Breaking them to their base elements, or just breaking all carbon bonds.AndersHoveland - 1-1-2013 at 22:34
Lasers tuned to a specific frequency can sometimes selectively break chemical bonds.
There is also oxidation, Carro's Acid and Base Piranha. Persulfate, either heated or catalysed with some iron salt, will also completely oxidize most
organic compounds.Adas - 2-1-2013 at 02:35
Sulfur trioxide. Tsjerk - 2-1-2013 at 04:14
Bleach will also oxidize a lot of organics, or chlorine when you slowly add acid to the bleach/organic mixture.woelen - 2-1-2013 at 04:26
Making bleach/organic mixtures can be quite dangerous, especially if the bleach is concentrated. Such mixes easily can get out of control completely
(e.g. think of mixes of alcohol and hypochlorites). Using bleach for cleaning organic remains (e.g. stuff, sticking to glassware) is perfectly safe
and indeed can be quite succesful in many cases.12AX7 - 2-1-2013 at 04:45
Hmmm...
- Laser ablation (technically cheating: the plasma pulse is locally very hot)
- Oxidizers (as said above)
- Strong acids; worst case, HSbF6, which can protonate methyl groups (forming CH5(+) carbocations!)
- Sulfuric acid, P2O5 (if you can make a mixture): dehydrating agents
- Ionizing radiation (takes a humongous dose to literally destroy small compounds, though)
- Although oxidizers are useful, reducing agents aren't as much; organics tend to be fairly reduced to begin with (you can't really reduce alkanes and
further). That said, a solution of lithium in ammonia, or n-butyl lithium, or something like that, would make a strong reducing agent and base,
enough to thoroughly gum up most functional groups.
- Mass spectrometry with the ionization cranked up (similar effect to regular ionizing radiation, but potentially more quantitative)
Etc.
Timzed - 2-1-2013 at 11:14
Ozone. Yup. Ozone! Seems to me it is used for water purification in parts of Europe. It can convert water containing sewage....into sweet drinking
water.
Removes most organics completely. You end up with H20, CO2, and zip. Won't remove heavy metals or halogens though.Metacelsus - 2-1-2013 at 14:20
Chromic Acid! It oxidizes the crap out of most anything. However, hexavalent chromium is notoriously toxic . . . AJKOER - 2-1-2013 at 14:46
OK, I think an obvious one has been omitted.
"Electricity"
which will decompose/break apart many organic compounds. Exceptions include good conductors (like Carbon itself).AndersHoveland - 2-1-2013 at 17:11
Ozone is a more powerful oxidizer in in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. The two react with eachother, generating transient hydroxyl radicals in
solution. This is a good way to destroy organics like chloroform that are otherwise very resistant to oxidation by ozone alone.mr.crow - 3-1-2013 at 08:14
Also don't forget Fenton's Reagent. Hydrogen peroxide and iron salts. More hydroxyl radicalsphlogiston - 3-1-2013 at 13:47
Are you trying to clean glassware, purify water, perfom elemental analysis or yet something else? AJKOER - 4-1-2013 at 14:31
Chromic Acid! It oxidizes the crap out of most anything. However, hexavalent chromium is notoriously toxic . . .
Caution: In line with the above comment, if you are cleaning up some organic compounds with strong oxidizers, some very toxic products can result. For
example:
Cr2O3 + 3 CCl4 –––> 2 CrCl3 + 3 COCl2
[Edited on 4-1-2013 by AJKOER]bfesser - 4-1-2013 at 15:53
