Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Whats the most dangerous chemical you've ever synthesized?

Whats the most dangerous chemical you've ever synthesized?

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Hey There - 20-3-2014 at 15:20

Question speaks for itself, or you could tell me the most dangerous synthesis you've ever performed, that would be interesting...

Sincerely,
Jennifer (aka Hey There)

[Edited on 20-3-2014 by Hey There]

plante1999 - 20-3-2014 at 15:24

Jennifer sounds like a feminine name to me, but that may be just me.

I made chloropicrin, hydrogen azide, organophosphates for the worst, but I also made many other quite dangerous chemicals.

copperastic - 20-3-2014 at 15:25

I just started doing experiments so the most dangerous chemical was probably iodine....

Hey There - 20-3-2014 at 15:27

Yes, it's because I'm a lady. Wow, was it scary?

zed - 20-3-2014 at 15:35

Hard to say. Worked with some scary stuff, but it ain't the snakes that you can see....that actually bite you.

There are many known hazards, but there are many more unknown hazards.

Who would suspect that the common Castor Bean, has real bad stuff in it? Most likely, some poor chemist found that out, the hard way.

Hey There - 20-3-2014 at 15:41

Aah yes, Ricin, very scary stuff indeed, but out of all poisons the V-series of nerve agents scare me the most

plante1999 - 20-3-2014 at 15:50

I got nothing against lady, it is just uncommon to see one doing chem, at least there is not many on the boards.

DraconicAcid - 20-3-2014 at 15:53

Probably nitrogen triiodide, or dinitrochlorobenzene.

Hey There - 20-3-2014 at 16:21

Haha, I know you didn't mean anything wrong by it, alot of girls don't have an interest for this kind of stuff.

And really? Nitrogen Triiodide, sounds nerve racking, did you ever (almost) mess up or have any spills?

DraconicAcid - 20-3-2014 at 16:28

Quote: Originally posted by Hey There

Haha, I know you didn't mean anything wrong by it, alot of girls don't have an interest for this kind of stuff.

And really? Nitrogen Triiodide, sounds nerve racking, did you ever (almost) mess up or have any spills?

No- it was a small scale prep- I just wanted to be able to make a bang for some students I was giving a demonstration to.

bismuthate - 20-3-2014 at 16:55

H2Se and SbH3 (along with LiSbH2) are the worst I'd have to say although H2S and iodoacetone where bad because they're really annoying (bad smell for H2S and teary vision accompanied by some pain for the iodoacetone). Also I'm freaked out by chronic poisons (although I am a bit paranoid

) so lead salts are kinda scary for me.
EDIT: oh yeah and Mn2O7

[Edited on 21-3-2014 by bismuthate]

plante1999 - 20-3-2014 at 16:56

Hydrogen azide was quite scary.. But I managed to only make the forum member scared as shit. I'm still alright.

mr.crow - 20-3-2014 at 17:27

Fuming nitric acid was pretty interesting. Like a red demon in the flask. Bromine would be 100x more satanic looking. White powders are kind of boring even if you know its dangerous.

Zyklon-A - 20-3-2014 at 17:49

I made some bromine the day, nitrogen triiodide is fun, Diiodine hexachloride is scary, disulfur dichloride, sulfur dichloride, ect, I have all done these recently. Trying to think of some more....

BromicAcid - 20-3-2014 at 17:56

(CH3

2Zn, CH2CHNCO, CH3NCO, (CH3CH2

2NSF3 These were the best of the baddies

DraconicAcid - 20-3-2014 at 19:59

I made diazomethane a few times, but used it in situ.

GoldGuy - 20-3-2014 at 22:29

NSA ALERT!

But on the side note if you aren't a cop (0.15% chance) a lady who is aroused by danger is quite sexy.

Zyklon-A - 21-3-2014 at 06:42

What the bloody fuck are you talking about, GoldGuy?
You and people like you are the ones scaring away all the women interested in chemistry.
Just answer the question, or say nothing.

Quote: Originally posted by plante1999

I got nothing against lady, it is just uncommon to see one doing chem, at least there is not many on the boards.

This statement shouldn't exist, yet because of people like you, it does. (And the fact that chemists tend to be less socially secure.)

[Edited on 21-3-2014 by Zyklonb]

DraconicAcid - 21-3-2014 at 07:20

Quote: Originally posted by Zyklonb

What the bloody fuck are you talking about, GoldGuy?
You and people like you are the ones scaring away all the women interested in chemistry.
Just answer the question, or say nothing.

Exactly. I've been on other message boards where there isn't a single female member who will admit to being female, simply because of attitudes like this.

The_Davster - 21-3-2014 at 09:49

People, keep it on topic.

Lots of things. Azidotetrazole, silver fulminate, anhydrous HN3, distilled primary explosives, H2Se, phosgene, NI3, hydrazine

edit: oh and pure Mn2O7.

