Sciencemadness Discussion Board

is it normal that i just want to play around with chemicals and make organic molecules for the hell of it

Cou - 3-11-2019 at 15:28

after years of shitting up this forum, i'm getting closer to finally being able to set up a home lab, and i have taken organic chemistry classes

my biggest interest is esters, because of their cool smells. i would start with esters available from readily available chemicals (i.e. ones that use acetic acid/salicylic acid and methanol/ethanol/propan-2-ol) then come up with OTC routes to make other esters.

at some point it would be cool if I could make SOCl2 for esterification of tertiary alcohols.

honestly i dont know if this stuff has much real world use. i just think organic substances are very cool and i want to make them for the hell of it and keep them in vials.





[Edited on 4-11-2019 by Cou]

DraconicAcid - 3-11-2019 at 15:32

Yes, of course it's normal. Among us chemists, anyway.

Cou - 3-11-2019 at 15:38

Quote: Originally posted by DraconicAcid  
Yes, of course it's normal. Among us chemists, anyway.


Someone in a chemistry discord server said it was weird that I wanted to make random pleasant-smelling esters for the hell of it.

Edit: they're also the communities that shit on home chemists

[Edited on 3-11-2019 by Cou]

SWIM - 3-11-2019 at 16:00

Yes, "just for the hell of it"is a common reason to do this.

The second most common reason is because it's part of your secret plan for world domination.

"Getting high" and "blowin' stuff up real good" are, surprisingly, only 4th and 5th; trailing the unexpected 3rd place finisher: "Just trying to whip up something I can pour on my neighbor's car to ruin the paint."

And I think we can all agree that doing organic chemistry at home is less strange than kvetching neurotically about whether you should or shouldn't do organic chemistry at home.

Who do you want to be? Woody Allen, or Alexander Schulgin?

fusso - 3-11-2019 at 17:16

Should this be in whimsy?

Sulaiman - 3-11-2019 at 17:26

Quote: Originally posted by SWIM  
...Who do you want to be? Woody Allen, or Alexander Schulgin?...


Woody Allen : Alive and rich.
Alexander Schulgin: Dead.
... no contest :P

Seriously though, what is the point of hobby chemistry if we can't follow our whims ?

Ubya - 3-11-2019 at 17:47

making something cor tha sake of doing it is at the core of amateur chemistry IMO. we are not paid to do research, we are not paid to make a product, we start 90% of our projects because we see or read something cool that interests us and want to replicate it. all the other projects are side projects for the main projects we decided to do for the sake of doing it.

j_sum1 - 3-11-2019 at 18:55

Curiosity is undervalued in today's world.

We here buck that trend and I think it is a good thing.

elementcollector1 - 3-11-2019 at 19:16

Currently making manganese sulfate from zinc-MnO2 batteries again. Why? Because it's bright pink. I need no other reason.

Hobbies are meant to be enjoyed, and that enjoyment can take a lot of different forms.

symboom - 3-11-2019 at 19:59

This statement by ubya " making something cor tha sake of doing it is at the core of amateur chemistry" reminds me of a quote of a quote

Thee reason anyone would do this is, if they could, which they can't, would be because they could, which they can't.
Quote - Rick Sanchez

artemov - 3-11-2019 at 21:56

"Why did you want to climb Mount Everest?"
"Because it's there"
- George Mallory

draculic acid69 - 3-11-2019 at 22:19

Quote: Originally posted by Cou  
after years of shitting up this forum, i'm getting closer to finally being able to set up a home lab, and i have taken organic chemistry classes

my biggest interest is esters, because of their cool smells. i would start with esters available from readily available chemicals (i.e. ones that use acetic acid/salicylic acid and methanol/ethanol/propan-2-ol) then come up with OTC routes to make other esters.

at some point it would be cool if I could make SOCl2 for esterification of tertiary alcohols.

honestly i dont know if this stuff has much real world use. i just think organic substances are very cool and i want to make them for the hell of it and keep them in vials.
[Edited on 4-11-2019 by Cou]



Completely normal.but I'm a completely non normal person saying that.
Socl2 is not easy to make at home.good luck with that one.

draculic acid69 - 3-11-2019 at 22:26

Quote: Originally posted by SWIM  
Yes, "just for the hell of it"is a common reason to do this.

The second most common reason is because it's part of your secret plan for world domination.

