Jor - 7-6-2009 at 14:00
I have the opportunity to buy some chemicals, all from an old lab.
I have decided that I will take the 25g lead (II) acetate and 50g periodic acid. The former for 2 EUR and the latter for 5 EUR. The price for the
periodic acid is amazing, I already have 25g but i can't let this go.
But I am unsure of 2 other chemicals. I can buy 100mL tetra-n-butylammoniumhydroxide 40% for 4 euro. But what can I do with this stuff? I recall it is
a PTC, but I have no projects into mind that require a PTC. Is it interesting for some inorganic synthesis? I can imagine it is a very stable cation.
Also I am not sure of the silver nitrate. I can get the following product for 5 EUR:
-'Titrisol' 0,1N silver nitrate for 1L, Merck. It is 5 euro. How does this come? An ampoule with 16,987 grams of silver nitrate crystals? Or a large
ampoule with a very concentrated solution?
panziandi - 7-6-2009 at 16:31
Jor, buy the lot 
TBAH can be useful PTC and for taking the OH- ion into the organic phase.
Silver nitrate will likely come as the solution ready made from the sounds of it - but am not too sure on this.
I always laugh when I read "periodic acid" (bad chemistry joke I guess relating to the periodic table!)
DJF90 - 7-6-2009 at 22:52
With the n-Bu4N+ OH-, you can add an iodide salt of a metal that forms an insoluble precipitate with hydroxide. Then you can chlorinate the t-Bu4N+ I-
to form the interhalogen anion ICl4- (or is it ICl3-?). Upon exposure to light for a while the compound loses chlorine to form a lower iodochloride (I
just made this up so hope it makes sense ). I can post the details after my exam
if you wish; this was one of the practical experiments we did this year in inorganic labs.
woelen - 8-6-2009 at 02:25
I also would buy the entire lot. The silvernitrate probably comes as solution, but still that is quite good. Aqueous solutions of silvernitrate also
are good to have around and EUR 5 for 17 grams of AgNO3 is a very good price, even if it is dissolved in water. You could for instance make exactly
100 ml out of this ampoule, which gives you a 1 M solution of AgNO3.
The tetrabutyl ammonium salt sounds rather interesting. It gives you a huge cationic species, which may be interesting for synthesizing complexes.
Many complexes only can be obtained in crystalline form if the cation is sufficiently large (an example is Br3(-)) and with this cation you have a
fairly inert but large cation. The largest one I have is Cs(+), but the tetrabutyl ammonium ion certainly outperforms Cs(+)!
UnintentionalChaos - 8-6-2009 at 08:18
Odd. TBAOH is unstable with regards to hoffman elimination. I'd suspect some reasonable contamination with nBu3N.
From it, you can prepare organic-soluble mineral acid salts. For example, it can be used to carry persulfate anion into an organic phase. The fluoride
salt (TBAF) is a common desilylating reagent.
Dissolving it into chloroform would probably give you a rapid generation of dichlorocarbene.
woelen - 8-6-2009 at 12:06
Jor, if you don't buy the TBAOH, then I am willing to buy it 
Just let me know. I
think that it can be interesting, even if it is not stable and easily falls apart in nBu3N.
Jor - 8-6-2009 at 12:13
Thanks for the replies.
This chemical has now greatly interested me. I will be buying it.
Woelen, we still have to do a trade in chemicals .
I am very busy, so I don't really have the time, but if I can find some I will send you the chemicals I promised. I will send 30-40mL of the TBAOH
solution as well.
If we do a large trade, maybe we should avoid shipping and meet somewhere between our cities. I have my driving license now, so that shouldn't be a
problem! 
[Edited on 8-6-2009 by Jor]
woelen - 9-6-2009 at 09:53
Yes, that's a better idea than shpping things. We certainly should arrange things soon, I'll contact you by email.