[Edited on 21-3-14 by The_Davster]

Brain&Force - 21-3-2014 at 10:08

6 molar nitric acid. I don't have access to anything more dangerous. I have produced chlorine and nitrogen dioxide in situ, but that's about dangerous as it gets.
The most dangerous mixture I've worked with is Mg/copper sulfate flash powder.

thebean - 21-3-2014 at 10:38

Piranha solution is not something I commonly use and it's nothing too complex to produce (homogenous mixture of H2O2 and H2SO4) but if it comes in contact with organic solvents you have an explosion waiting to happen. I use 35% H2O2 and 98% H2SO4 so if I had an explosion I would be in a world of hurt. At times it's a necessary evil. White phosphorus was another terrifying one. Pretty easy to contain but one little mistake and it could be lights out or a trip to the hospital.

bismuthate - 21-3-2014 at 11:30

I'm most likely not the only one (aka anyone who's seen his site) thinking this but I wonder what woelen will have for his list

.

[Edited on 21-3-2014 by bismuthate]

Mailinmypocket - 21-3-2014 at 12:23

I personally wasn't doing it but was watching. A diazomethane generator in operation.

gdflp - 21-3-2014 at 12:40

Ammonium metavanadate and sodium nitroferricyanide.

Metacelsus - 21-3-2014 at 12:45

Perchloric acid (azeotropic). Not only is it corrosive and oxidizing, it's also toxic to the thyroid.
I thought about making a small amount of the anhydrous acid, but decided against it.

woelen - 21-3-2014 at 15:32

I used quite a few very dangerous chemicals, but synthesizing chemicals is fairly tame for me.

The most dangerous ones are
- synthesis and isolation of bromine: http://woelen.homescience.net/science/chem/exps/OTC_bromine/...
- synthesis and isolation of phosphorus tribromide: http://woelen.homescience.net/science/chem/exps/PBr3_synth/i...
- synthesis and isolation of white phosphorus: http://woelen.homescience.net/science/chem/exps/RedP2WhiteP/...

Some other synths I did with nasty intermediate but fairly benign end products: KIO4 (through Cl2, bubbled in alkaline solution of KI and KOH), Na3H2IO6 in appr. same way.

In some experiments I made and isolated very dangerous things, but these I did not keep around. Some examples: chlorine azide, selenium bromide, phosphine, ammoniacal peroxo complexes of chromium(VI) and chromium(IV).

Zyklon-A - 21-3-2014 at 16:08

Quote:

KIO4 (through Cl2, bubbled in alkaline solution of KI and KOH), Na3H2IO6 in appr. same way.

Woelen, could I make KBrO₄ by in the same way, but with KBr and KOH?

DraconicAcid - 21-3-2014 at 16:19

Quote: Originally posted by Zyklonb

Quote:

KIO4 (through Cl2, bubbled in alkaline solution of KI and KOH), Na3H2IO6 in appr. same way.

Woelen, could I make KBrO₄ by in the same way, but with KBr and KOH?

I doubt it. Perbromates are much harder to synthesize than periodates; Cotton and Wilkinson say "Perbromates were only prepared in 1968; previously there were many papers justifying theoretically their nonexistence. ...only the strongest oxidants can form perbromate. Probably kinetic reasons are responsible for the failure of ozone and S₂O₈^2- to cause oxidation. Perbromate is a stronger oxidant than perchlorate or periodate; there is no convincing explanation of this anomaly....
Small amounts of perbromic acid or perbromates can be obtained by oxidation of bromate electrolytically or by the action of XeF₂. The best preparation involves oxidation of bromate by fluorine in 5 M NaOH solution." (Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, 4th. Ed, p561).

[Edited on 22-3-2014 by DraconicAcid]

jwpa17 - 21-3-2014 at 20:00

When I was an undergraduate, I prepared (a very small quantity of) dimethyl peroxide. I was too stupid to realize how unstable it was, but one of my professors stopped by, asked what I was doing, and nearly jumped out of the room, saying "Get that behind a safety shield!"
My research mentor - who was a physical organic chemist, not a synthetic organic guy - had reviewed my process, but apparently didn't fully appreciate the peroxides, either.

BTW, nothing happened. I made it, prepared a solution, and measured the GC retention - all to prove that it WASN'T being produced in a reaction we were exploring.

SM2 - 21-3-2014 at 21:19

dimethylmercury (micro-synthesized, quadruple gloved)

also, but not synthesized:

TCDD (tetradioxin) - ala Putin
Thallium - ala Putin

What a psychopath that man is. Russia has almost always been on the wrong side of
almost everything. Too bad,,,the world hates them.

forgottenpassword - 22-3-2014 at 04:16

Quote: Originally posted by SM2

dimethylmercury (micro-synthesized, quadruple gloved)

also, but not synthesized:

TCDD (tetradioxin) - ala Putin
Thallium - ala Putin

What a psychopath that man is. Russia has almost always been on the wrong side of
almost everything. Too bad,,,the world hates them.

Is he on the wrong side of history too?! There's only one thing worse than being exposed to propaganda - unknowingly repeating it. It shows a lack of internal functionality.

