Sciencemadness Discussion Board - The smell of tin (Sn)

The smell of tin (Sn)

SplendidAcylation - 14-10-2022 at 14:14

A bit of a silly question but here goes:

I have noticed many times when soldering that there is a particular smell associated with it, naturally I thought nothing of it as I attributed it to the smell of the flux in the solder.

However, recently I required thin pieces of tin to dissolve in acid, so these were prepared by melting tin and dropping it onto a flat surface, forming thin foil-like splashes.
I noticed that, when melting this pure tin, the same smell was present

I cannot describe it, except to say that it is not a metallic smell, but it is somewhat pleasant

What do you suppose this could be?
I thought perhaps it was tin vapour, or perhaps particles of tin oxide, neither of which I would have expected to have a smell.

[Edited on 14-10-2022 by SplendidAcylation]

Sulaiman - 14-10-2022 at 16:35

Eliminate a variable :
Try a flat surface that is inert at molten tin temperatures.
(no oil, grease, tar, water, wood, plastic etc.)

PS I think that 'stuff' on my skin reacts with some clean metal surfaces to give a smell.
So don't touch the metal.

[Edited on 15-10-2022 by Sulaiman]

Herr Haber - 14-10-2022 at 17:04

Colophony (pine resin) is sometimes present as a flux in soldering wire. The smell is pleasant.
I have no idea why you would get a smell from pure molten tin though. Unless I misunderstood you and you melted soldering wire before dropping it on a flat surface. That would explain the smell.

Sulaiman - 15-10-2022 at 09:10

Just found this https://youtu.be/G_c3H6zdZ9Y

Dr.Bob - 16-10-2022 at 11:56

Most organotin compounds have horrible smells, and many are also quite toxic, so I find it hard to imagine the metal smelling good. I also know that mant tin salts have odd, metallic smalles, so again, tin smells bad in that context. My first real chemistry job was in a hood that was contaminated with organic tins, so it took a great deal of cleaning to make it not stink horribly.

SplendidAcylation - 17-10-2022 at 03:36

Thanks for the replies

@Sulaiman
Yes, I had heard about the typical metallic smell being due to catalytic action at the surface of the metal, indeed, clean metal tends to have no smell, I think the tin smell is somewhat different as doesn't resemble the typical "metallic" smell... But who knows.
I will endeavour to reattempt the experiment soon with thoroughly cleaned tin and clean, inert surfaces.

@Herr Haber
Yes, well I noticed the smell before when soldering, it was in addition to the flux smell.
More recently, however, I was surprised to find that pure tin, free of flux, has the same smell
(Actually, it wasn't pure tin, but 99% Sn 1% Ag solder wire, but not the kind with flux in it! The plumbing solder, it is just solid wire)

@Dr.Bob

Interesting, I have made tin tetrachloride which had no appreciable smell although I tried to avoid inhaling the vapour, would be fun to make some organotin compounds, maybe via a Grignard reaction.

DraconicAcid - 17-10-2022 at 07:43

Quote: Originally posted by SplendidAcylation

Interesting, I have made tin tetrachloride which had no appreciable smell although I tried to avoid inhaling the vapour, would be fun to make some organotin compounds, maybe via a Grignard reaction.

The easiest organotin compound to make is tribenzyltin chloride. Reflux tin powder with benzyl chloride. Depending on what solvent you use, you can get tribenzyltin chloride or dibenzyltin dichloride.

SplendidAcylation - 18-10-2022 at 12:43

Quote: Originally posted by DraconicAcid

Quote: Originally posted by SplendidAcylation

Interesting, I have made tin tetrachloride which had no appreciable smell although I tried to avoid inhaling the vapour, would be fun to make some organotin compounds, maybe via a Grignard reaction.

Nice! This is definitely going on my to do list!
Do you know any of the properties of it, is it highly toxic like some other organotin compounds?

DraconicAcid - 7-5-2023 at 11:29

Quote: Originally posted by SplendidAcylation

Quote: Originally posted by DraconicAcid

Quote: Originally posted by SplendidAcylation

Interesting, I have made tin tetrachloride which had no appreciable smell although I tried to avoid inhaling the vapour, would be fun to make some organotin compounds, maybe via a Grignard reaction.

I made this recently, actually, following the prep in this lab manual:
https://people.uleth.ca/~p.hayes/Chem%203830%20Web%20Page%20...

No particular smell, and I don't think it's particularly toxic. It's not very soluble in ethyl acetate, so the extraction left most of the product behind.

I'm trying to figure out how do deal with the waste (which probably contains benzyl bromide and various organotin crap) and how to get the damned white stains off the glassware.

Nice! This is definitely going on my to do list!
Do you know any of the properties of it, is it highly toxic like some other organotin compounds?