Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Best and worst smelling chemicals?

Best and worst smelling chemicals?

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AngelEyes - 17-2-2005 at 04:18

Worst.
Butyric Acid.

Best.
Whichever chemical gives freshly-cut grass it's smell. Wonderful...

demorol - 19-2-2005 at 03:44

I like the smell of vanillin, ethyl butyrate (like pineapple) and phenol. The latter reminds me of watercolors I played with when I was a kid.

Worst smells: skatole, pyridine, H2S.

aludel - 22-3-2005 at 15:41

Quote:

Originally posted by I am a fish

......

Don't they smell very similar to you? I doubt I could tell the difference between the halogens by smell alone. I think there are some differences...

It is possible that you are merely used to smelling them in different concentrations? Bromine is much more volatile than iodine and so with similar conditions, far more of the vapour will reach your nose. The concentration of a substance can have a great effect on the desirability of its odour. (For example, many perfumes contain very small quantities of foul smelling substances.)

[Edited on 8-2-2005 by I am a fish]

You're right about the concentration influence... in practice, bromine tends to be smelled in higher concentrations than iodine.

Association with old memories is also important, for example: when I smell chlorine I go back 30 years and enter hell on earth again: school swimming

Also, maybe I like iodine because I associate it with medicine... ???

Idea: compare chlorine , bromine and iodine in equal or similar (low) concentrations. A blind test: try to identify the halogen by smell. I think it can be done...

Sorry for the late reply...

JohnWW - 24-3-2005 at 20:00

Best smell: cannabis oil. The stuff is also good for you.

garage chemist - 28-3-2005 at 15:01

Here's a very long list of compounds (perfume raw materials) with their smells:
http://www.thegoodscentscompany.com/rawmatex.html

Magpie - 28-3-2005 at 17:28

That's a neat list garage chemist.

I like the smell of diethyl ether if not too strong. I used to smell it in the Doctor's office but I don't know what they would use it for anymore.

I like the smell of ammonia and nitrobenzene if not too strong also. I believe nitrobenzene is the solvent in my shotgun cleaning solution.

saps - 28-3-2005 at 18:17

I agree w/ most of the above answers but would like to add that ive never enjoyed methane

Madman - 28-3-2005 at 22:33

HeyyYY!! OKay smart chemist people, i need you huys/gals to tell me how a 13 year old kid can make a very smelly chemical, that cant get me arrested...for using it in school....

smelly

chochu3 - 29-3-2005 at 01:30

piperine from boiled up black pepper in alcohol is pretty nasty.

[Edited on 29-3-2005 by chochu3]

sparkgap - 29-3-2005 at 02:32

Madman, posts like yours don't get much replies here, I'm afraid.

Expect merciless taunts after this...

sparky (^_^)

Pyrovus - 29-3-2005 at 02:42

Quote:

Originally posted by Madman
HeyyYY!! OKay smart chemist people, i need you huys/gals to tell me how a 13 year old kid can make a very smelly chemical, that cant get me arrested...for using it in school....

How about cadaverine? It's quite legal, provided you don't get someone to help you make it.

sparkgap - 29-3-2005 at 02:44

Very smelly, yes, but quite irritating and corrosive when pure.

Be safe, kiddies!

sparky (^_^)

P.S. My k3wl-detector needle is wagging widely here...

Pyrovus - 29-3-2005 at 02:51

But it's also very easy for kewls to make . . . (where's an evil emoticon when you need one?)

Saerynide - 29-3-2005 at 09:20

Quote:

Originally posted by PyrovusHow about cadaverine? It's quite legal, provided you don't get someone to help you make it.

ROFL

Chickens or steaks might work

sparkgap - 29-3-2005 at 09:59

Heck, if he's really serious about obtaining the cadaverine naturally, he can try poking around at cemeteries or garbage heaps.

sparky (^_^)

prole - 5-9-2005 at 16:26

I'd hafta say that nitrotoluene smells quite unpleasant. It is reminiscent of Amoretto, the after dinner liquer, only way stronger. Gives a real nice headache, too.

Fleaker - 5-9-2005 at 19:11

Butyric acid is nasty but not particularly dangerous; I still can't stand the odor of it. Just plain rancid.

Hydrogen selenide, however, is nasty and very dangerous, more toxic than HCN and extremely irritating. A hideous odor that really 'clings' (truly unique smell beyond my explanation: pungent, and just inexplicably odd). I hope none of you have any experience with it, as it's a hemoglobic poison and leaves you feeling quite bad for quite a long time. I think the TLV is .05 ppm. Some tellurium compounds smell horrible as well and are similarly very toxic.

Best smells? Hm, I'd have to say anhydrous ethanol. The odor is very reminiscent of strawberries, at least to me. Diethyl ether has a pleasing odor as well.

Anyone else here noticed their sense of smell going?

[Edited on 6-9-2005 by Fleaker]

neutrino - 6-9-2005 at 02:24

Quote:

Originally posted by Fleaker
Best smells? Hm, I'd have to say anhydrous ethanol. The odor is very reminiscent of strawberries, at least to me.

Is that reagent grade or the denatured junk? I don’t think EtOH has a smell, so you may be smelling some esters.

I am a fish - 6-9-2005 at 09:09

Quote:

Originally posted by Fleaker
Hydrogen selenide, however, is nasty and very dangerous, more toxic than HCN and extremely irritating. A hideous odor that really 'clings' (truly unique smell beyond my explanation: pungent, and just inexplicably odd). I hope none of you have any experience with it, as it's a hemoglobic poison and leaves you feeling quite bad for quite a long time. I think the TLV is .05 ppm. Some tellurium compounds smell horrible as well and are similarly very toxic.