Metacelsus - 22-3-2014 at 04:28

Also, polonium.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Alexander_Litvine...

nezza - 22-3-2014 at 05:06

The 3 most dangerous syntheses I've tried and succeeded at :-

Synthesis and ampouling of NaK. (Very scary. It may ignite in moist air and explodes on contact with water)
Bromine. (Toxic vapour. Burns skin immediately)
White phosphorus from red (Obvious dangers)

sasan - 23-3-2014 at 03:13

KCN is not toxic and dangerous until you work with,accidentaly treating the CuSO4 solution and KCN,and smelling the dicyanogen gas!!!
But sulfuric acid,I think is very dangerous,specially for those who don't know about its power of corrosivity and dehydrating,in their mind,thinking that sulfuric is similar to hydrochloric and just can irritate their skins,but...

The Volatile Chemist - 26-3-2014 at 08:39

I collected and crystallized 1.8 mg of Silver fulminate.... from snap-its... And I've worked with barium compounds, but that's about it.

Zyklon-A - 26-3-2014 at 08:43

Barium compounds are cool.
So far I have: Barium nitrate, barium sulfate, barium carbonate, barium oxide and barium hydroxide.
[edit] All of these can be made from barium nitrate.
That's how I did it. I plan on doing the same with strontium nitrate.

[Edited on 26-3-2014 by Zyklonb]

The Volatile Chemist - 26-3-2014 at 08:53

Quote: Originally posted by Zyklonb

Barium compounds are cool.
So far I have: Barium nitrate, barium sulfate, barium carbonate, barium oxide and barium hydroxide.
[edit] All of these can be made from barium nitrate.
That's how I did it. I plan on doing the same with strontium nitrate.

[Edited on 26-3-2014 by Zyklonb]

How'd you get the oxide?
I think you can make the acetate by way of reaction of Barium carbonate and acetic acid (Vinegar) to make CO₂ and barium acetate (Which I'm pretty sure is soluble).

Zyklon-A - 26-3-2014 at 09:01

I decomposed the nitrate, about 5 minutes at 600°C will do it.

Quote:

I think you can make the acetate by way of reaction of Barium carbonate and acetic acid (Vinegar) to make CO2 and barium acetate (Which I'm pretty sure is soluble).

Yep, that's the great thing, as soon as you get the hydroxide or the carbonate, almost any anion in easy to make by reacting it with the corresponding acid.
I made the hydroxide like this:
Ba(NO₃)₂ (aq) + 2NaOH (aq) → Ba(OH)_2↓ +NaNO₃ (aq).

[Edited on 26-3-2014 by Zyklonb]

The Volatile Chemist - 26-3-2014 at 09:14

Quote: Originally posted by Zyklonb

I decomposed the nitrate, about 5 minutes at 600°C will do it.

Quote:

I think you can make the acetate by way of reaction of Barium carbonate and acetic acid (Vinegar) to make CO2 and barium acetate (Which I'm pretty sure is soluble).

Thanks! I'll try that.

Zyklon-A - 26-3-2014 at 09:16

Your welcome, I too, will make some Sr(OH)₂ today.

Zyklon-A - 26-3-2014 at 11:35

Quote: Originally posted by The_Davster

People, keep it on topic.

Lots of things. Azidotetrazole, silver fulminate, anhydrous HN3, distilled primary explosives, H2Se, phosgene, NI3, hydrazine

edit: oh and pure Mn2O7.

[Edited on 21-3-14 by The_Davster]

How did you make the pure manganese heptoxide?
[edit] I think I found it. Is this where you made it?

[Edited on 26-3-2014 by Zyklonb]

annaandherdad - 30-3-2014 at 11:44

Recently I've been interested in reducing metal oxides with hydrogen. As a variation, I've been thinking about doing it with carbon monoxide. Apart from the fact that CO is poisonous, I learned by doing some research that in CO + Ni produces nickel carbonyl, which is much more dangerous than CO by itself.

The lesson for me was that just randomly trying things can be dangerous. This is sort of obvious, but it was interesting to run into a specific example.

Dr.Bob - 30-3-2014 at 17:13

The most dangerous work was making fluorine chemicals, most of which started with fluorine, HF, SF4, or similar compounds. The products were often quite safe and stable, but some of the intermediates are quite dangerous.

I have also worked in a lab where phenyl-piperidine analogs are made. They are the class of compounds known for causing a Parkinson like disease due to their neurotoxicity. The best known one is MPTP (N-methyl-phenyl-tetrahydropyridine), which was an impurity in a designer drug.

Also made Fremy's salt on a large scale once, an oxidant with a stabilized free radical used in oxidations of hydroquinones. I left it drying for a while and when I came back, there was a nice hole in the rather large watch glass it has been sitting on, and some ash. That was exciting.

Another fun one was potassium hydride, which I used for a series of reactions where sodium hydride just did not work. I weighed it in a glove bag, then ran the reaction and any time I exposed the spatula, vial it was weighed into, or gloves to air, they would often ignite from the nice humid air in the south. So I learned to just have a metal pan to put everything into so it could safely just burn off the KH.

Zyklon-A - 30-3-2014 at 22:25

Glove bag... I've used one of those before, so frustrating to use. I eventually gave up, How did you make yours?

eidolonicaurum - 5-4-2014 at 05:45

Chromyl chloride, too much chlorine, bromine, KMnO4/Mg mixture, white phosphorus (only a tiny amount though

) HMTD, nitrogen triiodide, does manganese heptoxide count?

blargish - 5-4-2014 at 12:10

A little while back I attempted to make ethyl hypochlorite outside (it was winter and the temp was cold) by bubbling chlorine gas through a solution of sodium hydroxide and ethanol in water. I guess I didn't regulate the temperature well enough, and the solution grew hot, resulting in the ethyl hypochlorite boiling off

. That would have been one of my more dangerous syntheses.

