Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Best and worst smelling chemicals?

Best and worst smelling chemicals?

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JohnWW - 25-7-2010 at 00:09

Tributyltin(IV) compounds have been used in marine anti-fouling paints for ship hulls, but they have fallen out of favor for causing genetic damage to non-target marine species.

mr.crow - 25-7-2010 at 18:17

Quote: Originally posted by The WiZard is In

I find myself living in Central New York where I am daily
reminded that the smell of even the largest barnyard in August
is perfume compared to that which arose from the smoldering
remains of the Twin Towers after the homicidal 9/11 attack.

Yikes, I wonder if anyone kept any of the ash in a jar so people (tourists) could smell it. I remember Anderson Cooper on TV saying how bad it smelled.

The WiZard is In - 26-7-2010 at 06:58

Quote: Originally posted by mr.crow

Quote: Originally posted by The WiZard is In

Yikes, I wonder if anyone kept any of the ash in a jar so people (tourists) could smell it. I remember Anderson Cooper on TV saying how bad it smelled.

Brings upon my mind - be having on a bookcase shelf —

A black cardboard box labeled La Borne de Terre Sacèe, containing
a grave stone shaped ceramic jar inscribed Cette borne renfermé
une parcelle de terre sacrée de France. On its back the single
word Somme.

Contained is a certificate — La Borne de Terre Sacrée 1914-1918
A La Mémoire des Morts de la Grange Guerre aux Mutilés aux
Combattants. Dated 2 December 1922.

djh
----
In terms of the number of lives lost, relative to the ground gained, the actions of
the First World War make dismal reading, In the first two hours of the battle of
Loos we lost more men than were lost by all the services together in the whole of
D-Day 1944. On the first day of the Somme offensive the British Army suffered
57,000 casualties – the biggest loss ever suffered by an army in a single day.
And yet, as one historian has put it, to see the ground gained one needs a
magnifying glass and large-scale map.

Norman F. Dixon, On the Psychology of Military Incompetence, 1976

THE BIVOUAC OF THE DEAD [First stanza]

The muffled drum’s sad roll has beat
The soldier’s last tattoo;
No more on Life’s parade shall meet
That brave and fallen few.
On Fame’s eternal camping-ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And Glory guards, with solemn round,
The bivouac of the dead.

The Bivouac of the Dead, written to commemorate
the American Dead at Buena Vista, 22 February 1847,
required by a 19th century act of Congress, to be
displayed in every National Cemetery.

redox - 10-4-2011 at 05:16

Love (in reasonable concentration):

acetone
dichloromethane
chloroform
ethanol
methyl benzoate
vanillin
gasoline
menthol
camphor

Neutral:

ethyl acetate
xylene
tetrahydrofuran
diethyl ether
heptane

HATE:

hydrogen sulfide
skatole
HCl fumes
napthalene
p- dichlorobenzene

On a side note, I agree with the above posters, I cannot smell ammonia or methanol.

[Edited on 10-4-2011 by redox]

HydroCarbon - 10-4-2011 at 11:59

Some of the worst one's I've encountered are:

Ethane dithiol- smells like burning rotten garbage.

Morpholine- Classic amine fish odour, but this one has an extra note to it that makes it really bad.

Ethyl acrylate- Extremely potent, very sharp odour. This stuff can be smelled through a sealed bottle.

Hexafluoroisopropanol- Doesn't necessarily smell bad, but the odours are irritating to the respiratory system, and the association of the smell reminding me how toxic the stuff is doesn't help.

My favorites are:

Phenol- Toxic, but something about the smell I like. It reminds me of lillys.

Ethyl formate- smells like rum raisin. Butyl formate smells good too, it smells like chapstick brand chapstick.

Isoamyl acetate- who doesn't like this stuff!

Methyl salicylate- fresh smell

Iodine- Full bodied clean, sharp smell, good in low concentrations

Imagine getting a large amount of a really bad smelling chemical spilled on you, something that really sticks to the skin and won't wash off easily. That would be horrid.

[Edited on 10-4-2011 by HydroCarbon]

plante1999 - 10-4-2011 at 12:26

love:
chlorine gas
chloroform
And the HCl fume , not in high conc, but i like this smell.

hate:
H2S
nitrogen dioxide
and iodine , every time i smell it , the air smell like oil for about 2 day.

food - 10-4-2011 at 12:59

I like that phenol smell, it's awesome! When I was a lad this was a smell that was much more common than it is today. I cadged a litre or so of weak solution from a friend a while back. I used it as a sanitizer, but it was to have that smell around that was the real motivation.

quicksilver - 12-4-2011 at 13:03

Somewhere I have a patent for a "riot or crowd control agent" that I had THOUGHT would contain the usual suspects (H2S, etc) but made use of a complex versions of "ptomaines" in what appears to be a well conceived trial. It was rather recent so there was an element of 'trade secret issues' in that it didn't"spell out" the totally of the agent per se'. I will dig this up and post it as it apparently IS now in use as an effective non-lethal technique for riot control in that it is billed as being SO unbearable to human olfactory sensibilities that one cannot maintain proximity to it for ANY duration. It is apparently well known that the smell of bacterial interaction with certain proteins triggers an almost "programmed response" to avoidance of that smell.

phlogiston - 12-4-2011 at 14:28

Best:
cis-3-Hexenal, which smells like freshly mowed grass

Worst:
Many alkynes. We had to prepare various alkynes once (I did 1-butyn), and all of them were unbelievably smelly. It doesn't resemble anyhting I have ever smelled.

Also, primary amines. Cadaverine and putresceine have those names for a reason. TEMED also comes to mind, an amine reagent commonly used in protein electrophoresis.

HydroCarbon - 15-4-2011 at 16:50

Quote: Originally posted by phlogiston

Best:
cis-3-Hexenal, which smells like freshly mowed grass

I've always wanted to catch a whiff of the "freshly cut grass" chemicals! I think n-heptanol is another one.

Recently I was talking to somebody who told me that there are labs out there that do gas chromatography with olfactory detection. The instruments actually have nose ports where the operator inserts his nose and assigns descriptions of odour to specific peaks! Imagine having that job, the odours you would encounter! Not to mention probably some health risks.

phlogiston - 16-4-2011 at 15:09

One of my current collegues used to do that. He says the 'sniffers' could outperform the mass spectrometer in terms of sensitivity in many cases.