It's a pity that selenium compounds are so toxic. I've been tempted by the idea of making hydrogen selenide for a long time. (It's very easy; you just have to heat selenium with iron powder, and then dissolve the resulting iron selenide in an acid.) However, I'm just too scared of it. Another chemical I've wanted to make is carbon diselenide, which can be made my heating selenium with dichloromethane (it's a pity that carbon disulphide can't be made in a similar manner.) However, again, it's just too toxic.

I'd also like to make hydrogen telluride and carbon ditelluride but I'm too scared of my tellurium to even open the container.

Tsjerk - 6-9-2005 at 12:03

Could anybody tell me about the toxicity of selenium disulfide? I don't think it's very toxic but after all these story's I'm not sure anymore.

12AX7 - 6-9-2005 at 12:31

The disulfide isn't that bad, as selenium goes. UTFSE: http://www.google.com/search?q=selenium+disulfide

H2Se is pretty gnarly though: 50ppb exposure limit (TLV). Odor threshold 0.3ppm, LC50/1hr 2ppm!

Tim

Fleaker - 6-9-2005 at 14:23

Originally posted by Neutrino: "Is that reagent grade or the denatured junk? I don’t think EtOH has a smell, so you may be smelling some esters."

It was a newly opened bottle of ACS grade absolute ethanol, however, the delightful smell could have been a combination of factors. There were at least 4 other solvents in use that day (toluene, cyclohexanone, etc).

I highly discourage working with H2Se even with a quality fume hood: it's an unnecessary hazard and you can quickly be overexposed (you will find that your sense of smell is quickly lost when working with it). The stuff is really quite toxic, and the ill effects take several months to wear off (in my case at least). Tim is quite aware of the story (I believe I had mentioned it to him along with a list of other mishaps).

12AX7 - 6-9-2005 at 20:07

Yep. You ever wonder what the neighborhood thought of that blunder? Or anything else involving H2S and similar stinkies?

Tim

Fleaker - 11-10-2005 at 19:25

AngelEyes posted:

"Best.
Whichever chemical gives freshly-cut grass it's smell. Wonderful..."

That would be hexanal. Just found that out in the most unlikely of places ( an essay on the flavor industry).

ni3 - 4-7-2006 at 18:02

the worst formaldahyde
the best ethanethiol

Jdurg - 4-7-2006 at 18:54

H2Se/SeO2: HORRIFIC! They smell like rotted radishes mixed with rotted eggs. Thankfully, I only smelled small remnants of the gases that leached out of the freshly created red selenium I had made. The human nose is VERY adept at smelling these gases so in concentrations far, far below any toxic level you can typically smell them. However, they also numb your sense of smell so you need to ensure there is good ventillation.

Arsine: Smells like rotted garlic. Got a small whiff of it during my toxicology lab in college. Only a tiny little bit from when an arsine generator was accidentally uncapped outside of a fume hood.

Amyl Alcohol: Smells like rotted fish that got mixed with vomit.

Bromine: Smells like a skunk that took a bath in a bottle of bleach.

Douchermann - 4-7-2006 at 23:19

Hmmm, Methylamine smells like hexamine but stronger, which smells like pussy (sometimes)

Best would have to be either nitrobenzene or nitrotoluene, Amyl/butyl nitrite, Ethyl bromide, or freshly prepared phenol

Worst:

MEKP. It got stuck in my drain and I smelled it for months in my basement (when I used to have my lab down there).

Boiled Urine - Getting the ammonium sodium biphosphate out of urine to attempt to prepare elemental phosphorus. I later learned that you need very hot temperatures haha.

YT2095 - 5-7-2006 at 01:45

Alyl Isothiocyanate has to be one of the worst I`ve encountered, it really pushes your limits between drop everything and run or be a Man and stay there.

the actual Smell isn`t that bad, a bit like the heart of a cabbage, but the effect is well harsh!

think Horse radish or Wasabi paste.

woelen - 6-7-2006 at 12:02

Quote:

H2Se/SeO2: HORRIFIC!

Jdurg, I have some SeO2 (from an old GDR lab), and it definitely is not a gas

. SeO2 is a white crystalline solid and does not have a strong smell. It IS very poisonous though.

My worst smell is HN3. It is not the smell itself, but the effect it has on my body. It makes all alarms ring and whistle

. When I smell some HN3, it gives a strong sense of fear/terror, which is not pleasant at all. VERY peculiar. I know many other bad smelling chems like NH3, Cl2, H2S, and many more, but the most striking of HN3 (at least for me) is the fear, which it induces in my body. However, when the smell is gone, then the fear also is gone.

garage chemist - 6-7-2006 at 13:22

Interesting! I can say that HN3 has a very comparable effect on me: it strongly accelerates my heartbeat about ten seconds after I've smelled it, and in larger doses also causes cold sweating. It smells pungent and stings in the nose, but also in the lungs. The stinging in the lungs is most alarming, as it still persists for some time even after the effects on the heart have worn off.

My new worst smelling chemical is pyridine. In very high dilution, the smell reminds me of my old chemistry set, which is very strange since it wasn't involved in any of the experiments.
More concentrated, the smell is just sickening.

The odor of pyridine is unbelievably strong. My mom complained of a bad smell when she was sitting in the garden (ten meters away from my garage) and I didn't even do an experiment with pyridine! I only briefly opened the bottle the day before to check the smell.
When I brought the bottle to her, she said that the smell was coming from it. I didn't smell any pyridine on the outside of the bottle, but she did.