"Getting high" and "blowin' stuff up real good" are, surprisingly, only 4th and 5th; trailing the unexpected 3rd place finisher: "Just trying to whip up something I can pour on my neighbor's car to ruin the paint."

And I think we can all agree that doing organic chemistry at home is less strange than kvetching neurotically about whether you should or shouldn't do organic chemistry at home.

Who do you want to be? Woody Allen, or Alexander Schulgin?


This is very accurate.except I would have put getting high and blowing shit up as number 2&3 after just for the hell of it. Good answer SWIM.

draculic acid69 - 3-11-2019 at 22:35

I'm not the only one with plans for world domination am I?

j_sum1 - 3-11-2019 at 22:48

Quote: Originally posted by artemov  
"Why did you want to climb Mount Everest?"
"Because it's there"
- George Mallory

My favourite take on that saying...


notthere.png - 161kB

wg48temp9 - 3-11-2019 at 23:46

Quote: Originally posted by Cou  


Someone in a chemistry discord server said it was weird that I wanted to make random pleasant-smelling esters for the hell of it.


Yes that's totaly weird you probablaly have homesexual tedencies. I see your from Texas, be a real man and go buy a big gun preferably several of them and try to kill what ever is left of the wild life and if the British come back or someone pisses you off the guns would be useful too. LOL

This is a joke as indicated by the LOL. I do not think its in the least bit weird, perhaps asking about it is.

Pumukli - 4-11-2019 at 03:40

Cou, if you actually made at least some of those possible (OTC friendly) esters and compiled a nice write up of the process AND told us how did they smell based on your very subjective feelings I'd be very grateful!

Making something that smells nice (especially from ingredients which don't) is one of my goals in hobby chemistry too! But I've wandered into entirely different areas during the past months and making those esters is not the highest priority at the moment. :)

Still, I prepared a "jug" of ethyl-formate earlier in this year. It smells like the other solvent in a paint shop, no "rum-like" smell, nothing. At least in high concentrations. I doubt that dilution would make it more pleasant though. :)

What about ethylene-glycol-dibenzoate, huh? Do anyone know its olfactory properties? Or how about a series of substituted benzoic acid ethyl esters? (Substituted benzoic acids are one of my favourite compounds.) :)

You see, you can do a fairly serious research (serious within the possibilities of an amateur) pursuing your goal on pleasantly smelling compounds!

When I was a kid I tried to make nitro-salicylic-acid. Then tried to reduce it into amino-salicylic. Then diazotized the (unknown) compound and iodinated it via a Sandmeyer reaction with KI. Then I put a wad of cotton into the mouth of the test tube with this unknown something and let it sit for a few days. When I pulled out the cotton wad days later it smelled like something very similar to vanilline! You see, I still remember this "experiment", because the result was so unexpected for me! I made something very pleasant smelling from various obnoxius unpleasant compounds!

Ahh, almost forgot world dominance too! :)

G-Coupled - 4-11-2019 at 04:40

It only seems weird nowadays IMO because kids don't get to play with cool chemistry sets any more, sadly.

RedDwarf - 4-11-2019 at 04:42

People who can't understand why you might want to do something that has no obvious (to them) reason are soul vacuums - walk away quickly before you become infected!
Whether it's chemistry or anything else the fun things in my life (and often those that get done) are those that are done for the hell of it or to prove to myself that I can do it. Most of the things that have a rationale that "normal" people appreciate (like earning money) are far too boring to spend much effort on. (Possibly why I'm divorced and single :)) )

I love SWIM's ranking on reasons to do chemistry :)

karlos³ - 4-11-2019 at 06:30

Just for the hell of it is the best reason to make stuff!
The second best one is, for me at least, to get high.
Third is obviously world domination, you can't rule over that rocky ball without becoming high at first.

I agree very much with RedDwarf about the toxic soulless people, stay away from these kind of "humans".

CharlieA - 4-11-2019 at 16:08

Quote: Originally posted by Ubya  
making something cor tha sake of doing it is at the core of amateur chemistry IMO. we are not paid to do research, we are not paid to make a product, we start 90% of our projects because we see or read something cool that interests us and want to replicate it. all the other projects are side projects for the main projects we decided to do for the sake of doing it.


I think that this describes most amateur chemists excellently!

Herr Haber - 5-11-2019 at 04:40

Quote: Originally posted by draculic acid69  
I'm not the only one with plans for world domination am I?


I've been at it for 30+ years.
Getting there... slowly.