Sometimes you have to. He was working on identifying a bad smelling compound that would form only when customers used a certain combination of laundry detergents.

nezza - 17-4-2011 at 11:54

Best - diethyl ether

Worst - pyridine and 2 mercaptoethanol

1281371269 - 18-4-2011 at 11:18

Not sure about best or worst, but there are some smells which I find very interesting.
Hexamine is one - it would be horrible if it was a little stronger, but it is always just a little too faint to be really unpleasant.
NO2 - Interesting because now I often smell it when, say, behind buses, but it's not something I was even aware before I encountered it in the lab
2-Ethyl-hexanol has a nice, sort of minty smell
I love Cyclohexene

Presumably the smell of ethanol is mainly due to the ethanal, ethanoic acid and esters in it? My home-brew ethanol, which is probably around 80%, has an obvious odour, but the stuff we're given to use in school has a much fainter smell.

HydroCarbon - 18-4-2011 at 12:10

Quote: Originally posted by Mossydie

I love Cyclohexene
.

Wow, you like cyclohexene! I didn't list it, but that stuff is close to the top of the list of my worst! I'll always remember it too since it was the first horrible smelling chemical I worked with in the lab back in school.

Dr.Bob - 18-4-2011 at 20:07

Favorites: diethyl ether, benzaldehydes, amyl acetate, and vanillin (I used to love to develop TLCs in vanillin spray.)

Worst: pyridine, benzyl chloroformate, isonitriles (cyclohexyl isonitrile is a really bad one I had to make in Grad school), tert-butyl thiol (one of my lab mates used it in kilo grams quantities and would have people calling in gas leaks for blocks around us.), butryic acid and similars, tributyle tins (my first hood had has a tin reaction explode in it, and coated the hood with tin goo, which reaked), methyl acyalates (just had to use some last month, yeach), and alkyl thiocyanates.

Bob

IndependentBoffin - 22-4-2011 at 12:03

Quote: Originally posted by Polverone

Dimethyl sulfide is pretty bad. I like the smell of xylene, toluene, and gasoline. What is it that's in gasoline that makes it smell so wonderful? It almost smells good enough to drink.

Haha reminds me of a, like us "eccentric"

, friend who runs a quarry with all the appropriate licenses. He has a block of PE4 on his desk which he apparently uses as a demonstration and paperweight.

Whilst talking to him once, he just randomly said "Would you like to eat some?"

I politely said no, I just had lunch and it never occurred to me to munch on some PE4. He said it is a vasodilator and OK to eat in small quantities.

"But you wouldn't want to give it to children," he said.

"Why not?"

"They wouldn't know when to stop, then you'd be in trouble!"

Haha classic

Temporary2 - 22-4-2011 at 17:49

Best smelling would be benzyl propanoate which has a delicate fruity cherry smell and taste.

Worst smelling would be furfuryl mercaptan which has smell like a herd of skunks in high concentrations and in extremely low concentrations smells like a good coffee.

I work in the flavor industry so most of my experience is with flavoring chemicals.

Xenomorph - 23-4-2011 at 13:53

TEMED (Tetramethylethylenediamine) definitely has one of the worst smells I have ever encountered. And I have to work with it pretty frequently (when polymerizing PAA gels for EF).

I like smells of benzine, toluene, acetone, nitric acid (of course I am trying not to smell it too much), isopropyl acetate.

H2S smell is interesting but a bit scary. Same about cyanides.

Jor - 23-4-2011 at 14:52

I was wondering, how does methanol smell to you guys? For me it has no smell, unless I whiff some very concentrated vapour, then I can detect a very faint EtOH like smell. But breathing the concentrated vapour doesn't seem like a great plan.

I really LOVE the smell of benzene. That's somewhat annoying, I always want to smell it

, but I ofcourse cant because of it's toxicity.

Sandmeyer - 23-4-2011 at 15:07

Best: Piperonal (especially after-smell)'
Worst: Thiophenol

Mumbles - 23-4-2011 at 17:24

Methanol is usually odorless to me. Occasionally I detect a slight isopropanol odor, but as you mentioned, getting real close probably isn't a great idea.

The worst smelling chemical I've ever experience is t-butyl phenyl thioether. It smells like a mix of burning rubber and hot tar to me, and it is very penetrating. I was smelling it for days after I made it. I always figured if I fail at research, I can market it as a Harley-Davidson cologne.

[Edited on 4-24-2011 by Mumbles]

woelen - 24-4-2011 at 09:26

I once tried to make trichlorophenol from a solution of phenol, to which Cl2 was added. This is not a good idea. To me, the smell itself is not that bad, but what really irks is the persistence of the smell. Everything tends to smell of it, even days after I did the experiment, I still could smell it and the longer this lasts the more it irks.

Jor - 24-4-2011 at 12:53

According to EPA, trichlorophenol has an odour threshold of around 2,6 ppb!

I had the same problem with nitrobenzene. This stuff has a very strong smell (I love it though! I wish I could smell it all day!). So I made around 20mL of the stuff in the fume hood. Still eveything smelled like the stuff, my clothes, the used water bath, everything. I even smelled it across the street. So this is not a compound I'd like to every make again, because of the strong smell, wich is not a good idea to release in the neighbourhood. I still have a few mL, I burned the rest (by mixing it with twice it's volume of ethanol). I think i will use it to make some azo dye.

Saerynide - 25-4-2011 at 09:52

Good: Vanillin, EtOH, Ethanal (the best!), Et2O, EtOAc, DCM, iodine, iso-amyl acetate (I smelled like bananas for a week after I spilt a ton on myself during my college days)

Neutral: Xylene, THF, acetone, chloroform

Bad: O3 (makes me nauseous), Butyric acid, Pyridine (I feel sick everytime I do an acetylation), TEMED, acrylates and acrylamides (the smell doesnt go away! It just sticks to you and the whole lab for days on end if someone even opens a bottle in the fume hood -_-)

One of the labs downstairs opened a bottle of 1-propanethiol and the entire building had a toxic gas alert and had to evacuate haha

Worst I ever encountered: I left a bucket of dirty glassware containing pyridine after an acetylation to soak over the weekend in soapy water. When I came back on Monday, it smelled like there was a dead body in the bucket and I almost puked. I even wondered if one of my labmates had played a cruel trick and put putrescine in the bucket... Anyone can think what caused it to reek so bad?

[Edited on 4/25/2011 by Saerynide]

mewrox99 - 25-4-2011 at 22:04

Acetaldehyde is brilliant.

LanthanumK - 4-7-2011 at 03:57

My favorite chemical smell would be the smell after I handled a copper(II) chloride crystal. I have not smelled any really bad or really good chemical smells.

