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Atrum
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Most dangerous or hard to handle chemical
I was going through my chemical stock and I came across a few bottles of titanium tetra chloride.
As I recall; this is a very hazardous chemical to handle if you don't have the correct facilities.
What are some chemicals in your stock that you consider to be difficult to use?
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woelen
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Oleum (SO3, dissolved in H2SO4) - Exceedingly corrosive, gives off dense fumes. Avoid skin contact at ANY cost.
HF (48%) -- Do not pour, use a PP-pipette and PP-tubes. Avoid skin contact at ANY cost.
Some other chemicals which require good care, but are of another class than the 2 above:
- Br2
- SOCl2
- SO2Cl2
- CH3COCl
Of all of the above chemicals I have small quantities. You can do quite interesting experiments with them, but storing them, and using them is
difficult and one must try to avoid skin contact. I, however, have had all of these on my skin for a few seconds (just a single drop somewhere on my
hand), and with none of them I had adverse effects. If I had HF (48%) or oleum on my skin, then things would be quite different. Oleum utterly
destroys skin and other organics in a fraction of a second.
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blargish
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The most annoying compound that I have to store is probably CrO3. It's crazy hygroscopic and no matter what container I store it in,
eventually the walls get slightly damp and the CrO3 sticks. Being highly toxic, highly reactive, and a carcinogen doesn't help it either...
That being said, it's almost nothing compared to some of the aforementioned compounds (HF *shudder*). I guess whether or not a chemical is "hard to
handle" depends on whether or not one has the means to handle it. I cannot imagine myself handling HF with my available equipment/experience, but
others might find it no problem at all.
BLaRgISH
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Marvin
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Didn't Max Gergel turn down the production of boron hydrides? "The green dragon".
Chlorine fluorides are so reactive asbestos burns in them. I think Gerald L Hurst talked about his experiences with that on usenet.
I will read the titanium tetrachloride MSDS, I thought it was sold in magic shops to make dense smoke. Maybe that was just in the bad old days.
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Cou
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Azidoazide azide
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j_sum1
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I am going to sound lame here but here goes. The question referred to chemicals you have in stock.
If dangerous refers to the chemicals I don't want the kids getting into, my most dangerous is probably conc H2SO4 (which I make myself).
In terms of toxicity, I have a small amount of Hg in my element collection. I have a reasonably large amount of Cd in my element collection. Both
are ampouled but, hey, glass breaks. My container of lead nitrate probably eclipses both of those. I don't want the kids getting into toxic
substances either but the damage isn't quite as immediate as acid in the eyes.
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Marvin
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I will not speed read the OP.
I will not speed read the OP.
I will not speed read the OP.
*red face*.
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phlogiston
International Hazard
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osmium tetroxide
white phosphorus
elemental thallium
Just small samples though as part of an element collection. No experiments.
There are some things (like HF) I just avoid. IMHO some compounds should not even be kept as an interesting sample in an amateur setting. HF, methyl
mercury, phosgene, etc.
Titanium tetrachloride is not too bad if I recall correctly. The main danger associated with it comes from the HCl fumes formed upon exposure to air.
[Edited on 2-2-2015 by phlogiston]
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"If a rocket goes up, who cares where it comes down, that's not my concern said Wernher von Braun" - Tom Lehrer |
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Zyklon-A
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-Oleum
-Liquid chlorine
-Fuming nitric acid.
-NaK
I don't really have many toxins, dangerous organics or energetic materials, the most effective way to live a long life is to not do things that kill
you.
[Edited on 2-2-2015 by Zyklon-A]
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Molecular Manipulations
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- Nitric acid with dissolved N2O5 (less than 10% by weight)
- Oleum x3 (24% I believe)
- SCl2
- I2Cl6
- Br2
- White phosphorus
I too don't explode "things" on the regular.
Unlike Bert's neighbors, mine prefer smells rather than bangs and tinkling/shattering glass.
[Edited on 2-2-2015 by Molecular Manipulations]
-The manipulator
We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know. -W. H. Auden
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Volanschemia
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Mine are a bit lame compared to Oleum and HF  .