Magpie - 6-7-2006 at 13:47

When I first took organic chemistry I was just amazed at all the smells. On the reagent shelf one day was some allyl alcohol. This had a heavy, seductive-but-repulsive smell which I never forgot. It is on my to-do list to synthesize it just so I can smell it again.

School labs all seem to have a similar characteristic smell to me. Especially the organic labs. I often wondered what was the root cause, if any. I think I know now: bromine and bromine compounds. They seem to hang around, probably imbedded in the glassware, and the woodwork.

Zinc - 6-7-2006 at 14:10

My favourite smell is the smell of nitrobenzene.

ethan_c - 6-7-2006 at 16:31

i had the fortune to get my paws on a fair amount of chloroform recently.
and BOY do i love the smell. call me nuts, but it's true. not concentrated, of course, but just the wafting odor of it.

i discovered this joy when i was putting stuff in the dumpster at work after the lab had dumped the glass jugs of the stuff we get from Fisher into the 55-gallon drums they are stored in. there was a small amount of evaporating fluid in each glass jug, and i try to scavenge the containers to hold various caustic and unpleasant chemicals i come across. you can guess at the rest of the story.

try it. honestly. you wont pass out if you're careful. you might swoon from happiness, however.

The_Davster - 6-7-2006 at 16:53

Trans-1,2,cyclobutanedicarboxylic acid smells pretty good if you don't smell at too close a range, wafting from 4" away smells exactly like the powder from those 'pixie sticks' (I think, or some other similar candy). At closer range the sweetish smell is overpowering.

Jdurg - 6-7-2006 at 18:06

Quote:

Originally posted by woelen

Quote:

H2Se/SeO2: HORRIFIC!

Jdurg, I have some SeO2 (from an old GDR lab), and it definitely is not a gas

My bad. I know that there was some combination of gases leading to the odor and didn't think it was just pure H2Se. Made the false assumption that SeO2 was just like SO2.

Azotic acid probably should induce a response of fear in you. That stuff is worse than hydrogen cyanide, if memory serves me right, in terms of ability to make you dead.

Vitus_Verdegast - 9-7-2006 at 06:11

Quote:

Azotic acid probably should induce a response of fear in you. That stuff is worse than hydrogen cyanide, if memory serves me right, in terms of ability to make you dead.

IIRC, the LD50 and the mechanism of action (permanently binding to and inhibiting cytochrome c oxidase) were the same as for prussic acid.

Funny thing is that in many labs alkali metal cyanides seem to be stored under lock and key and its usage well watched upon, while sodium azide is regarded upon as just another common reagent.

Quote:

My new worst smelling chemical is pyridine. In very high dilution, the smell reminds me of my old chemistry set, which is very strange since it wasn't involved in any of the experiments.

When I was young I always used along with my chemistry set this hardware store type of denatured alcohol, which is coloured blue and contains pyridine derivatives. The sickening smell lingered everywhere in my room and stayed in my clothes for days.

YT2095 - 9-7-2006 at 09:24

NH2(CH2)4NH2 and NH2(CH2)5NH2

respectively called Putrescine and Cadaverine, Yes, the stench of rotting flesh.

JohnWW - 10-7-2006 at 02:46

How about some seleno- and telluro-mercaptans, especially highly unsaturated ones like allyl hydroselenide (C3H3SeH) and diallyl selenide ((C3H3)2Se)? They would have much stronger smells than H2Se, and the corresponding sulfur compounds. Also hydrogen telluride, noting that telluro-mercapto-compounds would be much less volatile than the S and Se ones. And I wonder about indole and skatole with added -SH and -SeH groups, and similarly substituted putrescine and cadaverine.

When I was doing Chemistry at university, in one year, 1969, I was employed as a part-time technician. One day, I accidentally loosened the cap, sealed with wax, of a bottle in a chemical storage room in the basement of the building which contained a mercaptan - ethane-1,2-dihydrosullfide, (CH2SH)2, I think it was. In spite of retightening the cap as I put the bottle back on the shelf, hours later there was a powerful smell of garlic, which led to a search for the source of the smell. I wonder if this particular mercaptan is, in fact, found in garlic oil, along with the main constituents, allyl hydrosulfide and diallyl sulfide.

garage chemist - 10-7-2006 at 05:02

@Vitus: I wish I had ethanol denatured with pyridines!
Because its "renaturation" would consist in simply adding a small amount of H2SO4 until the smell disappears and distilling the now pyridine- free ethanol.
Pyridine is a basic compound and forms odorless salts with acids.

Vitus_Verdegast - 13-7-2006 at 16:57

garage chemist:

I saw this type of denatured alcohol in more than one EU country. I'm pretty sure they should have it in Germany too, it is called "brennspiritus".

My bottle says 85% ethanol, denaturants are methanol, MEK, pyridines and blue dye.

It's five times cheaper than the ethanol denatured with ether that I buy from the pharmacy, so I ought to give your suggestion a try.

EDIT:
I just acidified some spiritus w dil H2SO4 and the smell lessened alot but it's still not completely gone. It also turned colourless.

On a similar note I've heard that the lower alkali alkylthiolates also retain some of the thiol smell. Perhaps it is the same with pyridine/picoline salts?

[Edited on 14-7-2006 by Vitus_Verdegast]

len - 23-8-2006 at 16:46

I dont know what all the fuss about azides is about.