Which one smells worse: The worst smelling inorganic compounds (such as H2Se) or the worst smelling organic compounds (such as butyric acid)?

cyanureeves - 4-7-2011 at 05:10

i like ammonia and find it hard not to smell again and again. chloroform is nice and tastes good but the smell right away warns the brain that it is something to run from. i used to like nitric acid smell when i first made it after many failed attempts but it took a toll on my health. the long lasting headaches made me almost hate the smell and now when i walk my dog and the city bus goes by me i can smell the nitric fumes from the exhaust. good thing most people dont know what that smell is.

barley81 - 4-7-2011 at 06:15

I also love the smell of ammonia, and I eat salty licorice with NH4Cl. The smell is also addicting to me. Ether, methanol, and ethanol smell nice to me, as well as some simple esters (I don't remember which). I hate the smell of SO2, but oddly not H2S very much.

ItalianChemist - 4-7-2011 at 06:35

I like very much the odor of bromine, iodine and benzaldehyde. Also (COCl)2 has a nice smell
I don't mind ammonia, amines and H2S
I hate 2,4,6-trichlorophenol and tetrachloroethylene

[Edited on 4-7-2011 by ItalianChemist]

Mixell - 4-7-2011 at 07:01

I like the smell of oxalic acid, very lemony.
And the smell of SO2.
But I hate the smell of concentrated acetic acid very much.

ItalianChemist - 4-7-2011 at 07:10

Quote: Originally posted by Mixell

But I hate the smell of concentrated acetic acid very much.

You are right! Acetic acid is terrible!

Lambda-Eyde - 4-7-2011 at 09:09

Quote: Originally posted by cyanureeves

i like ammonia and find it hard not to smell again and again.

I absolutely HATE ammonia, not because of the smell itself, but because of its habit to make me choke and make my eyes run... A 5% solution may have a nice smell, but the 25% stuff is a entirely different beast!

Also, the smell of white phosphorus is terrible. Not because of the smell itself, but because of the scared feeling I get when I know I can smell something as incredibly toxic as white P...

My new favourite must be nitrobenzene. Mmm! I just hope I don't get any nitro-headaches...

ItalianChemist - 4-7-2011 at 10:07

Benzene derivatives have all a nice smell!

simba - 22-7-2011 at 12:34

I love the smell of piperonal, benzaldehyde and other aromatic aldehydes...

on the other way, dimethylsulfide is pretty bad, and I REALLY hate the smell of iodine too.

US Gov Standard Bathroom Malodor

The WiZard is In - 24-7-2011 at 17:32

This from Wiki-P

Standard bathroom malodor

The US Government Standard Bathroom Malodor is quoted to have this composition:[2]

Dipropylene glycol 62.82%
Skatole 0.91%
2-naphthalenethiol 0.91%
Thioglycolic acid 21.18%
Hexanoic acid 6.00%
p-cresyl isovalerate 2.18%
N-methyl morpholine 6.00%

---------
Link "[2]" does not work.

Female malodor

The WiZard is In - 24-7-2011 at 17:53

Tampon removal device Keith Edgett et al
US Patent application 2008/0058751 Al

MALODOR: 1. Feminine Malodor including trimethylamine,
isovaleric acid, and putrescine 2. skatole 3. ammonia (NH3)

Attachment: Tampon_removal_device.pdf (66kB)
This file has been downloaded 961 times

I always worry when they glow in the dark.....!

mr.crow - 26-7-2011 at 07:15

Quote: Originally posted by The WiZard is In

Tampon removal device Keith Edgett et al
US Patent application 2008/0058751 Al

MALODOR: 1. Feminine Malodor including trimethylamine,
isovaleric acid, and putrescine 2. skatole 3. ammonia (NH3)

I always worry when they glow in the dark.....!

If you are getting fishy amine smells you are doing something wrong :s

The WiZard is In - 26-7-2011 at 09:05

Quote: Originally posted by mr.crow

Quote: Originally posted by The WiZard is In

If you are getting fishy amine smells you are doing something wrong :s

Moi? No. Not I — the female carbon based unit dobe a fault.

What's confusion?
A blind lesbian in a fish market.

If little girls are made of sugar and spice —
why do they test like anchovies?!

Three things a woman can do a man can't.

Have a period.
Have a baby.
Have sex when she is dead.

Attachment: Vaginal Menstrual Cycle.pdf (768kB)
This file has been downloaded 1153 times

Attachment: Vaginal Odors letter.pdf (315kB)
This file has been downloaded 659 times

djh
----
If the county pervert
posse comes a knocking
you have never heard of
me.

Mixell - 26-7-2011 at 09:44

Believe it or not, a man too can have sex while being dead, just not with the organ you'll first think of...

The WiZard is In - 26-7-2011 at 10:54

Quote: Originally posted by Mixell

Believe it or not, a man too can have sex while being dead, just not with the organ you'll first think of...

Pervert.

Snicker-Snicker, Cachinnate, Snort, Tee-hee, Chortle, Guffaw.

The WiZard is In - 26-7-2011 at 11:39

Stench warfare
New Scientist
07 July 2001 by Stephanie Pain

GOTTA get out of here. Heart's pounding. Can't think. Can't speak. Daren't breathe. Just run. As the stench rolls down the street, panic spreads. Everyone's on the run now. They don't know what the evil-smelling odour is but their noses tell them it's dangerous, and within seconds their stomachs sound the general alarm. In two minutes the streets are empty. All that's left is a terrible stink.

This hasn't happened yet, but it could if the US Army succeeds in its effort to create the mother of all stink bombs. Their aim is to have a weapon that doesn't kill or injure anyone, but instead triggers fear, panic and an overwhelming urge to run away. The mixture of malodorous molecules has to add up to a pong so repulsive it's truly terrifying.

The search for the perfect stink bomb is part of the Pentagon's Nonlethal Weapons Program. The US Army wants a stink to drive away enemy troops or hostile crowds and to enforce no-go zones around sensitive military installations. It could also help peacekeeping forces keep warring factions apart by creating stench-filled exclusion zones. Police forces would have plenty of uses for a stink bomb, too. It would be ideal for ending a siege without firing a shot, or for dispersing rioters or even marking the ringleaders so they can't escape into the crowd.

"It would give us an offensive capability against large and unruly groups of people, if they are unwilling to move or are openly hostile," says Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel George Rhynedance. "And it would minimise the risk to our own people and to the antagonists."

The Army has been down this route before, with a singular lack of success. During the Second World War, the Office of Strategic Services conjured up a secret weapon known affectionately as "Who Me?" It was a noxious fluid intended for use by the French Resistance. The aim was to humiliate German officers by making them smell foul. "Imagine the worst garbage dumpster left in the street for a long time in the middle of the hottest summer everand that gives you a taste of the Who Me? quality," says Pam Dalton, a cognitive psychologist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia.