Conc Nitric Acid
Conc Sulphuric Acid
Mercury(II) Thiocyanate
Lead(II) Nitrate
Elemental Mercury
"The chemists are a strange class of mortals, impelled by an almost insane impulse to seek their pleasures amid smoke and
vapor, soot and flame, poisons and poverty; yet among all these evils I seem to live so sweetly that may I die if I were to change places with the
Persian king" - Johann Joachim Becher, 1635 to 1682.
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diddi
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another vote for thallium. I have a healthy respect for that, arsenic and NaCN
HF is easy to store in the correct plastic. I have 100cc+ conc HF
Br is harder to store I reckon
AlCl3 is nasty - any water around and you get a face full of HCl gas
Chromic acid is not very nice either
organics are not my specialty so I will leave them to someone else
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Tsjerk
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Why NaCN? Especially if you don't mind HF; NaCN is allot easier to store. As long as you don't eat it or mix it with a concentrated acid you will be
fine. Even azides are more dangerous, but still pretty hand able.
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woelen
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I also have NaCN and KCN and for me these are no trouble. They are solid and not really corrosive nor particularly reactive. Their solutions also can
be handled easily. Even if you get a drop of these solutions on your skin, then nothing serious happens. Of course, you should not allow such a
solution to remain on your skin for minutes, because some of the cyanide may pass through the skin and enter your body.
SO3 on the other hand is unbelievably corrosive. It chars organics in a fraction of a second. I tested this by dripping a big drop of cold oleum on a
piece of wood. You immediately have a black spot on the wood, some hissing noise, and two seconds later there is a pit in the wood, two or three mm
deep with a globule of black charred material around it. Imagine what happens when a drop of oleum gets on your hand. That must be really painful.
Acyl chlorides also are quite nasty. They give off intense fumes of HCl, especially the more volatile ones, such as SOCl2, CH3COCl and SO2Cl2.
However, the effect on skin is less severe than I expected beforehand. I had the "luck" to get a few drops of CH3COCl on my skin and I was amazed to
see that the effect of this is only marginal. The CH3COCl quickly evaporates and this makes the liquid feel cold. I rinsed my skin anyway (the liquid
was in contact with my skin for maybe 10 seconds) and had no adverse effect at all. I had a similar experience with SOCl2. Nothing serious happened.
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Bert
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Most of the REALLY toxic stuff others mention doesn't get used in my field, so no personal experience-
Of EM's I have personally had an issue handling while working: AgN3 is the only high explosive I have had explode unexpectedly while
handling (static electricity), and a dry Potassium chlorate/Arsenic sulfide mixture the only low explosive that has done so (VERY slight friction,
possibly even body heat?).
Additionally, I had one bad experience with NI3 as a teenager.
I will give another up vote for HF, oleum and fuming nitric acids, pretty much in that order.
Rapopart’s Rules for critical commentary:
1. Attempt to re-express your target’s position so clearly, vividly and fairly that your target says: “Thanks, I wish I’d thought of putting it
that way.”
2. List any points of agreement (especially if they are not matters of general or widespread agreement).
3. Mention anything you have learned from your target.
4. Only then are you permitted to say so much as a word of rebuttal or criticism.
Anatol Rapoport was a Russian-born American mathematical psychologist (1911-2007).
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Magpie
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I have made SO3 a few times. It's very scary stuff and I exercise great caution. I used some to make chlorosulfonic acid, which is a hairy
procedure.
I've made KCN. It has been carefully bottled and labeled. I was very careful when handling it.
I've also made Pb acetate and mercuric chloride. I probably was a little too casual in handling the Pb acetate - but was very careful with the HgCl2.
Making and using white P has been my biggest risk. A couple P fires nearly overwhelmed my powerful fume hood.
I've made Cl2 gas several times as well as H2S and HCl gases. I need to be more careful when handling these gases.