The first time I synthesized fuming nitric acid, I underestimated the violence of its reaction with copper. I added a bit to a test tube, dropped a piece of copper in, and added a drop of water to break the passivation... In short, NO₂ is not a pleasant substance by any means...

Chromium trioxide is probably one of the more dangerous chemicals I have in my possession with its crazy
oxidizing capability and its toxicity. Its ability to set organic solvents on fire on contact is awesome!

unionised - 6-4-2014 at 00:57

Well, it depends how you define "dangerous".
I have made alcohol.
I suspect that more people have died from the effects of alcohol than from all the compounds mentioned in this thread put together.

On a similar note, I have burned hydrogen and made water.
I imagine more people drown each year than are killed by things like Mn2O7 or nitric acid.

copperastic - 6-4-2014 at 04:17

Where did you get barium nitrate zyklonb?

Zyklon-A - 6-4-2014 at 06:36

I got mine at Skylighter.
http://www.skylighter.com/barium-nitrate-powder.html
This is where I get all my pyrotechnic chemicals.
I think you'll need your dad to order it, as they will check your age, before you can buy anything that can be used in fireworks, ect.

[Edited on 6-4-2014 by Zyklonb]

sasan - 7-4-2014 at 03:22

As unionised mentioned it depends how do you guys define dangerous,for example potassium cyanide is very toxic and deadly but it is not dangerous(it is not explosive,flamable and...) or sulfuric acid is not toxic but very corrosive and dangerous or trinitrotoluene is toxic and dangerous and explosive
My most dangerous product was acetone peroxide although it's not toxic but very dangerous and high explosive
I have zinc phosphide inhand too!!!!very toxic. See below-

[Edited on 8-4-2014 by Bert]

sasan - 7-4-2014 at 05:55

There is a mistake on my last reply,zinc phosphide is very toxic and releases toxic phosphine gas in contact with water and acids

DrSchnufflez - 13-5-2014 at 17:48

Disulphur dichloride, hydrazine sulphate, lead acetate and nitrate, red fuming nitric acid and nitrobenzene are the ones which I consider the most dangerous of the chemicals that I have synthesized.

Rogeryermaw - 13-5-2014 at 18:28

elemental phosphorus, phosphorus trichloride, bromoethane, ethylamine, diethylamine, triethylamine, nitrogen triiodide (for giggles), RFNA. there are others but PCl3 was the worst. i was in the hospital for 5 days after accidental skin contact with a mixture of this and a tiny amount of P4(l) with liver damage. fortunately, the liver has an incredible ability to repair itself when it's not being abused heavily(according to the sawbones). use care kiddies!

[Edited on 14-5-2014 by Rogeryermaw]

Mailinmypocket - 13-5-2014 at 18:36

Wow that sounds horrible, must have been very scary!

I suppose besides the usual things like bromine the most dangerous for myself was experimenting with silicon tetrafluoride (toxic gas) and preparing sodium monothioarsenate (requires handling arsenic trioxide and refluxing arsenic compounds).

Magpie - 13-5-2014 at 20:20

KCN, H2S, P, chlorosulfonic acid, oleum, S2Br2, Cl2, Br2, HgCl2.

I recently decided I didn't want to store my white P anymore due to its fire hazard, so tried to make PCl3 out of it. This did not go well, so was aborted. I was able to recover most of my P, cleaning it up with H2SO4/K2CrO7. I'm thinking I may try this again, or perhaps try PBr3 instead. I suspect the major problem was that my P was just too dirty.

Quote: Originally posted by Rogeryermaw

...there are others but PCl3 was the worst. i was in the hospital for 5 days after accidental skin contact with a mixture of this and a tiny amount of P4(l) with liver damage.

Roger, could you tell us some details of how this accident occurred, how much PCl3 was spilled on your skin, and where. I can understand how this could cause a painful and deep burn, but how it affected your liver has me a little puzzled.

[Edited on 14-5-2014 by Magpie]

[Edited on 14-5-2014 by Magpie]

Rogeryermaw - 14-5-2014 at 03:40

Well I'm no doctor... I'm really not certain of the connection. I was performing a test tube scale experiment with about 2gm P4. I had it outside clamped in a stand with a glass wool plug and a gas generator with tcca and a HCl drip. Naturally the reaction is quite exothermic. What I hadn't expected was for the mass in the test tube to grow in volume as much as it did. The glass tubing leading the chlorine into the tube became submerged and a bubble of Cl2 caused a tiny splash. Some of the unreacted P4 was exposed, immediately ignited, melted the glass tubing and then all hell broke loose.