This is what the 'Hazardous Chemicals Desk Refernce, Fifth ed.' in our library has to say on hydrazoic acid:

Poison by intraperitoneal route. Mildly toxic by inhalation. A
severe irritant to skin, eyes, and mucous membranes.
Continuous inhalation causes central nervous system
problems in humans (changes in EEG, somnolence, cough,
headache, change in heart rate). High concetrations can
cause fatal convoltions.

(on the latter point so can chlorine)

For comparison here's what it says on hydrocyanic acid:

A deadly human and experimental poison by all routes.
HCN and the cyanides are true protoplasmic poisons,
combining with the enzymes associated with cellular
oxidation. In cases of acute cyanide poisoning death is
extremely rapid, although sometimes breathing may
continue for a few minutes.

nitro-genes - 24-8-2006 at 04:14

n-butanoic acid and pyridine are among the worst that we have in the lab...

In contrast to many people I do like the smell of DMSO though. It isn't because it is a particular good smell, but it resembles the smell of sea algae and plants, it reminding me of all the vacations at the sea we had when I was a kid...

Bromine - 8-9-2006 at 12:19

ethly formiate smells pretty good to me. I think the worst is methyl merkaptane and i dont like smell of formic acid too, it is horrible.

[Edited on 8-9-2006 by Bromine]

Chemicals? We don't need no stinking chemicals!

franklyn - 17-9-2006 at 18:39

I like the smell of cut lumber in the morning, newly mowed grass, citrus,
methylethyl ketone, Ozone, Ozium air freshener which is aerosolized
Triethylene Glycol and Propylene Glycol
http://www.walgreens.com/popups/s_image.jsp?id=prod1098956
http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/brand...
Perifresh - http://www.dermarite.com/perifreshphoto2.htm
Don't know what the fragrance is but it is quite special

Methyl mecaptan is the denaturing agent included in natural gas to warn of its
presence before the odorless methane can reach explosive concentration in air.
Mercaptans have the -SH radical which can be smelled at far lower concentration
than anything else known. I've wondered what the chlorinated version CCl3SH
might smell like. Chloropicrin CCl3NO2 the chlorinated nitroform of methane is an
emetic inducing nausea and retching.

The sense of smell alone must be distinguished from other physiological effects
associated with a substance particularly those that are harmful. Repeated injurious
insult to olfactory receptors destroys the sense of smell so that one becomes not
just desensitized but devoid of the ability to smell altogether. The danger then is
in not having a forewarning of something in the air. Warfare chemical agents are
particularly insidious in this regard. 80 % of gas casualties in the first world war
were from phosgene inhalation. This is because it has a pleasant newly mowed hay
odor, and given the putrid smell of the trenches would be rather a welcome change.
The ethereal germanium smell of nitrogen mustard gas or the peach blossom odor
of Prussic acid gas ( hydrogen cyanide ) belies their ability to quickly kill you. This
was the method of choice used by Bulgarian assassins in the employ of the Soviet KGB.
Amyl nitrite itself rather sweet if administered with pure oxygen will expel the HCN
from blood hemoglobin, but only if you're not already dead.
http://www.vectorsite.net/twgas1.html

For unmitigated vile stench nothing beats US military research
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/01/0107_020107T...
The importance and correct use of a gas mask is incisively conveyed to US army
recruits by subjecting them to riot gas. CN is chloracetophenone, Mace is CS
o-chlorobenzyllidene malononitrile , both are lachrymators hence are known as tear gas.
The next step up in unpleasantness would be DM or Adamsite which is diphenyl
chorarsine a vicious emetic ( vomiting ) agent. Escalation of effects from here on
results in maiming or death. The premiere blister agent is CX phosgene oxime , this
causes immediate stinging pain to all exposed tissue. Methyl isocyanate is similar
in effect but not as potent, accidental industrial release of this caused a few
thousand casualties in Bhopal India over 20 years ago.

.

Chemguy - 27-9-2006 at 18:54

I like Ethyl acetate smell, it smells like sweet fruits, and when you smell it it kind of burns your nose but not in a bad way, like menthol lollies but sweet and fruity.

I hate the smell of bromine mixed with chlorine. So strong.

Jdurg - 28-9-2006 at 17:07

I used to enjoy the odor of ethyl acetate, but after working in a lab for a few months where I used a ton of it each and every day my body became kind of sensitized to it. Now whenever I smell it I get a vicious headache.

triphenylphosphineoxide - 1-10-2006 at 08:07

^^^
I have the same thing with acetone. Once upon a time I loved its smell but after using it 5 days out of seven for three years it literally makes me nauseous.

12AX7 - 1-10-2006 at 09:40

They all smell like solvents to me. Methyl, ethyl, isopropyl alcohol; acetone, 2-butanone, ethyl acetate, diethyl ether, various alkanes (though ligroin smells distinctively of rubber cement rather than generic solvents), etc.

Tim

5 - 4-10-2006 at 05:33

Most mercaptains send me running- ( although some nitrogen derivitives also have their moments.)

indigofuzzy - 5-10-2006 at 01:08

I hope it's ok to post before I read all of these....

Best smelling chemicals: Methyl Salicylate, Vinyl, and whatever fresh copper clad circuit boards smell like
Worst: the jury is still out... whatever chemical makes old people smell stale and musky.

Ozone - 7-11-2006 at 18:51

Hello all!

This is a really great one! I love this site!

