Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Lowes pulls paint stripper from shelves! How to make DCM

The jersey rebel - 30-5-2018 at 09:22

I just caught wind of a ban on DCM containing paint strippers by lowes and am about to go to Home Depot to stockpile whatever I can. However, because of this, a way of producing DCM is becoming necessary for the amateur.

Any ideas on how to do that would be appreciated. The easier the better. Ideally, avoiding the generation of CCl4

Heres the link to the article for context.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/lowes-bans-paint-s...

DavidJR - 30-5-2018 at 09:39

Probably still easiest to just buy it - albeit pure from a chemical supplier rather than in paint stripper. Not sure how available it is in the US, but where I am, DCM paint strippers have been banned for some time and yet I can still buy DCM at a reasonable price (£12/litre from APC Pure).

clearly_not_atara - 30-5-2018 at 09:40

Utfse:

https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=78...

It's hard though. If possible, use an alternative solvent, such as ethyl acetate or chloroform.

alking - 30-5-2018 at 17:52

Why not just buy it online?

The jersey rebel - 30-5-2018 at 18:17

I certainly could but it would be a major hassle due to location. It would be a nightmare to ship as it would require HAZMAT/Refrigerated shipping due to shipping regulations and temp where I am, which can get very expensive. Mainly, I simply want to see what options there are for if I needed to make it.

UC235 - 30-5-2018 at 18:55

It's really not a convenient solvent to make. Chloroform would be a better choice where possible due to ease of synthesis. Diethyl ether from ethanol or starting fluid would be a good choice where the high BP of chloroform is an issue. Still lacks the convenience of DCM, though.

The jersey rebel - 30-5-2018 at 21:25

You're quite correct there but I'm eventually going to need it as a methylator to make dioxolanes from Catechols. However, the main reason for making it would be a lack of access.

VSEPR_VOID - 30-5-2018 at 21:44

Quote: Originally posted by UC235  
It's really not a convenient solvent to make. Chloroform would be a better choice where possible due to ease of synthesis. Diethyl ether from ethanol or starting fluid would be a good choice where the high BP of chloroform is an issue. Still lacks the convenience of DCM, though.


Doug's Lab had a video on isolating ether from starting fluid and found that the price of that method, after buying the cans in bulk, was about 5 dollars per liter of ether. That is probably better than DCM.

The jersey rebel - 31-5-2018 at 06:29

you're correct, but I need it for a reaction, not for a solvent. Otherwise, I'd use DEE anyway because it's less toxic. A lack of neurotypicality makes it so that things do not react predictibly with me which is why i try to avoid things like lead salts

alking - 31-5-2018 at 10:02

Quote: Originally posted by VSEPR_VOID  
Quote: Originally posted by UC235  
It's really not a convenient solvent to make. Chloroform would be a better choice where possible due to ease of synthesis. Diethyl ether from ethanol or starting fluid would be a good choice where the high BP of chloroform is an issue. Still lacks the convenience of DCM, though.


Doug's Lab had a video on isolating ether from starting fluid and found that the price of that method, after buying the cans in bulk, was about 5 dollars per liter of ether. That is probably better than DCM.


Wow, really only 5$/liter? That's insanely cheap. I thought it wouldn't be worth it because you'd need a lot of cans to get a substantial amount, but I never did any math. I'll have to look into that, I'd use ether more if I had a cheap source.

G-Coupled - 31-5-2018 at 12:22

That *is* encouraging - I didn't think there was that much Ether in the starting fluid.

RogueRose - 31-5-2018 at 14:33

I found a place to order DCM from by the gallon at a good price. I think you need to setup an account, IDK if it has to be a business account or not and it looks like the price is about $40-46 shipped (depending upon location b/c longer distance is more). They told me they have drop shipping so orders can be sent to other people, so I could have it shipped directly to a member if they wanted. They also have quarts as samples but not for sale and b/c of shipping (which is about $14-20) it doesn't make sense to buy a quart b/c shipping is almost the same for it (probably why they don't sell quarts).

So this comes out to about the same price as Klean strip at ~$28 per gallon if it is 60% DCM and no need for distilling. I may be ordering a gallon and if anyone is interested I can order another and ship quarts if there is interest.

clearly_not_atara - 31-5-2018 at 14:51

Quote: Originally posted by The jersey rebel  
you're correct, but I need it for a reaction, not for a solvent. Otherwise, I'd use DEE anyway because it's less toxic. A lack of neurotypicality makes it so that things do not react predictibly with me which is why i try to avoid things like lead salts

Did you read the linked thread? This topic has been extensively discussed. DCM can be made by an annoying process as follows:

ethanol + chlorine >> chloral hydrate
chloral + catalytic cyanide (thiamin?) >> dichloroacetate (thiamin plausible but untested)
dichloroacetate + heat >> DCM

Alternatively, haloforms can be reduced with sodium arsenite, or chloroacetic acid can be monobrominated with bromine chloride. These methods are all difficult, though. The last method produces bromochloromethane after decarboxylation.

Melgar - 1-6-2018 at 18:20

Just go to your neighborhood TrueValue and ACE hardware stores instead of Lowe's and Home Depot. I just got two cans of ethyl acetate from my local ACE, even though the product (Kleen Strip MEK replacer) has been discontinued for 7 years now. The stamps on the bottom confirmed that it was made in 2011. And TrueValue and ACE have MUCH better chemical selection, regardless.

As far as wanting to make MDMA or whatever, you're much better off making dibromomethane if you're going to make it yourself. Would be a much better reagent for that reaction.

Texium - 1-6-2018 at 18:30

Well, Lowe's here still has two different brands of it- Jasco and Crown. So I'm good for now at least. I want to stock up but I'm a bit low on funds...

Tdep - 4-2-2019 at 14:56

Hey everyone, it is officially time to stock up on DCM.

https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/us-government-sued-for-d...
Quote:

Meanwhile, retailers are beginning to voluntarily phase out paint strippers containing methylene chloride. Walmart will stop sales online and in most stores by February 2019, and Amazon is eliminating methylene chloride and N-methylpyrrolidone in all its paint strippers from March 2019.