Who Me? was certainly loathsome enough for the job, but it had one big drawback. The mixture was so volatile that it was impossible to "bomb" the target without contaminating everything in the area, stink bomber included. "Suffice it to say it wasn't one of the more effective strategies," says Dalton, who is leading the search for a better stink bomb.

Could any stench really be so repulsive that it strikes genuine fear into people's hearts and causes them to flee? Smells certainly have the power to alter our behaviour. The aroma of fresh bread lures us towards the bakery, while the pungent pong of a filthy toilet sends us reeling back to the door. Some smells are already used as deterrents. In the US, signs warn that some roadside firs are sprayed with a potent mix of molecules, including fox urine, to protect them from Christmas-tree thieves. The smell is barely noticeable outdoors, but in the warmth of the home the foxy stench is overpowering. And one company has even considered marketing a vomit-scented fridge "freshener" to deter dieters from snacking.

Unpleasant is one thing; frightening is something else. Yet smells can trigger intense emotionsincluding terror. When odour molecules dissolve in the mucous membranes of the nostrils, they set off signals that take two separate routes into the brain. One path leads to the thalamus and cortex, where the signals are translated into conscious awareness of the smell. The other leads to the limbic region of the brain, the unconscious core where emotions are generated (see Diagram).

This is true for all kinds of smells, nice and nasty. However, a sniff of something nasty activates a particular part of the limbic system, the amygdalaea pair of small, almond-shaped pieces of tissue deep within the brain. Studies in animals suggest that the left amygdala is acutely sensitive to the sight, sound or smell of anything dangerous and plays an important role in awakening fear.

"Fear and odours are very closely linked," says José Pardo, who runs the Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. "The amygdala has a key role in fear conditioning." And that goes for humans just as much as other animals. The sense of smell is evolutionarily older than sight or hearingthe other long-distance sensesand is designed to warn of dangers such as spoilt food or nearby predators.

Pardo and his colleague David Zald found they could send the left amygdala into overdrive with nothing more than a whiff of a ghastly smell. They wafted a cocktail of sulphide gasesa sort of synthetic fartpast the noses of volunteers, while scanning their brains to see which parts were doing what. The captive sniffers tensed their muscles and reported feelings of revulsion, disgust and fear. The smell activated both amygdalae, but the more revolted and fearful people felt, the more active their left amygdala became.

How we perceive and respond to a smell depends on whether we recognise it and what sort of associations it has. Humans have an extraordinary memory for smells, and just a whiff of something can bring past experiences rushing back. A smell can be enough to revive old terrors. "For some Vietnam veterans the smell of mould, the sort you get on tent fabric, will trigger a fear flashback," says Pardo. "The smell of jet fuel or burning flesh can produce terrible fear."

For people who haven't lived through such terrifying experiences, unfamiliar smells are more likely to prompt panic than even the nastiest odours they've smelled before. "Any odour has the potential to strike fear into someone's heart," says Dalton. "With a new smell you have little to go on. If you can't categorise it you don't know if it's dangerous. There's little you can do but run away."

That's exactly the reaction Dalton wants to provoke. The perfect stink would trigger an emotional responsepreferably one that sets you runningbefore the reasoning part of the brain can work out what's going on. In theory, it's possible. "The pathways are certainly there," says Pardo.

The hard part is finding one smell that works on everyone. There's little evidence that humans are born with preferences for certain odours, the way they are with tastes. But even if people are, these preferences can easily be overcome by experience. "People who live around horses like the smell of manure. Some people even like the smell of skunk," says Dalton. People's likes and dislikes also vary enormously between cultures. To people in South-East Asia, for example, the fetid smell of the durian fruit holds the promise of something delicious. To almost everyone else, it's stomach-churning. "For a novice it's almost impossible to get it past the nose and into the mouth," says Dalton.

At Monell, Dalton and her team have been searching for a stench that transcends any cultural differences. They tested a range of horrible smells on five groups of volunteers of different ethnic originwhites, African-Americans, Asians and Hispanics from the Philadelphia area, and a group from the township of Grahamstown in South Africa's Eastern Cape province.

Dalton's team quizzed the volunteers on the repulsiveness of each stench, how it made them feel and whether they thought it was harmful. And as the volunteers breathed in the foul odours, the researchers logged their bodies' physiological responses. They found that with the vilest smells, people take shallower breaths, their hearts beat faster, and their stomachs churn more vigorously.

Most of the bad odours they tested proved disappointing. Everyone hated the smell of butyric acida cross between rancid butter and sweaty feetbut few people thought it was harmful. Burnt hair, supposed to mimic burnt flesh, turned out to be surprisingly inoffensive. Even the smell of vomitan off-the-shelf mix called Proprietary Vomit Odorwas only mildly objectionable.

The response to one of Monell's special mixtures revealed a major cultural difference. This odour was developed to mimic the smell around sewage treatment plants and is reminiscent of gently decaying rubbish with a hint of faecal matter. Everyone found it disgusting, but the people from Grahamstown were also afraid of it. "To us in the US, it's a nuisance, but we can usually walk away from it," says Dalton. "In the townships, where there's little modern sanitation, it's a health hazard and people are very afraid of it. They think breathing it would be harmful."

No luck with these, then. But Dalton did find two loathsome odours that transcend culture. One is a truly repugnant mixture called US Government Standard Bathroom Malodor, a stink concocted to test the efficiency of deodorant cleaning products. "It's very pungent," says Dalton. "More precisely, it smells like shit, but much, much stronger. It fills your head. It gets to you in ways that are unimaginable. It's not something you are likely to come across in the real world."

The smell is so awful that some volunteers began to scream and curse after just a few seconds' exposure. Even though the smell is quite harmless, almost everyone thought it would damage their health. Dalton wasn't surprised. "If anything transcends culture it should be something like this," she says. "There aren't many cultures that embrace human waste and this is far worse than any regular human waste."

Another candidate for the title of the world's worst smell is an updated version of that old wartime weapon, Who Me? This classic has a bouquet rich with foul-smelling molecules, dominated by a sulphurous pong. "If I had to predict one class of odours we had a predisposition to react negatively to, it would be the sulphur compounds," says Dalton. "It's important to detect food spoiling or carcasses rotting. It must have significance in terms of survival."