Let's see, favorites:

Phenylacetaldehyde -- jasmine, floral
nitrobenzene -- like cinnamon buns (to me)
ethyl maltol -- super caramel
Sassafrass -- well, like sassafrass.
ethyl ether
DCM, chloroform
BTEX are all quite nice, p-xylene is especially sweet smelling (while m-has the same sort of thing going for it as toluene).
vinyl cinnamate is interesting
methylisoborneol -- smells just like just rained on soil

Worst,

ethyl acetate gives me a raging headache too. (but does not smell too bad)
triethylamine -- smells like dead fish, or somewhat like the water aging in an old tire.
methyl t-butyl ether smells OK (like cola) at first, then like cat piss.
ethylenebis dithiocarbamate-2Na + metam Na -- like sulfurous cat piss.
butyl mercaptan -- skunk, dead ringer (but, strangely, not that unpleasant in small amounts).
2-mercaptoethanol -- smell to become a believer in the "stench" warning.
any isocyanate -- oh man, these are so bad.
many diamines -- these range from "burnt hair" to "bloated roadkill".
phosphines used in the organometallic department that you can smell a floor above and below (on occasion).
acrolein -- vile and physically miserable, lachrymatory reek of burning plastic (heat up some glycerol with a little acid to make a small enough amount to smell without killing yourself) acrylic acid is also quite bad. Acrylates in general.

I apologize for the long list, but have had many projects and smelled many things. I have to note though, that even the really vile ones are sometimes "interesting", particularly when dilute.

Is it not strange that the first thing you tend to do when youe smell something foul is to go eww; the second is to find a friend/colleague and say "you have got to smell this".

Good luck, careful smelling, etc.

O3

12AX7 - 7-11-2006 at 19:48

I think methyl methacrylate (i.e. superglue) smells okay, kinda solventy-gluey-distinctively " superglue", though the fumes irritate the eyes, nose etc. of course.

Tim

Ozone - 8-11-2006 at 17:28

I thought that superglue was methyl-2-cyanoacrylate? It is rather lachrymatory, isn't it. The regular acrylates are worse, I think.

supergluey goodness, mmm.

O3

DrP - 9-11-2006 at 05:59

Yea, I'm sure it's a cyanoacrylate as well. Not sure if methylmethacrylate will work as super glue.

Worst smell I had from superglue was when I spilt some onto some plastic box - it reacted with the plastic giving off a clear gass which stung my eyes so much that I had to run away from it. Felt like it was disolving my eyes.

Ozone - 9-11-2006 at 16:25

Youch! Do you have any idea what the substrate was? we might be able to postulate the identity of your foul stench. The cyanoacrylate was not the culprit itself, I think.

Take care,

O3

Bromine - 11-11-2006 at 00:27

Quote:

Originally posted by Mr. Wizard
I can't smell ammonia anymore. My sense of smell is otherwise very good. A couple of intense exposures to the gas has left me unable to detect it, unless my eyes start to water or it irritates my throat. Has anyone else had this happen?

It did happen to me too.

Nerro - 11-11-2006 at 06:01

Triethyl amine and Et3P are the smells that make me want to run.

I rather like the smell of amylacetate (banana's)

Mr. Wizard - 11-11-2006 at 16:28

Quote:

Originally posted by Bromine

Quote:

It did happen to me too.

Thanks for replying. I used to be very aware of ammonia, but after a day in a room that I was painting with a cheap latex paint that was loaded with ammonia I developed some nose bleeds and haven't been able to smell it since. Later I learned the eyes are also very susceptible to ammonia damage.

Broken Gears - 12-11-2006 at 14:47

I had a little adventure in the chem lab the other day and I decided to look and sniff around. When I came across the big bottle that was allmost empty and had a beautiful crystal landscape in the bottom. It was a bottle of benzaldehyde. I was very surprised what a pleacent smell.

Ofcourse there are all the chems that downright stinks like: Butyric acid and Hydrogen sulfide. But ammonia, it always sneaks up on me and it get overwhelmingly fast.

Ozone - 13-11-2006 at 17:32

Quote:

Originally posted by Nerro
Triethyl amine and Et3P are the smells that make me want to run.

I rather like the smell of amylacetate (banana's)

Amylacetate and the alcohol, like ethyl acetate, both give me a headache if I work with too much in a day. The amyl alcohols and corresponding esters are frequently found in un-rectified spirits. Check out "fusel oils"; they all smell quite interesting.

Happy wafting,

O3

Biginelli - 24-11-2006 at 12:30

Best in my opinion:

- Acetoacetic ester (some fruit smell)

Worst:

- Oenanthol (heptaldehyde) - like a mixture of roten fish & local junkyard
- Thiophenol in large conc.

kaviaari - 26-12-2006 at 13:21

My personal favourite is camphor (1,7,7-trimethylbicyclo [2.2.1]heptan-2-one) and the stinkiest one is of course the good old hydrogen sulfide.

Sauron - 26-12-2006 at 14:09

N-methylindole (skatole) smells like shit, indole itself is not far behind.

The isonitriles (isocyanides), R-NC) do stink but are mostly not very toxic.

The lower thiols, dithiols and sulfides reek. And some of them are toxic. Ethanedithiol will give you a nasty headache apart from the smell. 1,4butanedithiol is toxic IIRC.

Remember, it's the ones that do their damage before they smell bad or are irritating that get you. Phosgene is insidious in this way as the pulmonary edema is delayed and lethal concentartions are not initially irritating.

H2S overloads the sense of smell and then is insidious, and no antidote.

