfate, and additionally it doesnt deliver as much oxygen per gram as say, potassium nitrate, but it can do very clean, very specific oxidations at room temp, much of the time with little byproduct either. Just as an example, it will oxidize methanol to formaldehyde, and will liberate chlorine, bromine or iodine instantly from the respective halide.
Heaps of papers have come out demonstrating its utility, and its a nice clean way to make small amounts of otherwise difficult or dangerous to produce chemicals that may not always be readily available for purchase. In the case of directly liberating bromine from bromide, some do this for the sheer convenience if they want a small amount on demand, which is how i first learned of it. Its pool oxy-shock or has a name along those lines.

Otherwise, potassium carbonate is very useful to have in addition to cheap sodium carbonate. sometimes the potassium is good if it needs to be removed, it also has the ability to dessicate ethanol and some other solvents, ive read it was used successfully to produce absolute ethanol.
Bisulfate/metabisulfate is also really useful for destroying oxidizers after a reaction. bisulfate washes are a common step in many peroxy or halide reactions during solvent extraction, or just to neutralize some spills.
Having pure sodium chloride free of iodine, or calcium/magnesium is also useful. saturated sodium chloride brine is used a lot. Anhydrous sodium sulfate as well.

[Edited on 30-8-2025 by MrDoctor]

j_sum1 - 30-8-2025 at 02:47

My advice is to build your lab project by project.
When you have something you want to do, purchase what you need. Over time you will build up your stock of chems and equipment.
It is not really helpful to try to buy everything you need for a well-stocked lab. You will burn through your money and have lots of thjngs that you end up not using.

A couple of caveats.
Pick up stuff you find cheaply from garage sales, throw out piles, decomissioned labs etc.
Plan your purchase of big ticket items; distillation gear, hotplate, vacuum pump fume hood, etc.
Don't forget measuring equipment. Scales, measuring cyljnders etc. also filtering gear, stands, clamps, funnels. You are going to need these. Make a list and knock them off as you are able.
Improvise. And make stuff. (There is a thread on home made and repurposed lab gear.) Jars may be adequate for beakers. Zip seal bags for dessicators. Make your own retort stand. Phone chargers for power supplies. Dissect batteries for electrodes. Etc.

Lab Supplies

MadHatter - 30-8-2025 at 10:09

It depends on what you need. I found glass beads at an art supply company for
packing a reflux column. Pottery shops are a fairly good source for certain oxides
that are used for coloring glazes. Hardware stores have always been favorite of mine
for purchasing acids - especially Rooto. It isn't pure but at roughly 93% it's good
enough. And sometimes places like Walmart can provide certain items. Just look
around.

teodor - 30-8-2025 at 12:03

If you like, this could be “chemist level 1 list” of
Inorganic compounds:

H2O2
HCl
Some nitrate salt
S (sulfur), H2SO4
C (activated carbon)
P (red)
Zn - for making H2 with HCl
NaOH or KOH, Na2SO3, NaHCO3, Na2CO3
K2CO3 or KOH, KI
Ammonia solution in water
Ca(OH)2
Alum
Chrome alum
KMnO4, MnO2
FeSO4 * 7 H2O
CuSO4 * 5 H2O

[Edited on 30-8-2025 by teodor]

[Edited on 30-8-2025 by teodor]

clearly_not_atara - 30-8-2025 at 13:31

Quote: Originally posted by j_sum1

My advice is to build your lab project by project.
When you have something you want to do, purchase what you need. Over time you will build up your stock of chems and equipment.
It is not really helpful to try to buy everything you need for a well-stocked lab. You will burn through your money and have lots of thjngs that you end up not using.

Agree with this, except MeOH, NaHSO4, CaCl2, K2CO3 which can bee obtained in bulk for cheap and are relatively stable. K2CO3 is the best potassium salt and the best carbonate (maybe easier to get KHCO3 which is just as good). NaHSO4 is the cheapest acid and the easiest to store. CaCl2 is the best calcium salt and a reusable drying agent. MeOH is the most versatile organic solvent.