[Edited on 2-2-2015 by Magpie]
The single most important condition for a successful synthesis is good mixing - Nicodem
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deltaH
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Magpie and woelen, as always, I'm jealous of the scope of your experimentations!
I've worked with HF mineral digestions, boiling HF... yeah 'fun', also sodium peroxide fusions at red heat, swirling molten sodium peroxide in a
crucible with a pair of tongs, more 'fun'  , but the most dangerous 'inorganic' I
would say was probably cyanogen bromide (if one can call that inorganic). That scared me to no end and the precautions I took bordered on paranoia.
[Edited on 2-2-2015 by deltaH]
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nezza
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The most frightening things I have are NaK and white phosphorus. Although the NaK is ampouled under argon and seems stable with no oxide/water traces
in the ampoule i still think twice about handling it. The white phosphorus is actually pretty tame as long as its kept under water. It's only when
handling it as a reagent it's dangerous. I don't like the fact that it is quite brittle when cutting it and bits are likely to fly off.
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jock88
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I once poured a large enamel coated dish of hot concentrated sulphuric acid (after boiling down) into a plastic drum. The stuff was above 100C as when
you spat on it the spit sizzled (or was it the reaction between the sulphuric and water?). Anyways it was hot as I needed to hold the dish with two
cloths (no gloves). The dish was about three feet in diameter and probably contained about 8 inches of sulphuric. I was just about able to lift the
thing wobbles and all. Managed to get it into the can using a large oil funnell.
No one around , far from water and it was dark (lamplight).
Total stone-wall-biting insanity. If some of it landed on my leg it would surly dissolve it away.
The sulphuric was black in color as I believe it dissolved some of the enamel.
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Cou
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As I said in my other thread, I won't even keep lead compounds around.
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greenlight
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The most dangerous chemicals I have are:
* Fuming nitric acid
* Concentrated sulphuric acid
* Hydrofluoric acid
* Mercury chloride
* Methylene chloride (possible human carcinogen)
And some for the most hard to handle would have to include wet picric acid or potassium picrate powder which are very hard to filter and use without
staining everything they come in contact with bright yellow.
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Praxichys
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Dangerous?
- HCN
- phosgene
- SO3
- Diazomethane/HN3
Hard to handle?
- HF/bifluoride salts/100% hydrazine because you cannot use glass labware, and PTFE and Ni containers are very expensive.
- Bromine/HCl/I2/Et2O/cyanuric chloride because they are escape artists.
Second votes go to volatile salts of mercury and chromyl chloride vapors.
The most dangerous and hard to handle thing, however, is the mysterious unlabeled container. Does it contain water?
Nitroglycerin? Hydrocyanic acid? Toluene? Acetone? Phosgene in toluene? Sodium methoxide in methanol?
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phlogiston
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Bromine is not so hard to store. I've kept some in a regular stoppered round bottom flask (with stainless steel clamp) for years. It is in a an outer
second container with absorbend material on the bottom and there have been no notable leaks or fumes from the primary containment into the secondary
as far as I can tell.
I would be very worried about the phosgene, HCN and HN3 if you seriously keep those in stock?
How do you even store that safely? Are they protected from unautherized access should a thieve gain access to your property?
[Edited on 3-2-2015 by phlogiston]
[Edited on 3-2-2015 by phlogiston]
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"If a rocket goes up, who cares where it comes down, that's not my concern said Wernher von Braun" - Tom Lehrer |
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FormerChemist
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I once tore open a lithium-thionyl chloride battery from a discarded EZ-Pass device. At the time I thought it was a regular CR123, although it was
3.6V instead of 3.0V. The battery began to "smoke" from a hole in the case, so I dropped it in a glass of water, hoping it wouldn't be able to ignite
under water. Bad idea. The thing wouldn't stop bubbling out foul-smelling gases, so I just took the whole assembly outside.
When you have no professional equipment SOCl2 is a bitch to deal with.
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Shivachemist
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phlogiston, what? Do you have hydrazoic acid? It is too dangerous to deal with not only because it is a quite sensitive explosive, it is extremely
toxic as well. Its smell is terrible too I believe.
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