Neither of these smells is likely to make the perfect stink bomb by itself. But together they just might, says Dalton. "You get a bigger bang for your buck with a mixture," she says. A combination of two of the world's worst smells should affect everyoneeven those who might be "smell-blind" to one of its componentsand should create something so far removed from anyone's experience that the fear factor kicks in.

But before the troops roll out armed with stink bombs, there are practical problems to solve. You have to deliver the stench without getting it everywhere, as happened with the original Who Me? And the mix must disperse easily enough to be effective, yet not disappear so fast that people just hold their breath and wait for the pong to pass. "Once we've got the sensory properties right, the chemists can tweak the mix to make it move in a particular way," says Dalton. "They can add chemicals to make it hang around near ground level or move higher in the air."

Dalton also has to discover what proportions of Bathroom Malodor and Who Me? produce the most evil-smelling mix. "There are no clear physical or chemical principles to determine how we perceive the end result," she says. "It's trial and error." And that poses a risk that makes her hesitate. "If I take that step, I'm just not sure I could keep anyone here working with me."

The human stink bomb
All debt collectors have ways of making people pay up. Andy Smulion, a man employed by a London magazine to collect unpaid bills, had an almost infallible technique. There was nothing illegal about it and no one got hurt. Smulion would simply turn up at the defaulter's office wearing his most vile-smelling clothes and hang around until they could stand the stink no longer. His "victims" described the stench as part skunk and part sewage, with a whiff of rotten eggs. It was a case of cough up or throw up. According to Parade magazine, which reported Smulion's tactics in 1979, he got results. And no one ever tried to beat him up: they couldn't bear to get close enough.

[Reminds me. Years ago I wanted to stop off at a store in
Manhattan on my way to work, so I got off at a stop other
then my usually one. Going up the stairs there was a bum
( to be PC a homeless person) a standing. No shirt,
five feet away.... Yahoooo what an odour! Me thinks the last
time he bathed was the day he was born. Gawd.

You can tell the tourists in the subway - la train pulls in packed -
except for one car which has only one passenger - they run for
it - WRONG.]

Bad day in Salt Lake City
On 18 March 1999, the Chevron oil refinery in Salt Lake City belched out a small, smoky cloud that drifted along near the ground towards the city centre. As it reached the Utah Symphony Hall, the air conditioning intake sucked some of it into the building, where two thousand children sat. At the first sniff of the strange smell, a couple of children complained of feeling ill. Suddenly everyone felt sick. Once outside the hall, children lay around on the grass gasping for breath, and dozens were taken to hospital.

As the cloud travelled over the city, panic spread. Chevron admitted at the outset that its plant was responsible for the cloud but pointed out that the vapours contained nothing harmfuljust a mixture of hydrocarbons. Despite the reassurances, the "odor hotlines" didn't stop ringing for the next two weeks: people were so convinced that there was something harmful in the air that they took fright at the first whiff of something unusual.

Something rotten in the Senate
On Monday 16 August 1999, a little after 9 am, staff at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington DC were settling down to work. Then someone in the cafeteria smelt something unfamiliar. It wasn't very strong but it was definitely a bit "off". No one could see where it was coming from and no one could identify the odour. That made it suspicious. Was this a terrorist gas attack? Someone raised the alarm.

The building was quickly evacuated and nine staff from the cafeteria were rushed to hospital. People fled, leaving police, a hazardous-materials team, an advanced life-support unit, doctors, four teams of paramedics and the local fire chief to investigate. They didn't find any chemical weapons. But they did find a bag of rotting onionsthey had been peeled and sliced for the salad bar and then forgotten.

The unfamiliar smell had wafted through the air ducts, spreading fear as it went. If people had been able to identify the smell, they wouldn't have panicked. "But when people don't recognise a smell they assume it's a hazard," says psychologist Pam Dalton.

--------
Aroma Therapy
In The Military, It's Known As 'Nonlethal Weapons Development'

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive...

Malodorant composition(s) a US Patent

The WiZard is In - 27-7-2011 at 10:08

US Patent 6242489
Malodorant compositions
Inventor: Virginia Ruth Pinney
Assignee: Ecological Technologies Corporation

The malodorant compositions provided by the invention are formed
from ingredients comprised of at least a malodorant compound
and a carrier liquid, the compositions having a toxicity category
rating of at least III. Preferred malodorant compounds suitable for
use in the compositions of this...

Non-limiting examples of potentially suitable organic nitrogen compounds include 1,4-diaminobutane, 1,5diaminopentane, 4-fiuoro-alpha-methylbenzylamine, 2-ethylpyridine, 3-ethylpyridine, 4-ethylpyridine, 2-ethyl-3methylpyrazine, 3-ethyl-2-methylpyrazine, 2,3diethylpyrazine, 1-methylpyrrolidine, l-(dimethylamino) pyrrole, 3-methyl indole, 4-mefhyl indole, 6-mefhyl indole, 2,3-diethyl 1-mefhyl indole, ethyl 1-azetidinepropionate, S-(+)-2-methylbutyronitrile, butyl isocyanide, 1,1,3,3tetramethylbutyl isocyanide, lH-benzotriazol-l-ylmefhyl isocyanide, isophorone diisocyanate terminated poly (neopentyl glycol adipate), methyl ethyl(tributylstannyl) carbamate, and the like.

&c., &c., &c.........

Attachment: 6242489_Malodorant_compositions.pdf (76kB)
This file has been downloaded 869 times

Rogeryermaw - 27-7-2011 at 13:05

i truly loathe the odor of chloroform. even sitting here thinking of the smell triggers my gag reflex...

ammonia smells nice and clean. it is hard not to smell over and again.

i love the smell of burning black powder and the smell of solvents/lead/burned gunpowder from inside the firing range. ether is not so nice nor is ethyl bromide. i don't mind the odor of chlorine gas but a quick whiff is all i can take. it's malevolent effects are rapidly apparent.

isopropyl is not so bad and methyl is hardly noticeable but the smell of ethanol me no likey. i have been bombarded by the vomit-ethanol ridden stench of the holding tank in jail enough. can't even drink a beer anymore it's gotten so bad(not sure my liver could handle it the way it's been acting up anyway).

boiled cabbage tastes wonderful but i can't be in the house with it cooking.

redox - 27-7-2011 at 17:25

Quote: Originally posted by Rogeryermaw

i don't mind the odor of chlorine gas but a quick whiff is all i can take. it's malevolent effects are rapidly apparent.

Agreed. Chlorine sends fear through my body, because whenever I smell it, it means my apparatus is leaking. Pools have never been the same....

I recently found that octyl alcohol smells really nice, very faintly like oranges (this might be octyl acetate impurity).