I think it's possible to do a lot of chemistry for a long time without ever using most of the chemicals mentioned in this thread. I was tempted to recommend some kind of nonpolar solvent but there is really no one-size-fits-all here and many of them are quite volatile and flammable.

Radiums Lab - 31-8-2025 at 08:36

Get some HF for starters lab

. Jokes apart I actually got most of the common mineral acids including HF(conc is 50.8%). KOH, NaOH, KNO3, Bromine, Iodine, Sodium metal, CsCl, Potassium bifluoride, KMnO4,H3BO3,FeSO4, Sulphur, Al powder, Mg powder, simple distillation setup, 30%H2O2, Hg metal, Ca metal and much more.

[Edited on 31-8-2025 by Radiums Lab]

chloric1 - 31-8-2025 at 17:05

I got a good running start:

NaOH
KOH
35% H2O2
Ammonium sulfate
Ammonium chloride
Muriatic acid
30% Acetic acid(Cleaning vinegar)
Drain cleaner sulfuric acid
Sodium and potassium carbonate
Calcium and magnesium nitrates(CHEAP)
Methyl, Ethyl, Isopropyl alcohols
Glycol ethers
Ketones
Esters

The last four lines are because I make paints and enjoy making industrial type cleaners.

I get a kick out of making my own chemicals when it saves money, more private or just for kicks. I’ve made the following so far:

Cobalt sulfate
Nickel chloride
Nickel sulfate
Calcium hydroxide
Lead acetate
Barium bromide
Purified NaCl
Purified 17% HCl from distilled muriatic acid
Nitric acid 40%, 60% and 75%

[Edited on 9/1/2025 by chloric1]

teodor - 31-8-2025 at 21:34

Quote: Originally posted by Radiums Lab

Get some HF for starters lab

. Jokes apart I actually got most of the common mineral acids including HF(conc is 50.8%).

Let's not joke about HF. Otherwise a new discussion about danger of HF can appear. Fluorides are not required. NH4F can substitute HF for many cases. Even some of most experienced fluoride chemists would prefer to work with HF <= 20% if it is possible.

Radiums Lab - 1-9-2025 at 05:39

Oh sorry guys, I didn't mean to joke about HF's properties. I was joking on it's acessibility.

[Edited on 1-9-2025 by Radiums Lab]

bnull - 1-9-2025 at 06:40

It depends on the level and scale you are interested. For a beginner I'd recommend going very small scale (semimicro is up to 10 g at a time, if I'm not mistaken) at first and only increasing it after you have gained more experience. Most of the things that work with the small quantities also work with the larger ones.

Supposing you go semimicro, buy small quantities whenever possible. I once bought a 7 kg bag of slaked lime because it was cheap (about $ 0,50 back then); most of it was used for gardening and some bricklaying, and barely 100 g in ten years of home chemistry. It took up more space than needed, not to mention that it absorbed carbon dioxide from air. Many substances are sold by 100 g or less (sodium carbonate, copper sulfate, sodium bicarbonate, metal oxides) in hardware stores, pool shops, supermarkets, drugstores. The suggestions below are what I consider the basic that a beginner's lab should have. Acquire them as needed.

Metals: aluminum (from soda cans, wire, foil, bigger pieces from an old cpu cooling block or a pipe), iron (wire, sheet, strip, block, nails), copper (wire, foil if you can find cheap), magnesium (ribbon, turnings, block), zinc (from dead batteries), lead (bb shots, strips). Sometimes you can use filings in place of powder, and turnings can be made by drilling a block. You don't need more reactive (alkaline, alkaline earths) metals until you have gained more experience. Same goes for mercury. If you really want an alkaline metal, try lithium from c2032 batteries (careful when disassembling). Silver, nickel, antimony, and tungsten are not essential.