UnintentionalChaos - 26-12-2006 at 14:22

I'm half-numb to ammonia. After doing the CuSO4 synth from prepublications and getting a huge faceful of fumes a few times, I learned to 1: turn off the bubbler a few minutes before taking off the lid, and 2: to pull the lid off, and come back in 5 minutes. A good whiff of that stuff burns back into your head and down your throat. It doesn't even smell like ammonia when it's that strong, it just burns. I'm lost the ability to smell it at low concentrations now. My mother on the other hand, gets nauseous if you open a bottle of 2.5% anywhere in the house for 5 minutes.
As for butyric acid, the smell, at least at medium concentrations is enjoyable. I was (for another hobby, edible wild foods) picking ginkgo nuts. The fruit surrounding them is chock full of butyric acid. I collected them for hours because it reminds me of parmesean cheese (whose scent IS due partially to butyric acid) while everyone else kept a huge radius from the cloud of vomit smell. You have to roast the nuts to get the last of the butyric acid off, which resulted in me "perfuming" the entire first floor of my dorm with the lovely smell of butyric acid. Most people were asleep, so they couldn't complain.

The few that were awake wanted to strangle me.

JohnWW - 27-12-2006 at 23:53

Has anyone here actually smelled either H2Se, H2Te, H2Po, selenomercaptans (or selenols), dialkyl selenides, or telluromercaptans, and lived to tell the tale? I understand that they have some "interesting" smells, far more so than the corresponding sulfur compounds.

guy - 28-12-2006 at 00:51

What is the smell of armpits? That smells very....interesting.

12AX7 - 28-12-2006 at 02:03

I've noticed when I'm rather ripe that I can detect a hint of cumin in said odor.

Makes me wonder what a cheese made from the bacteria might be like.

(Cheese, you ask? Hell, there are worse things around: aged brick (including the ultimate aged brick, limburger) smells distinctly like kitchen trash, and well aged swiss smells like your finger after scratching your buttcrack. Both are well regarded cheeses ...well, by conisseurs of them, anyway.)

Tim

Fleaker - 29-12-2006 at 09:08

Quote:

Originally posted by JohnWW
Has anyone here actually smelled either H2Se, H2Te, H2Po, selenomercaptans (or selenols), dialkyl selenides, or telluromercaptans, and lived to tell the tale? I understand that they have some "interesting" smells, far more so than the corresponding sulfur compounds.

I've only smelled H2Se, and I had an accidental overexposure to it (because of its horrific reek, I had to remove it from the garage, all the while gassing myself) which made me very sick. Unless you have a highly efficient fume hood or are working outside with a gasmask, don't mess with them. I was ill for about 2 and a half months from it (consistently languid, bone pains).

It smells something like a mixture of carbon disulfide, pyre-reek, and a scent I can not place. For me at least, it was not like H2S which deadens smell; even when the gas was effervescing into my face, I could still smell it.

JohnWW - 30-12-2006 at 14:59

Quote:

Originally posted by guy
What is the smell of armpits? That smells very....interesting.

I read somewhere that it is due mostly to alpha-hydroxybutyric acid, and is the substance that most attracts mosquitos.

Jdurg - 30-12-2006 at 17:05

I have also had the unfortunate "luck" of smelling H2Se gas. In an attempt to make some of the red allotrope of selenium, I took some regular black selenium and dissolved it in nitric acid. To this, some sulfite was added which precipitated out the red selenium. All of it was washed thoroughly, but some acid must have still been left since when I opened up the vial a few months later a horrific stench of rotted radishes filled the area. Had the same "rotted" type odor of hydrogen sulfide, but with radishes instead of eggs.

Selenide/Telluride

JustMe - 31-12-2006 at 14:53

Another one here for H2Se... oh about 35 years ago, mixed powdered Selenium with Iron Fillings and heated. Took result and added to dilute HCl and bubbled the gas into water... all outside, of course. Kept solution to play with and watched as it turned red. Y'see I was too afraid to work with cyanides, but then found out H2Se was 20x more poisionous. Well, I lived!

What scared me was H2Te. Took chunk Tellurium, and mixed with Aluminum powder, heated. Took the product and added a few drops of slightly acidic water and scared the pants off of myself! Didn't expect so MUCH gas to be generated so fast! Yeah, got a wiff of the nasty stuff and threw the test tube away into the woods!!! Fascinated with H2Te because it could be liquified easily, but way too dangerous to attempt without a full lab.

Jdurg - 31-12-2006 at 21:18

Quote:

Originally posted by JustMe
Another one here for H2Se... oh about 35 years ago, mixed powdered Selenium with Iron Fillings and heated. Took result and added to dilute HCl and bubbled the gas into water... all outside, of course. Kept solution to play with and watched as it turned red. Y'see I was too afraid to work with cyanides, but then found out H2Se was 20x more poisionous. Well, I lived!

What scared me was H2Te. Took chunk Tellurium, and mixed with Aluminum powder, heated. Took the product and added a few drops of slightly acidic water and scared the pants off of myself! Didn't expect so MUCH gas to be generated so fast! Yeah, got a wiff of the nasty stuff and threw the test tube away into the woods!!! Fascinated with H2Te because it could be liquified easily, but way too dangerous to attempt without a full lab.

Did you wind up with the nasty body odor for a few days/weeks that Tellerium is (in)famous for?

garage chemist - 1-1-2007 at 16:33

A new one: Benzonitrile. I completed the synthesis today.
The reaction mix (TEBAC- catalysed dehydration of benzamide with thionyl chloride) was neutralized and steamdistilled.
I can say that benzonitrile smells very nice, very similar to benzaldehyde but somewhat sweeter. It also seems to have a very high index of refraction- if you hold the liquid close to a light source, you can see all rainbow colors in it, like with carbon disulfide.