I asked my father (the organic chemist) what the worst-smelling chemical he knew of was, and he said valeric acid. Really foul!

Rogeryermaw - 27-7-2011 at 17:51

i use that "pool smell" to my advantage. if can not detect a trace of chlorine in my pool i know an algae bloom is not far away. of course, the testing kit does i fine job of this, but i don't like to over treat the water. just enough to keep the nasties down.

another one i like is gasoline. not too much, mind you, but a quick whiff on the breeze while refueling the lawn equipment is always okay.

recently, the neighbors burned a large quantity of plastic. while i have smelled much worse, that one always curls my nose hair. the sharp stench of a hair and nail salon also will stop my in my tracks.

long ago i lived in houston texas. i truly dreaded any time i had to drive through pasadena. the refinery smell is one that will stick with you. now, living in hog country, i will drive twenty miles out of my way to avoid riding behind a trailer loaded with pigs. their smell gives meaning to "happier'n a hog in shit!"

White Yeti - 4-9-2011 at 13:06

The worst smell I can think of is the smell of rotting algae (Codium fragile to be specific). I threw up at that smell....

Arthur Dent - 5-9-2011 at 04:32

On the subject of worst smells for me, there are two aromas that I cannot stand, and will go out of my way to avoid. The first is roofing tar, whenever a roofing company is in the neighborhood and I get a whiff of the boiling, smoking tar, I get sick to my stomach. When I'm on the road, I will pass by or let pass the trucks with the boiling tar trailers because the aroma at that point is at its strongest.

The second is the aroma of vehicles using diesel fuel. This literally chokes me out! A big truck with the sooty exhaust pointed in my direction will literally suffocate me. Last week, I was at work and started smelling the odor of burnt diesel, I quickly glanced at the window to see that three floors below, a large delivery truck was idling and sending its ungodly output towards the windows of our office. We quickly closed them but by then the harm was done, the office smelled of diesel all day. Lovely.

As far as pleasant odors, I do not mind the smell of most solvents, particularly acetone and isopropanol. One of my favorite solvents is Laphroaig Quarter Cask, the aroma is truly heavenly!

Robert

Chemistry Alchemist - 6-9-2011 at 02:28

Best: Wintergreen Oil... i know there is another but cant think of it

Worst: Sulfur Dioxide, Hydrogen Sulfide, and Ammonia worst smells ever!

mr.crow - 6-9-2011 at 10:49

Quote: Originally posted by Arthur Dent

On the subject of worst smells for me, there are two aromas that I cannot stand, and will go out of my way to avoid. The first is roofing tar, whenever a roofing company is in the neighborhood and I get a whiff of the boiling, smoking tar, I get sick to my stomach. When I'm on the road, I will pass by or let pass the trucks with the boiling tar trailers because the aroma at that point is at its strongest.

What IS that smell? They used to re-tar the roof of my school all the time when I was in grade 1 to 5 and it smelled horrendous. Now that's a lasting memory.

#maverick# - 6-9-2011 at 16:57

i love the smell of ethyl acetate and ethyl salicylate, NO2(not that im sniffing this stuff just when i get a s scent) hate so2 and HCl and H2S, i adore the smell of gasoline

mr.crow - 7-9-2011 at 20:47

I got a bottle of propionic acid today. It smelled very interesting, like Parmesan cheese. Not like feet as I expected.

Of course that's just the bottle itself, don't want to open it!

Worst and best all in one

The WiZard is In - 17-9-2011 at 07:11

At room temperature B4H10 is a colorless liquid or gas
having a peculiar smell, highly disagreeable odor; when
highly diluted, smells like chocolate. Its odor is still more
disagreeable than that of B2H6; which is probable do to
the fact that B4H10 is not decomposed at the moist
mucous membrane of the nose as rapidly as is B2H4. When
inhaled, a few bubbles of B4H10 cause headache and nausea.

Alfred Stock
Hydrides of Boron and Silicon
Cornell University Press
1957

resveratrol - 23-9-2011 at 15:28

didn't have the patience to read past page 2, but...

butanol!!!....and 2-mercaptoethanol is pretty bad too

best smelling: isoamyl acetate, salacylate, or vanillin

perry798 - 24-9-2011 at 13:50

Be VERY, VERY careful indeed when working with hydrogen selenide!!! I found out why - THE HARD WAY!!! By accident I exposed myself to a HIGH concentration of the gas. The first sign of danger was the change of odor from rotten radishes / 'gas' to STRONG ODOR OF ROTTEN EGGS. I stupidly ignored this warning. Suddenly without any further warning: my nose started STINGING / BURNING UNCONTROLLABLY - NO MATTER HOW QUICKLY I RUSHED TO THE NEAREST WINDOW. Still the UNBEARABLE STINGING / BURNING WOULD NOT GO AWAY, OR EVEN LESSON IN THE SLIGHTEST!!! SEVERAL hours later the stinging / burning in my nose was tolerable and had almost gone - only to be left with a nasty cold that took at least a few days to get over. I could have only been exposed to the gas for a few minutes at the most - while I was transferring some aluminum selenide from one container to another. By the way - always store and handle aluminium selenide away from even air!! Hydrogen selenide has got to be the worst smelling compound in my opinion. This is not so much because of its awful smell - but because it BITES your poor nose and does not let go until after several hours later - when you are then left with a cold that takes at least a few days to shake off!!

ScienceHideout - 28-9-2011 at 13:29

Chloroform smells awesome, acetic acid, not so much..

#maverick# - 29-9-2011 at 20:50

Triethylamine makes me cringe I hate the smell with all my guts

ScienceHideout - 30-9-2011 at 18:00

Ahh... the horrendous (sp?) smell of amines!

cx1341 - 2-10-2011 at 18:04

Isoamyl acetate smells pretty good, but in general esters are some of the best smelling chemicals.

DeathAdder - 25-10-2011 at 13:44

So apperently Polverone and I are the only ones that like the smell of gas.

Chemistry Alchemist - 25-10-2011 at 19:17

what type of gas do you mean? petrel gas?

Adas - 26-10-2011 at 08:54

Quote: Originally posted by DeathAdder

So apperently Polverone and I are the only ones that like the smell of gas.

I also somewhat like it

It is diethyl ether what gives gasoline its smell.

Chemistry Alchemist - 26-10-2011 at 09:40

is there some way to extract diethyl ether from gasoline?

Adas - 26-10-2011 at 10:08

Quote: Originally posted by Chemistry Alchemist

is there some way to extract diethyl ether from gasoline?