My hand was on fire. I reacted much unlike a chemist and tried to pat out the flame but of course only spread it to my pants. Much in pain, I ran inside and dropped my burning pants, wrapped a towel around my hand and doused in the sink. With that under control, I waited for it to cool so I could inspect to see if I would have to dig P4 out of my skin. It was a small burn but DAMN it hurt! Dressed the burn, cleaned up my equipment and forgot about it. Within a couple days I started throwing up and had abdominal pain and swelling. Went to the e.r. and the doc said my liver enzymes were off the chart. Naturally I didn't disclose too much. Over the five days the numbers started returning to normal and they discharged my without an official diagnosis. Laid up in the bed with five days of morphine injections...

woelen - 14-5-2014 at 04:45

This sounds really nasty, but good to read that there is no permanent damage. It is not the PCl3 which caused the trouble but the white P. White P is VERY toxic (LD50 is appr. 1 mg per kg of body weight).

PCl3 (and PCl5 as well) also is very nasty stuff, but this is more because of its extremely corrosive nature and the dense fumes of HCl given off by these compounds
and less because of its systemic toxicity.

confused - 14-5-2014 at 04:49

From what i know, the absorption of WP can cause hyperphosphatemia which leads to hypocalcemia, and ECG abnormalities(bradycardia .etc).
and can result in multiple organ failure, mostly of the liver and kidneys as it tries to excrete the substance.

Rogeryermaw - 14-5-2014 at 06:30

after all that, i have no fear of phosphorus. just a deep, profound respect. next synthesis is going to be styphnic acid. that one has it's own risks. still waiting on the resourcinol from elemental.

Burner - 14-5-2014 at 17:36

^^^ I have seen this description of the synthesis (http://www.powerlabs.org/chemlabs/styphnic.htm). Are you using something similar?

Rogeryermaw - 15-5-2014 at 04:27

Yes sir. This is basically the method I am planning to attempt. Now that all of the materials have arrived, I'll start this weekend with distilling some HNO3.

plante1999 - 15-5-2014 at 05:22

I'm glad to ear back from you Roger, had been a while since you were last active. Keep us (me) updated on your projects.

Rogeryermaw - 15-5-2014 at 13:10

hey plante. nice to see you around! i will definitely keep a record of my work and share it here. the fun begins saturday.

while i couldn't find any detailed data on the skin absorption toxicity of PCl3, it is mentioned...but of course, when you read msds they will tell you to freak out if you got table salt on your skin...that said, the scary is that things got so hot, any PCl3 produced would have vaporized and the permissible limits of inhalation exposure are ridiculously small. no telling if that played in at all...thanking my lucky stars i had the presence of mind to do that particular work outdoors.

aga - 19-5-2014 at 14:26

So far, Pirahna Solution.

Apart from Chemicals, the most Dangerous thing i ever made was an Assumption ...

The Volatile Chemist - 19-5-2014 at 18:22

Quote: Originally posted by aga

So far, Pirahna Solution.

Apart from Chemicals, the most Dangerous thing i ever made was an Assumption ...

Indeed!
As a teenager, some of the most dangerous things are the fumes. The car fumes and the per-fumes...

aga - 20-5-2014 at 14:41

Perfumes just make the time memorable.

It's the hormones and pheromones that make young people all crazy.

I wonder. If an AI ever gets built, would it generate EM pheromones without even knowing ?

It probably would if it was recently built.
Older AI devices would most likely grumble about how annoying their offspring are.

aga - 20-5-2014 at 14:55

Quote: Originally posted by plante1999

Jennifer sounds like a feminine name to me, but that may be just me

Hahahahaaaaaaa
I missed that bit. Very funny.

Yes, Jennifer is a feminine name (One of my daughters is also called Jennifer).
Aga is a brand name for a wood-burning cooker.
plante1999 is, er, a name.

Gender doesn't really matter here - this is Virtual reality.

Don't get all confused and think it's a dating website.

If you DO get confused, then Google. Much safer.

[Edited on 20-5-2014 by aga]

plante1999 - 20-5-2014 at 17:43

Well, the point of an username is to be Gender neutral he he.

Plante is the french for plant, and 1999 is just because I could not have 2000 for the first username I used on the net (Yes I still run the same username 10 year after ha ha).

zirconiumiodide - 7-6-2014 at 04:27

Gases

Probably Nitrosyl Chloride and Nitrogen Dioxide. They are not the pleasantest of gases!

Nitrogen Dioxide when making Nitric Acid. Funnily enough throughout the whole procedure i didn't smell the gas once, as was making the acid outside and it was a fairly windy day. The only time i did smell it was when i vented the acid a couple of hours later. Not expecting there to be much gas evolved i was very suprised when it fizzed. I was inside at this point and quickly took the bottle outside, but not before i had got a whiff of the stuff.

Nitrosyl Chloride has a similar smell and i produced some upon making Aluminium Nitrate. To remove the gas from the solution i had to boil it and could see the yellow gas as it was evolved from the mixture. This i did outside, whilst i was inside controlling the heat at the plug! But a very reactive gas. After reacting Nitric acid with the mixture (before boiling) i stored the mixture for a few days in a beaker, in a saucepan of cold water and saw that the NC gas leaving the solution had already started eating the side of the saucepan and leaving brown marks that were quite hard to remove!

These gases are ones i have the upmost respect for!

Apart from gases i suppose Lead Nitrate is the most toxic solid compound i've ever made.