12AX7 - 1-1-2007 at 21:10

Mmm, dispersion? Sounds pretty neat to look at...

Tim

verode - 2-1-2007 at 14:54

Quote:

Originally posted by tom haggen
I like the smell of nitromethane, butane, the smoke that comes off of steel when your drilling it.

Dislikes- #1 fish oil #2 sulfur, #3 bleach, #4 stale machine coolant, this horrible smell comes from bacteria.

[Edited on 22-3-2004 by tom haggen]

the worst the very worst
put HCL3+ anilin NH2C6H5 + KOH(CH3OH) and heat
you'll get phenilisocyanide
horrible!! sick

verode - 2-1-2007 at 14:58

Quote:

Originally posted by verode

Quote:

the worst the very worst
put HCL3+ anilin NH2C6H5 + KOH(CH3OH) and heat
you'll get phenilisocyanide
horrible!! sick

a mistake I write wrong the chorform
HCCl3 + NH2C6H5+ KOH(CH3OH) not water
you get isocyanide C=N-C6H5 woaw!
not the nytrile NC-C6H5

joeflsts - 3-1-2007 at 08:38

I have been experimenting with esters and I have to tell you that Butyric Acid makes me gag... I don't mean that I want to gag.. I mean it literally makes me gag.

I even had a dream not to long ago that I dropped the bottle in my lab and I wasn't able to return for about a month.

joe

[Edited on 3-1-2007 by joeflsts]

JustMe - 3-1-2007 at 18:19

Quote:

Did you wind up with the nasty body odor for a few days/weeks that Tellerium is (in)famous for?

Not that I could tell, my "exposure" was outdoors and VERY brief! That was probably the very last experiment I ever did, too.

JohnWW - 5-1-2007 at 13:27

Quote:

Originally posted by Jdurg

Quote:

Originally posted by JustMe
(cut) What scared me was H2Te. Took chunk Tellurium, and mixed with Aluminum powder, heated. Took the product and added a few drops of slightly acidic water and scared the pants off of myself! Didn't expect so MUCH gas to be generated so fast! Yeah, got a wiff of the nasty stuff and threw the test tube away into the woods!!! Fascinated with H2Te because it could be liquified easily, but way too dangerous to attempt without a full lab.

Did you wind up with the nasty body odor for a few days/weeks that Tellerium is (in)famous for?

The polonium-210 that Col. Litvinenko was given in early November would have had the same effect - it would have converted to H2Po in his body and made him very smelly, until he died from the stuff.

NeonCortex - 4-2-2007 at 12:55

A recent experience showed me just how bad borane methylsulfide smells. Just fucking awful.

Clifford defects to Iraq

franklyn - 28-6-2008 at 16:14

Must be making this in the " skunk works "

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/06/27/2008-06-27_to...

.

YT2095 - 29-6-2008 at 00:57

chlorinated phenol is really awful too, a single drop of it in test tube on the other side of the lab, and within a few minutes the smell is everywhere and you can even start to taste it a while after that.

12AX7 - 29-6-2008 at 02:58

Good old Dave Barry.

Jor - 29-6-2008 at 12:57

I really start hating acetic acid. You would expect this one is not that serious at all, but after all those many times smelling it, it makes me sick.
The worst is still SO2. Makes me wanna throw up. Horrible. For some reason the SO2 wich evolves when lightling a match is not bad though (heavy, machine like odour), but when adding acid to sulphite, I must run (sickening odour) !
Why do I experience them differently?

DJF90 - 29-6-2008 at 13:34

I assume its the concentration in which the SO2 is? Either that or theres something else in the matches which is hiding the smell of the burning sulphur somewhat.

pantone159 - 29-6-2008 at 13:41

I don't find the smell of SO2 'sickening'. It is very irritating, but I don't find it disgusting. (Unlike NH3 which is both.)

Klute - 29-6-2008 at 17:29

My favourites: Zingerone, benzaldehyde, vanillin, 1-phenylbutan-3-one, 2-methoxybenzaldehyde, methylphenylbutenone, ethyl acetate.

Worst: H2S, thiophenol, piperidine, trimethylamine, pyridine, DMF.

12AX7 - 29-6-2008 at 18:33

Quote:

Originally posted by Jor
The worst is still SO2. Makes me wanna throw up. Horrible. For some reason the SO2 wich evolves when lightling a match is not bad though (heavy, machine like odour), but when adding acid to sulphite, I must run (sickening odour) !
Why do I experience them differently?

Matches contain phosphorous, and there must be something different about burnt sulfur itself, as gunpowder smells the same way. The SO2 I get from sodium metabisulfite has a somewhat musty odor, seemingly not in proportion to the stifling sensation caused by the acidity and general unpleasantness of the gas.

I have never smelled "gunpowder" (or "matches") from sulfite, so there must be diffferent molecules making up that smell. Probably the sulfites have different impurities all their own and truely pure SO2 is actually nearly odorless, though still quite unpleasant to be around.

Edit: calcined sulfates (e.g. MgSO4 at >1000C) give a noticable "burnt gunpowder" smell, in addition to the SO3 and SO2 produced.

Tim

[Edited on 6-29-2008 by 12AX7]

woelen - 29-6-2008 at 22:16

The smell from burning gunpowder is due to SO2 plus many other chemicals. The mix contains sulfates, carbonates, probably all kinds of other carbon compounds in trace amounts and who knows what more is in the mix. You simply can't compare these smells. It is like comparing the smell of a good perfume with the smell of a single (pure) ester.