Fractional distillation probably, but I'd rather buy some pure

I have some pure DEE. About a litre.

AndersHoveland - 26-10-2011 at 11:10

Quote: Originally posted by The WiZard is In

When
inhaled, a few bubbles of B4H10 cause headache and nausea.

Researchers were formerly much more adventurous in employing their sense of smell and taste in the investigation of new compounds. I still find it difficult to believe that researchers actually decided to taste ethyl perchlorate, despite the fact that the compound is an extremely dangerously sensitive explosive, highly brissant even in very minute quantities, and a potentially deadly [poisonous] alkylating agent. Ethyl perchlorate has a "sweetish pungent taste, somewhat resembling that of cinnamon." Another source described that it has a "very pleasant odour and a sweet taste that changes to a burning taste like cinnamon."

Adas - 26-10-2011 at 11:30

Quote: Originally posted by AndersHoveland

Quote: Originally posted by The WiZard is In

When
inhaled, a few bubbles of B4H10 cause headache and nausea.

Unbelievable.. But the positive fact is, that we know how it smells/tastes without doing any damage to ourselves

Someone tried it before, so we don't have to

MrTechGuy1995 - 26-10-2011 at 19:01

I'd like to say Chlorine smells the worse, but after getting use to it, it's not so bad. The most it does it harden the mucus in my nose on first whif of it.

But by far the worst is Glacial Acetic acid. Just nasty to even be around.

Not so sure on a good smell, Probably Citric acid. I love citric type flavors. QED: I love limes and lemons.

[Edited on 27-10-2011 by MrTechGuy1995]

woelen - 27-10-2011 at 07:52

One compound which really is annoying is POCl3. I distilled some POCl3 in order to make it pure and now I have a smell in my nose which remains, even a few hours after I did the distillation. A similar effect I also noticed with PCl5 a year ago or so. The smell is not really bad, but it is bad that it remains in the nose hours after exposure. I only had a small whiff of the vapor, so there is no irritation, just a smell.

smaerd - 27-10-2011 at 17:01

refluxing DMSO makes me want to gag a bit.

mostly everything else I agree with

AndersHoveland - 27-10-2011 at 17:47

Quote: Originally posted by MrTechGuy1995

But by far the worst is Glacial Acetic acid. Just nasty to even be around.

Actetic anhydride, due to its volatility, is even more pungent! Yes, acetic acid is has an unpleasant smell (with a strong odor of vinegar), but it is really not so bad once you become accustomed to it.

When chloroform is heated with a primary amine (such as ethylamine CH3CH2NH2) in the presence of KOH, isocyanides are formed. These isocyanide have a very bad smell, resembling boiled cabbage, but much worse. Even a slight whiff will cause trouble breathing in most people.

Methyl isocyanate is toxic. Not sure about the others.

[Edited on 28-10-2011 by AndersHoveland]

mr.crow - 28-10-2011 at 06:53

Quote: Originally posted by smaerd

refluxing DMSO makes me want to gag a bit.

mostly everything else I agree with

Like at 182 degrees? Its supposed to decomposes at that temperature.

smaerd - 28-10-2011 at 07:08

Guess I shouldn't have said refluxing but rather hot DMSO, sorry for bad vernacular. The rxn I attempted with it evolved CO2, so it made it appear as though refluxing.

Also when I said 'mostly everything else I agree with' was about agreeing with what other people were saying.

[Edited on 28-10-2011 by smaerd]

mr.crow - 28-10-2011 at 07:23

Nah its ok.

I'm reconsidering using DMSO in the future now...

Adas - 5-11-2011 at 07:21

Now I realised, that TATP has also a good smell. It smells like some commercial bleaching agents (SA8 - NA2CO3 × 1.5 H2O2). It is kinda strange, that the compound with explosive properties has also a good smell

Acetic Acid - 10-11-2011 at 19:51

Like: Dilute ammonia
Dilute vinegar
gasoline

uncertain: bleach/slight chlorine
acetone/MEK

dislike: glacial acetic acid
hydrochloric acid
toluene
ethanol
bromine

Rogeryermaw - 11-11-2011 at 18:04

Quote: Originally posted by woelen

One compound which really is annoying is POCl3. I distilled some POCl3 in order to make it pure and now I have a smell in my nose which remains, even a few hours after I did the distillation. A similar effect I also noticed with PCl5 a year ago or so. The smell is not really bad, but it is bad that it remains in the nose hours after exposure. I only had a small whiff of the vapor, so there is no irritation, just a smell.

you got that right brother! the majority of phosphorus compounds i have experienced so far are very unpleasant smelling. i have the phosphorus i made in a container under water and the bottle reeks every time it is opened. i also find it odd that there is a bit of smoke released every time i open the bottle...

as for the best smell of all time...i have to say that my smokehouse...or maybe my barbecue grill has it cinched up. some natural lump coal and a couple chunks of hickory or some apple or cherry wood burning under a brisket for 12-14 hours has been known to make the neighbors nosier than chemistry experiments ever could.

Nicodem - 17-12-2011 at 04:23

To those who might have missed this:

InnoCentive is currently offering a challenge in "Seeking Compounds with Remarkably Strong Odors." The challenge has a long-lasting deadline (1. September 2012) and has been on for some time already.

Quote:

Material supply of compounds which have remarkably strong odors is desired. The nature of the odor is not important (e.g. pleasant or unpleasant), only its strength. The Seeker intends to award multiple Solvers for each of their qualifying submissions.

Intellectual Property: In return for the Initial Transfer Fee of $500 per compound, you are expected to grant the Seeker only a non-exclusive license to test your compound(s) in their in-house assays and/or use the compound(s) to prepare other compounds for in-house testing.

https://www.innocentive.com/ar/challenge/9932847

eyeofjake - 2-1-2012 at 23:33

I hear hydrogen cyanide is pretty nasty smelling....the last smell you will ever get haha.

UnintentionalChaos - 5-1-2012 at 19:39

I *love* the smell of diacetyl. It is so incredibly strong, too. You can open a bottle and wave your hand over it once to disperse a little vapor, then close it. 20 minutes later, the room will still smell like movie popcorn.

After I finished making it, the entire house smelled of it for a good week. You wouldn't normally notice but when you went out for a few hours and came back, it would smell like someone made popcorn.

[Edited on 1-6-12 by UnintentionalChaos]

MattVon - 25-7-2012 at 16:10

I sometimes like to sniff a little bit of isopropyl alcohol. I just love that sharp, tingly odor for some reason. I also like acetone. It's kind of fruity, like a watermelon in my opinion. And also vanillin, of course.