The Volatile Chemist - 7-6-2014 at 07:14

Even ammonia gas hurts and sticks around. Gasses, mostly, are nasty...

arkoma - 7-6-2014 at 07:38

Quote: Originally posted by The Volatile Chemist

the per-fumes...

Indeed. Ya never get immune to them.

Nickel Chloride. Didn't even realize I had it, why was so dangerous.

Texium - 9-6-2014 at 14:16

Yep, nickel chloride, or really any soluble nickel salt for that matter, can be very innocent and nice looking, yet also quite toxic.
Also, the worst gas I've produced is hydrogen sulfide. It's scary how it can kill your sense of smell, despite smelling awful at first, so that you eventually just breathe it in and then die without knowing what hit you… Every time I got the slightest hint of it I'd promptly go to get some fresh air before continuing to work.

Fenir - 10-6-2014 at 13:05

The most dangerous chemical I have ever synthesized is nitrogen dioxide. It was the unintended by product of nitric acid production. The most dangerous non-chemistry thing I have ever made was a mistake.

APO - 11-6-2014 at 16:45

Most dangerous (or nasty) I've made:

anhydrous ammonia
sulfur dioxide
nitrogen dioxide
iodoform
iodine

AJKOER - 16-6-2014 at 09:30

As a kid, I managed to prepare approximately 7 cc of very pure NCl3!

What was unexpected was not the magnitude of explosion as witnessed from 300 meters, but the shockwave at around 50 meters that apparently was strong enough to knocked someone over.

A good general rule, the power of an explosive follows a cubic rule with respect to weight. So, for example, increasing the weight from 1 mg to 10 mg, creates an explosion that is roughly a 1,000 times larger then was observed with the 1 mg. Double the weight, eight times, etc.

By the way in comparison to NI3, the latter is a harmless toy in my opinion.

Some advice, avoid accidental formation of NCl3 if you value your body parts.

Metacelsus - 16-6-2014 at 09:35

Umm, I though it scaled with respect to the cube root (8x the explosive will produce the same overpressure at twice the distance).

Amos - 16-6-2014 at 10:03

Nitrogen Triiodide. I set some up for a demonstration once and was working on something else outside. It unexpectedly blew up about 15 feet away as it finished drying, despite being under a heavy plastic dome. The top blew off several yards into the air, and it was scary but totally exhilarating. I think the cause of initiation may have been a small insect touching it.

Mailinmypocket - 16-6-2014 at 10:12

I prepared some methyl iodide this week, with full safety precautions of course. Still though, that chemical makes me nervous as far as toxicity is concerned.

smaerd - 16-6-2014 at 14:03

Hm, nothing too crazy for me. Again mostly the fumes/byproducts that are scary.

Well I made some concentrated ammonia solutions by passing anhydrous ammonia gas into aqueas solution also into ethanol for an attempt at triethylamine. Had a leak, in one of my tubes, was pretty scary for me, nothing compared to the things people do on here hah.

Nitric acid scared me a little due to the fuming and make shift apparatus.

Tosylic acid scared me because I tried to recrystallize it way too hot, and met a nice plume of unexpected HCl gas.Gassing HCl to purify it from stupid driveway cleaner scared me a bit too, kind of dangerous on the scale I did it on. Since then I have decided to purchase it.

Phenylhydrazine freaked me out a little, nitrous acid and the fumes associated bother me.

Methyl tosylate scared me a little too, but not all that hazardous if handled properly (make shift glove box). Yahoo for low volatility.

At school I had to use ethyl iodide without a fume-hood. Gloved up parafilmed the bottles and dispensed it quickly and carefully. Since then I recommended putting a scale in the fume-hood...

Yep, pretty much the fumes, nothing else really presents much of a hazard for the things I'm interested in.

[Edited on 16-6-2014 by smaerd]

woelen - 17-6-2014 at 09:55

Quote: Originally posted by AJKOER

[...]
A good general rule, the power of an explosive follows a cubic rule with respect to weight. So, for example, increasing the weight from 1 mg to 10 mg, creates an explosion that is roughly a 1,000 times larger then was observed with the 1 mg. Double the weight, eight times, etc.[...]

This is nonsense. The impact and energy of the explosion will grow more or less linearly with weight. This is so, simply because the amount of energy is proportional to the amount of explosive used. Ten times as much of explosive will give ten times as much impact at a given distance. The impact is inversely proportional to the square of distance. All this is with a spherical charge and a spherical space in which the energy can be dispersed. Of course, in reality the behavior will be more complicated, but still this is a decent approximation.

Texium - 17-6-2014 at 10:47

Quote: Originally posted by woelen

This is nonsense. The impact and energy of the explosion will grow more or less linearly with weight.

It would have to work like that due to the law of the conservation of energy, right? If 1 gram of a substance would release x amount of energy, then 10 grams of the substance would release 10x amount of energy, as 10 individual grams of the substance would release x amount of energy each, no more, no less, assuming the reaction is completed in all scenarios.

alexleyenda - 23-6-2014 at 00:35

Quote: Originally posted by zts16

Quote: Originally posted by woelen

This is nonsense. The impact and energy of the explosion will grow more or less linearly with weight.