SO2 (even very pure) definitely is NOT odorless. I once made the gas at high purity from sodium bisulfite and sulphuric acid, drying it with P4O10. Well, I can tell you, this gas still has the same pungent smell as what is made when sulfite and dilute acid are mixed.

I, btw, do not really dislike the smell of SO2. Of course, it is not my favorite smell, but for me, there are much worse smells. One of the worse smells I had recently was 2,4,6-trichlorophenol. The smell of this compound itself is not even that bad, but it is sticking to everything and you keep smelling it. Even one month after I prepared some of this, I still could smell it faintly in my lab. And I only made a single (impure) droplet of this.

MagicJigPipe - 29-6-2008 at 22:35

I would like to mention another horrible smell. You know the way metallic coinage smells? Bad! It gets all over your hands, too. It just smells metallic and annoying. It almost gives me a headache. It reminds me of the smell of etching copper circuit boards.

So, what is the principal chemical responsible for the smell of human feces? That would probably be one of the worst to me. Or perhaps dirty ass.

kmno4 - 30-6-2008 at 02:20

Quote:

Originally posted by MagicJigPipe
I would like to mention another horrible smell. You know the way metallic coinage smells? Bad! It gets all over your hands, too. It just smells metallic and annoying. It almost gives me a headache. It reminds me of the smell of etching copper circuit boards.

A reason of this smell has been discovered not so long ago.
Search this forum for info, there is article from Angewandte Chemie about it.
Personally, I was very surprised with smell of legendary P2P. I expected something like acetone-acetophenone smell.
I like this smell very much

. It strongly reminds me freshly mowed grass, very pleasant plant smell... something like this.

Dirty ass, shit ...? Indole matters

F2Chemist - 30-6-2008 at 15:20

Mushroom alcohol (1-octene-3-ol) is pretty nice smelling. Plus it has the added benefit that if you put it in a "friends" conditioner/shampoo, they will become insect magnets. :cool:

12AX7 - 30-6-2008 at 19:55

That's interesting. That's nearly identical to the metallic odor (the ketone).

Tim

DerAlte - 30-6-2008 at 21:37

Anyone tried tetramethyl diarsine,(CH3)2-As-As-(CH3)2, cacodyl ?

Years ago I made some after being told in high school it was probably as nauseating as any known chemical substance. It's rather easily made from an acetate heated with arsenic trioxide. The smell was indescribable (Wiki says like garlick, but I also made arsine AsH3 which does smell that way - I don't remember garlick but it was 55 yrs ago!). It seemed to produce instant strings of mucus in the nose - followed in my case by vomiting almost instantly! The only substance to make me vomit that I ever made, and I've made a few.

Don't try it! Needless to say it's as poisonous as hell, so is AsH3. Cacodylic acid is used in weed killers ( vegetation killers, any plant!)

SO2 - trivial
Cl, Br, I vapor - nasty.
HCl, HBr, HNO3, fuming H2SO4,NH3 - suffocating
H2S - I've always known the dangers of that, but it doesn't smell worse than bad
CrOCl2 - much like Cl
Crude C2H2 from carbide, bad but not revolting.

etc., but

Cacodyl ('bad stuff", from the Greek) = priceless, unspeakably revolting and nauseating!

edited per 12AX7 comment below 01-07

Der Alte

[Edited on 1-7-2008 by DerAlte]

12AX7 - 1-7-2008 at 05:54

Ah, I've smelled burnt arsenic (in particular, I was testing a small grain of arsenopyrite), and yes, it smells kinda-sorta-garlicy-ish.

*Tetramethyl diarsine?

Tim

DerAlte - 1-7-2008 at 07:52

Right, 12AX7 - Tetramethyl diarsine - the formula is correct

Der Alte

F2Chemist - 1-7-2008 at 14:10

Wow, you made AsH3? You have balls my friend. I've made a kilo or so of PH3 in my lifetime (deadly and pyrophoric), which is dangerous enough, but at least the LD50 is higher than the level that you can smell...meaning if you smell it, get the hell out.

Try F2...I've smelled that...not so nice might I add.

MagicJigPipe - 1-7-2008 at 15:08

Wait... You smelled F2 and lived to tell about it? The impression I got around here is that it's basically almost instantly lethal right around the smell threshold.

I knew it wasn't that bad.

Jor - 1-7-2008 at 15:21

Ofcourse not. After all, it may be extremely reactive, but X molecules can react X times. So even if you breath say 1mg of F2, it can't react your whole lung.
But yes, it still remains VERY toxic. But there are worse chemicals, liek Tabun. The smell of Tabun has been described as well...

But now, how did F2 smell? :cool:

woelen - 1-7-2008 at 23:51

You could try it yourself. Just melt some KHF2 (you certainly can buy this through one of your suppliers) and stick in two graphit rods and apply some voltage. You will definitely smell the F2, formed in the reaction. You don't have to isolate it, just smell it :cool:

Actually, I intend to do this nifty experiment. I use an empty ampoule for N2O gas (whipped cream gas capsule). With a metal-saw I make two parts and the lower part is filled with some KHF2 and then I heat this with a flame (KHF2 has a fairly low melting point). The capsule is the cathode, the anode will be pushed in the molten KHF2. I do not intend to isolate any F2, but I just want to see it and maybe smell a few micrograms (but not more!).

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