The worst? Sodium metabisulfide and the sulfur dioxide it produces when it touches acid (rotten eggs, makes me want to vomit). Bleach. Ethyl mercaptan (urine) Methyl mercaptan (rotten vegetables). And propionic acid (smells like your armpit on a hot day)

[Edited on 26-7-2012 by MattVon]

Mailinmypocket - 25-7-2012 at 16:25

I really like the smell of phenol, sort of mediciney and also smells like new plastic... Can't be healthy at all but I like it

Siggebo - 26-7-2012 at 08:15

Hypochlorite bleach, mmmmh. Anything halogen-like, really. I've sort of grown up in a pool and I love the smell. Certainly not the best smelling thing in existence, but fairly common.

The smell of "black liquor" on the other hand (pulping 'chemical') makes me want to gag, and it sticks for hours and hours. It's worse than H2S, LPG with mercaptan, and I think only pyridine gets close...

[Edited on 2012-7-26 by Siggebo]

polymerizer87 - 26-7-2012 at 09:40

Quote: Originally posted by eyeofjake

I hear hydrogen cyanide is pretty nasty smelling....the last smell you will ever get haha.

har har har

Quote: Originally posted by Mailinmypocket

I really like the smell of phenol, sort of mediciney and also smells like new plastic... Can't be healthy at all but I like it

smells like antiseptic to me

Worst: Pyridine, diethylamine, mercapto (species), halogens, acid chlorides

Best: the Oxitocin your mom puts out when I'm laying in bed with her

[Edited on 26-7-2012 by polymerizer87]

chemrox - 26-7-2012 at 11:23

I got ostracized after a butyric acid spill and cleanup. Phenylacetaldehyde is nice. Phenthyl Br is similar. Saffrole is another nice one. Frank Walters made some synthetic musks that are really nice.

kristofvagyok - 26-7-2012 at 16:34

I had a reaction not long ago where sodium hydride was used as a base in dimethylsulfoxide (solvent). There was no problem, the hydride reacted as it should, some fizzing was observed and everything went fine until I discovered something...

The hydrogen reduced a part of the DMSO to dimethyl sulfide what had a smell of rotten cabbage. The distillation and the product workup was horribe, especially when the rest of the DMSO was removed on the rotavap, never again.

Also some other horrible smelling chemicals what I have "met": allyl bromide, butyric acid, ethyl mercaptan, chloroacetyl chloride, bromoacetic acid esters, bromine, isopentyl nitrite, phosphorous oxychloride, methylthioacetaldehyde diethylacetal and the methylthioacetaldehyde (smells like rotten pumpkin), ect...

And afterwards pyridine is aint so bad, there are much worse smelling things.

Yo-Yo - 27-7-2012 at 03:31

What about p-kresol? Smells strongly of... Of... Horse or perhaps stables or in fact horse piss.
Another personal worst is n-penthanol, which smells like rutgut liqueur.

[Edited on 27-7-2012 by Yo-Yo]

Teen Chemist - 29-7-2012 at 17:01

I'm considering using butyric acid in a stink capsule that will release a foul smell when it bursts but I read concentrated butyric acin causes burns to the skin. If I dilute it enough to renter it safe will it still stink enough it be effective.

[Edited on 30-7-2012 by Teen Chemist]

[Edited on 30-7-2012 by Teen Chemist]

AllisterCaine - 9-8-2012 at 06:55

hi, im new to the forum. ive got a first question- is there a section where i could introduce myself to other members?

ontopic: dimanganheptoxide is a very, very nice smelling chemical.

i dont know what it is that exactly smells, maybe the compound itself but i could imagine that its propably emitting ozone....

btw, is it ok to have a note in my signature saying im selling?
i ll open a topic in the correct section in about 1 or 2 days.

dasgoose21 - 31-8-2012 at 09:27

I say that the three best smelling chemicals are: Vanillin, Methyl Salicate, and Isoamyl Acetate.

As for bad smellin chemicals I really don't like is Putrescine. To me it kind of smells like Rotting flesh and Sewage......

Teen Chemist - 1-9-2012 at 13:46

An mouthful of difluoroethane with some denatonium benzoate (canned air) pretty much sucks.

Magic Muzzlet - 1-9-2012 at 14:41

Discovered huffing, huh?

Teen Chemist - 1-9-2012 at 15:38

No it was accidential

Mercedesbenzene - 1-9-2012 at 20:30

I am personally a fan of the smell of ethyl vanillin, isoamyl acetate, mineral spirits. I detest the smell of phenylacetylene and styrene. Benzotrichloride also smells pretty bad.

Mercedesbenzene - 1-9-2012 at 20:32

I am personally a fan of the smell of ethyl vanillin, isoamyl acetate, mineral spirits. I detest the smell of phenylacetylene and styrene. Benzotrichloride also smells pretty bad.

Rogeryermaw - 2-9-2012 at 16:02

Quote: Originally posted by Teen Chemist

An mouthful of difluoroethane with some denatonium benzoate (canned air) pretty much sucks.

i used that stuff to clean my keyboard and the taste of the bittering agent got on my hands. when i went to eat dinner...much vomiting ensued.

never again.

A favorite...

quinoxaline man - 2-9-2012 at 17:08

How about Skatole? Otherwise known as 3-methylindole.

[Edited on 3-9-2012 by quinoxaline man]

Poppy - 2-9-2012 at 17:10

The smell comin off when you burn those acrylic caps of a LED is like pure garlic shhhuu!
Best smell: masking-tape.

platedish29 - 2-9-2012 at 22:06

Hello could any of you bother recognize the smell of this very specific component found in exhaust gases of old trucks?? Whats that T love it!
The worst smell is vomit for sure!

Adas - 2-9-2012 at 23:55

Quote: Originally posted by platedish29

Hello could any of you bother recognize the smell of this very specific component found in exhaust gases of old trucks?

Naphtalene?

Teen Chemist - 3-9-2012 at 06:41

Quote: Originally posted by Rogeryermaw

Quote: Originally posted by Teen Chemist

An mouthful of difluoroethane with some denatonium benzoate (canned air) pretty much sucks.

i used that stuff to clean my keyboard and the taste of the bittering agent got on my hands. when i went to eat dinner...much vomiting ensued.

never again.

Some of it got on my hands also and I had to wear gloves to eat dinner.

AcBottol - 3-9-2012 at 07:12

Trimethylamine is pretty bad, like rotten fish and it has an odour treshold of about 0.3-0.8 ppb so one drop spilled and your fume hood will smell for weeks to come...

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