It is a way to see it, considering chemical bonds as potential chemical energy locked into the molecules, but this law is more suitable to explain physics phenomenon in closed systems. A more "chemical" explanation would be that in a chemical reaction, chemical bonds break, then new bonds form. The energy absorbed to break a bond is always the same for a given bond in a given molecule, and the energy variation when a given bond is created is also always the same. If you add up the energy for breaking the bond and to create the new ones, you get the overall energy variation, it is usually measured in Joules (J or KJ) per mole. the bonds are always the same, if you break and recreate 10 times more bonds, you get 10 times more energy (or absorb if endothermic :p ). More weight = more moles = more energy, it's a linear relation and it's as simple as that.

The only thing related to physics I see which could a bit explain Joker's statement (which remains false anyways) is that when energy is dispersed in a spheric 3D way, the power decreases in a cubic way because the area covered by the power increases in a cubic way, so the power becomes a lot less concentrated very fast in comparison with the radius (linear distance from the explosion). The power of small amount of explosive can get "diluted" so fast that it appears that using a bigger charge is a lot more powerful as it takes more distance ( a bit more than a linear relation) for the power to be cubic rooted down to the same level.

By the way i'm aware that my level of language in the seconth paragraph probably sucks, explaining physics theories in your seconth language is not easy :p

[Edited on 23-6-2014 by alexleyenda]

[Edited on 23-6-2014 by alexleyenda]

woelen - 23-6-2014 at 01:35

Quote: Originally posted by alexleyenda

[...]
The only thing related to physics I see which could a bit explain Joker's statement (which remains false anyways) is that when energy is dispersed in a spheric 3D way, the power decreases in a cubic way because the area covered by the power increases in a cubic way, so the power becomes a lot less concentrated very fast in comparison with the radius (linear distance from the explosion). The power of small amount of explosive can get "diluted" so fast that it appears that using a bigger charge is a lot more powerful as it takes more distance ( a bit more than a linear relation) for the power to be cubic rooted down to the same level.

There are some errors in your last paragraph:
The power is not inversely proportional to the cube of the distance, but to the square of the distance. Assume that power is transmitted as a spherical shockwave and no power is lost between center of explosion and the distance where the explosion is observed. The power is distributed over a sphere, whose surface area is proportional to the distance of center of explosion. So, this makes the perceived impact of the explosion inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the center of explosion. In reality, the exponent will be slightly larger than 2, but much less than 3, due to losses of power (e.g. frictional losses between air molecules while the shock wave travels through the air).

If you do not change the distance from the center of explosion, then the perceived impact will be linearly proportional to the amount of explosive, provided that the explosion is as fast as with the smaller amount and will have the same percentage of losses.

In reality, the relations will be more complicated, due to losses of energy, due to widening of the shock wave while it travels outwards and due to different characteristics of explosion for different masses. At a larger distance, the explosive power is not only distributed over a larger surface area, but it also is distributed over a larger amount of time (widening of shock wave). If all these effects are taken into account, then you get very complicated relations and understanding all of these requires a lot of physics and advanced mathematics.

[Edited on 23-6-14 by woelen]

aga - 23-6-2014 at 11:49

Inverse square rule.

Power at distance X is inversely proportional to the square of X.

This works for radio wave propagation for example.

A woelen points out, it is hugely more complex for chemical explosions, and will give just an average.

For starters, the explosive may not be a perfect sphere to begin with.

alexleyenda - 23-6-2014 at 16:57

You're right woelen, in my head it was a cubic root but I checked and I was wrong, it's a square root :p And yeah of course aga, it is not going to be a sphere in real life except if it floats in space but I think we are really digging this too deep now, let's keep this to an average rule :p

[Edited on 24-6-2014 by alexleyenda]

froot - 23-6-2014 at 22:51

Quote:

As a kid, I managed to prepare approximately 7 cc of very pure NCl3!

That statement is the topic clincher for me.
And perhaps why you're still here with us is because you did an excellent job of making a high purity product - thankfully! If I were you the recollection of the deed would give me shivers for the rest of my life. I wonder if your parents know how close they came to losing you. No matter how thorough your synthesis procedure was you can still consider yourself very lucky.

So many kids tried daring stunts like this and never made it to the other side.

ave369 - 9-12-2015 at 10:16

Of the stable, storable kind - chromium trioxide, sitting now in a small glass jar on a shelf. Of the unstable, unstorable kind - manganese heptoxide. And I've heard about a reported experiment when a small amount of FeO3 was stabilized in Et2O during the acid decomposition of a ferrate. I want to continue the line and perform this experiment during my next ferrate frenzy.

[Edited on 9-12-2015 by ave369]

Praxichys - 9-12-2015 at 12:07

Recently, ketene. It plays with the big boys -

(IDLH values from NIOSH)

Carbon monoxide: 1200ppm
Hydrogen cyanide: 50ppm
Phosgene: 2ppm
Ketene: 5ppm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9sPlMkYEIw

The sinister part is that it's not irritating and it doesn't really have a noticeable smell, especially when there's lots of acetic acid laying about. You'll know you got dosed 6-12 hours later when you enter severe pulmonary edema.