Non-metals: sulfur, carbon (charcoal, graphite, activated charcoal). Iodine can be easily made from alkaline iodides; chlorine from TCCA, as hypochlorites degrade with time, especially calcium hypochlorite; bromine from BCDMH. You should not store chlorine and bromine as their precursors are easier and safer to handle. Phosphorus is not essential.

Acids: sulfuric (battery type is usually good, concentrated form as drain cleaner if you can find), hydrochloric (tile cleaner, 10% is good, ~35% is better if you can find), nitric (sometimes you can use a mixture of sulfuric or hydrochloric acid and a nitrate as substitute), citric (you can extract it from lemon juice or buy it from bakery supplies), phosphoric (pH regulator in hydroponics or food grade), acetic (the more concentrated the better). Oxalic acid is useful and interesting but not essential. Tartaric acid can be extracted from wine; chill a cheap wine in the fridge (my sister-in-law ruined an otherwise fine wine that way) and scrape the crystals of tartrate from the bottom of the bottle. Acquire other organic and inorganic acids when need arises.

Bases: sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide (I never needed it, though), magnesium hydroxide, ammonium hydroxide (the type used for cleaning may contain surfactants), calcium hydroxide (slaked lime, sometimes sold in a mixture with magnesium hydroxide).

Oxides: manganese dioxide (impure from batteries, pottery supplies). Other oxides can be made by heating carbonates till decomposition.

Carbonates/bicarbonates: calcium, sodium, ammonium.

Salts: sodium chloride (table salt is good enough for most purposes), calcium chloride, sodium nitrate (fertilizer, calcium nitrate may do, magnesium nitrate may be cheaper), sodium sulfate, iron(ii) sulfate, copper(ii) sulfate (algicide), zinc sulfate, sodium bromide, sodium or potassium iodide (NaI has more iodine per weight and is cheaper), sodium acetate, borax, sodium sulfite/bisulfite/metabisulfite (reducer, source of sulfur dioxide), sodium bisulfate (replaces sulfuric acid under certain circumstances), sodium thiosulfate, soluble barium salt (chloride or hydroxide, whatever is cheaper). There are many others but these are the most useful in the beginning. Potassium salts tend to be more expensive than their sodium equivalents. Heavy metal salts can be made by reacting the metals or their carbonates with acids or by metathesis.

Oxidisers: hydrogen peroxide (up to 30% in solution, or in the form of sodium percarbonate), potassium permanganate. Chromate and dichromate can be made from stainless steel; chromium(vi) is harmful, though. Include oxone if budget allows.

Reducers: formaldehyde (formalin is fine), glucose.

Solvents: water (distilled or filtered by reverse osmosis, demineralized is fine, water for autoclaves is rather cheap), ethanol (azeotrope), methanol, glycerol (lubricant, heating bath, solvent), isopropyl alcohol, diethyl ether (if needed), acetone. Ether and isopropyl alcohol may form peroxides while in storage. Hydrocarbons are not essential.

Miscellaneous: urea (molten urea dissolves many salts, the powder or solution can be used to decolorise nitric acid), silica (gel from dehumidifier packs, sand, cat litter), glycol (propylene glycol is less toxic).

It turned up longer than I intended, and even so I'm probably missing something.

By the way, don't buy everything at once.

[Edited on 1-9-2025 by bnull]

Yep, I forgot thiosulfate. Thanks.

[Edited on 2-9-2025 by bnull]

Alkoholvergiftung - 1-9-2025 at 10:28

Ammoniumcarbonat. Because its very good to make insoluble carbonate salts of heavy metals and very soluble ammoniumsalts. and the salts can react later with acids to make the disred heavy metal salt

j_sum1 - 1-9-2025 at 16:56

Nice list, bnull.
I would add sodium thiosulfate to the list.

All of this assumes the focus is inorganic chemistry (which is reasonable for a beginner.)
Beginning organic… depends on what you are going for. But I would consider esters a reasonable starting point. So, a range of alcohols and acids for Fisher esterification.