Mice recieved pulmonary damage at 1ppm for 7h. 7/10 died when exposed to 23ppm for 30 minutes. Monkeys exposed to 200ppm for 10 minutes died almost 8 hours later. Three mice exposed to 122ppm for 10 minutes died after 3 days.

Scary stuff.

karlos³ - 9-12-2015 at 12:59

I am not into energetic materials, but NI3 was synthesised on many occasions, to faciliate amide synthesis from aldehydes. I don´t consider it as very scary, but I´ve only worked with it in solution. I know how sensitive it is in dried form.
I don´t consider that the scariest chemical I´ve ever synthesised.
I guess HCN from self prepared NaCN was for me one of the most scariest. Also, to find out that one can smell it, and then, surprisingly not anymore (during distillation of the acid), that was not pleasant to find out my sense of smell got numbed :-D
I´ve used a good portion of KSCN and sodium thiosulfate, consumed in capsules as safety measurement beforehand(it was not a small quantity of HCN I was distilling), and had some butyl nitrite around as instant antidote. Not needed luckily.

But for the most dangerous chemicals I´ve ever worked with and synthesised, they are probably mercury salts.
Also i´ve made oxidation agents which are not considered healthy... I mean, pyridine is not really healthy, but PCC for itself?

Chemicals I´ve never synthesised but instead purchased straight to work with, there are many, many more which are probably a lot more dangerous.
Like NaN3, (COCl)2, alkali metal derivatives like their hydrides, and of course chromine compounds.
Oh, not to forget those nasty halogenating agents, like alkylhalogenides, I´ve worked with many of those...

What I would not touch with a ten foot pole, are HF, fluoride salts and sulfate esters like Me2SO4.
Also phosgene and ketene.

BromicAcid - 9-12-2015 at 14:34

In retrospect acryloyl azide was some pretty nasty stuff.

phlogiston - 10-12-2015 at 01:01

Quote: Originally posted by AJKOER

As a kid, I managed to prepare approximately 7 cc of very pure NCl3!

On purpose?
That must have consumed all of your karma points for you to have survived.

chemrox - 10-12-2015 at 12:23

Knaus opiate w-18. It went into a ball mill with 1 lb of mannitol. Don't do this-recovery was a bitch!

aga - 10-12-2015 at 14:20

Erm, a cloud (literally) of HCl gas.

Maybe the chromates were worse, although they didn't threaten to engulf a neighbour's house, so 'Most Dangerous' really depends on the consequences.

Time for a sig change.

The Volatile Chemist - 12-12-2015 at 15:19

HCl isn't that great...I definitely want stuff that isn't yellow from iron (It's useless except for chlorination of alcohols...). Any suggestions on purification?
Scariest probably was getting a half-lung of chlorine gas, and dealing with a chlorine generator making way too much chlorine in the basement (2 years ago I didn't plan ahead...not really something to be proud of.)

Amos - 12-12-2015 at 16:48

Quote: Originally posted by The Volatile Chemist

HCl isn't that great...I definitely want stuff that isn't yellow from iron (It's useless except for chlorination of alcohols...). Any suggestions on purification?
Scariest probably was getting a half-lung of chlorine gas, and dealing with a chlorine generator making way too much chlorine in the basement (2 years ago I didn't plan ahead...not really something to be proud of.)

Useless for anything except for chlorination of alcohols? How about generally acidifying things, making metal chlorides, etc? The iron content is quite low even in the hardware grade stuff. Fe(III) is just a very potent colorant in solution. As for iron contamination in general, check Lowe's. The new brand of HCl they stock, at least in all of my city's locations, is water-clear.

Sakomekieh - 12-12-2015 at 17:23

When i was 10 i made a lot of chlorine gas and reacted with various substances that i got(Aluminium, Iron, paper, red phosphorus), but thank god nothing bad happened.

fluorescence - 13-12-2015 at 03:42

Most dangerous Compound ... good question.

- I work with a lot of Cyanides so HCN is something really common in my lab and always present in small quantities.

- Arsenic Compounds: I pulverized some Arsenic and boiled it in Nitric Acid and tried to dry the Acid into the Arsenic Oxide.

- Like the others Bromine and Chlorine

- Chromylchloride and Chromylfluoride

- HF

- Dimanganeseheptoxide

- White Phosphorus

- Various Chromium(VI) Compounds

That's pretty much it. Worked with some highly toxic compounds, too but never made them myself.

JJay - 13-12-2015 at 04:55

Most dangerous? Elemental bromine, although I will say that diethyl sulfate sure does smell nice....

Right now I am doing the final distillation of a nice batch of benzene, which seems to be regarded as some sort of unholy abomination by everyone who has seen my setup, but I don't think it's that bad compared to everything else people in industrialized nations get exposed to on a regular basis.

[Edited on 13-12-2015 by JJay]

The Volatile Chemist - 14-12-2015 at 15:21

Quote: Originally posted by Amos

Quote: Originally posted by The Volatile Chemist

OK, for generally acidifying things and cleaning stuff.

I wouldn't say for making metal chlorides, though. It's so dirty...the stuff is almost as yellow as dilute dichromate solution...comes out of the container clear, but turns yellow on standing or combining with basically anything. Perhaps I should look into it, though, as it's basically sitting there. I'll do something with it tonight, look into what the impurities are...

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