One of the first things I got was a collection of oxides from a pottery supplier. Admittedly most have not been used much, but they were cheap. With a bit of persuasion (because they can be remarkable inert), they have been a reasonable starting point for nickel, cobalt and other compounds.

chloric1 - 2-9-2025 at 05:06

Quote: Originally posted by j_sum1

Nice list, bnull.
I would add sodium thiosulfate to the list.

All of this assumes the focus is inorganic chemistry (which is reasonable for a beginner.)
Beginning organic… depends on what you are going for. But I would consider esters a reasonable starting point. So, a range of alcohols and acids for Fisher esterification.

One of the first things I got was a collection of oxides from a pottery supplier. Admittedly most have not been used much, but they were cheap. With a bit of persuasion (because they can be remarkable inert), they have been a reasonable starting point for nickel, cobalt and other compounds.

So far I have only been able to get green nickel oxide to dissolve in refluxing 31.45% hydrochloric acid. My next test is potassium bisulfate/pyrosulfate fusion. The melt then should hydrate in water to a double sulfate hydrated salt.

pesco - 29-1-2026 at 23:52

As j_sum suggested, pick an experiment and get supplies for it.
If you get a bit more than needed then you'll be building up stock for future use. Don't go mad. If you need 20g for experiment, get 100g, not 25kg

One of exceptions is NaHSO₄. I would definitely get 25kg bag from pool supply store. It is cheap safest "acid", stores indefinitely and you will use a lot of it to synthesise other chemicals. In some places it the cheapest, or only viable, way to btain essentials -> HCl, H₂SO₄, HNO₃

Worth to mention, that when purchasing chemicals usually the more you buy the cheaper is per unit. I was ordering some salt recently, 100g was £9.99, 250g was £17. Choice is obvious.

Very good investment is small RO unit. You'll get unlimited supply of RO (same as distilled) water at virtually no cost. No need to mess about with distilling water and costs related to boiling water. If you get or build unit with small storage tank, then you will have RO always instantly available up to the tank volume. Can't imagine doing chemistry or microbiology without RO unit.

For a start I would focus on obtaining cheap common chemicals, purifying them and synthesise others using the common ones you purified.
Even mundane NaCl is not pure when purchased from grocery store and having very pure NaCl is sometimes needed.

Varungh - 6-2-2026 at 01:03

Urea
Ammonium salts(not nitrate)(used for making ammonia, but you can just use urea if cheaper)
Nitrate salts(not ammonium)
Phosphate ion(any phosphate salt or phosphoric acid)
Sodium sulfate
Lead
Some carbon rods
Some mineral acid or sodium bisulfate at least(preferably H2SO4,as it can make HCl or HNO3,but NaHSO4 can make HNO3,and HCl Aswell)
Acetone or propanone(solvents)

Varungh - 6-2-2026 at 01:07

Remember to also get NaOH.
MMO if you are interested in electrolysis. It can make bleach from NaCl, Cl2 and NaOH(even chlorates if you are into pyro)
Some PP/HDPE/Glass bottles(grab PP or HDPE if cheaper)
Some gloves. Neoprene or nitrile.
Oxidiser, KMnO4.also get H2O2 if possible as it is versatile (both oxidiser and reducer)
Lead and its compounds are toxic but can make good electrodes. If you have a bit of PPE, get lead.
Some knowledge. Libgen has some nice books. Try annas archive aswell

pesco - 6-2-2026 at 06:05

Bingo Varungh!
Forgot about urea.

Urea is excellent source of nitrates. Bacterial nitrogen cycle is very efficient, albeit can be slow.
Urine can be used instead, providing also quite a bit of phosphorus salts, but it can be smelly

. Not for apartment or small suburban backyard

You can make NaOH using CaO (easy to bake from chalk, eggshells, molluscs shells) and Na₂CO₃.
Purifying is difficult, and store bought is purer, however its good experiment to "tick off".

Amonia easy to get treating urea (or urine) with CaO. Used to be my source many years ago.

Sulaiman - 7-2-2026 at 03:51

WyattDaHooman has not visited since 5-9-2025 at 00:35
so not much point continuing......