Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Most Beloved Chemicals

Maya - 5-3-2014 at 15:40

Start with only Inorganics for Now (Chems I have had in past):

Chromium Trioxide
Phosphorus Pentoxide
Nitric Acid
Perchloric Acid
Vanadium Pentoxide
White Phosphorous
Iodine
Silver Nitrate
Lead Nitrate
Sodium Azide
Bromine
Hydrofluoric Acid
Sodium Fluoride


Any others one would add to an exotic WISH list like this?

Random - 5-3-2014 at 15:48

Chloroauric acid lots of this acid

Zyklon-A - 5-3-2014 at 15:57

Don't forget chloroplatinic acid.;)
Quote:

....White Phosphorous, Iodine....

Interesting order..... At least it's not red phosphorous.
Sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, NaOH, KOH, CaO/OH ect.

Mailinmypocket - 5-3-2014 at 15:59

Lead nitrate, silver nitrate, sodium fluoride and bromine- what is the definition of exotic?

Osmium tetroxide is neat. Arsenic trioxide, niobium pentachloride...

Maya - 5-3-2014 at 16:08

I am not looking for the list of the lowest derivative chemical compound/element for this list.

But rather the Highest denominating chemical in the list.

That is: (NOT) If you list Lead Azide from Lead nitrate and Sodium azide OR Arsenic trioxide
from Arsenic and oxygen ETC ETC ETC


Only FIRST ORDER chemicals count on this list, not things that can be easily derived from the first order chemicals........

For example, I list HF

But there is

B2O3 + 6 HF → 2 BF3 + 3 H2O

So I do not list BF3 since it is easily made from HF
Quote:

Don't forget chloroplatinic acid.;) Quote: ....White Phosphorous, Iodine.... Interesting order..... At least it's not red phosphorous. Sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, NaOH, KOH, CaO/OH ect.


why would HCL H2SO4 NaOH KOH CaOH be beloved when they can be bought for pennies?

red P has no real interesting properties, compared to white P. Why does that surprise you?



[Edited on 6-3-2014 by Maya]

Metacelsus - 5-3-2014 at 19:19

Quote: Originally posted by Maya  

why would HCL H2SO4 NaOH KOH CaOH be beloved when they can be bought for pennies?
[Edited on 6-3-2014 by Maya]


Because they are so useful. (I would put SO3 over sulfuric acid, though.)

Zephyr - 5-3-2014 at 19:21

Here are my favorite chemicals:

*Molybdic acid
*Bromine
*Nickel chloride
*Hydriodic acid
*Nitric acid

I wish I had some chloropalladic acid...

Zyklon-A - 5-3-2014 at 19:37

Nevermind,
SO3 B2O3, BaSO4, Ba(NO3)2 (Tomorrow Ba(ClO3)2), nitric acid, (tomorrow H2SO44 + Ba(ClO4)2 → perchloric acid + BaSO4.
I just made some I2Cl6.

[Edited on 6-3-2014 by Zyklonb]

sasan - 6-3-2014 at 00:06

These are my favorite chemicals:
CuHgI4(its color changes depends on the temprature)
LaBr3.n H2O(a scintillator material ofcourse cerium activated)
flourescein sodium salt(fluorescent material under UV tube)
and the acetone peroxide,well known explosive for the cool guys!!!

woelen - 6-3-2014 at 00:23

Of the chemicals I have the following are my favorites. They are favorite, because they are not easy to obtain and many of them I could obtain at unbelievable prices. Some of them I made myself.

niobium pentachloride: NbCl5
phosphorus pentachloride: PCl5
phosphorus trichloride: PCl3
phosphorus tribromide (homemade): PBr3
acetyl chloride: CH3COCl
propionyl chloride: CH3CH2COCl
oxalyl chloride: (COCl)2
bromine (homemade): Br2
cesium tribromide (homemade): CsBr3
thallium(I) nitrate: TlNO3
perchloric acid: HClO4 (70%)
hydrazine hydrate: N2H4.H2O
chloroplatinic acid: H2PtCl6
chloroauric acid: HAuCl4
ruthenium oxide: RuO2
ammonium perrhenate: NH4ReO4
carbon disulfide: CS2

Mesa - 6-3-2014 at 02:05

I have only 2 that I could call 'favorites*'.

Ammonium Paratungstate - (NH4)10(H2W12O42)
Lead Carbonate - PbCO3

*due to the difficulties I had preparing them from the base metals(Without H2O2:()

Praxichys - 6-3-2014 at 05:45

Hg - becoming more and more difficult to find for cheap in the USA. Hard to recover sometimes. Saving salts in the Hg waste bin. Recovery not always 100%.

HClO4 - Difficult to prepare at home without serious risk. Expensive.

N2H4·H2O - Annoying to prepare at home, low yields. Useful for guanidine, azides, tetrazoles.

Benzene - Surprisingly difficult to find OTC due to cancer scares. Many derivatives are useful reagents and have trivial preps from benzene. Home synthesis yields are low.

Acetic Anhydride - Hard to prepare at home. Restricted chemical, hard to buy.

P, P2O5, PCl3 - Nearly impossible to get in the USA.

HF - Would be nice. Hard to prepare at home in quantity.

Zyklon-A - 6-3-2014 at 08:47

Quote: Originally posted by Maya  

Any others one would add to an exotic WISH list like this?

Are you saying that this is a "wish list"? I thought it was a list of exotic chemicals that we already have.

confused - 6-3-2014 at 08:56

Mineral acids
NaOH, KOH
Bromine
mercury

all of which i want, but can't get where i live due to legislation :(

the lab has plenty of acids though, sadly, im not allowed to bring any back home

papaya - 6-3-2014 at 09:51

Where's your KClO3 ?

Maya - 6-3-2014 at 14:56

Are you saying that this is a "wish list"? I thought it was a list of exotic chemicals that we already have. >>>>>>>>>>

Yes to both. Although we have previously or currently owned above chems..........

I am simply trying to make a list of the most hard to get chem's that are
most useful for downstream synthesis........................................

I like Woelen's list and would add it to my own.


[Edited on 6-3-2014 by Maya]

Zyklon-A - 6-3-2014 at 15:12

Ok, that makes sense, I'm pretty sure Woelen's list is chemicals that he actually has, just saying.

Fantasma4500 - 7-3-2014 at 06:24

a person on this site can get HF within EU, supposing the person still have HF ''laying around'' and are willing to ship some to OP

my most beloved so to say is
NH4ClO4 in bulk
AN in bulk
H2SO4 anh.
H2O2
HNO3
HCl

handling P2O5 is abit frustrating, im having a fear that i will some time manage to get the full 250g to clump into a big cake from hell as its so hygroscopic, seemingly gets 10 mL HNO3 62% to +70*C by adding 3g slowly, theoretically to get it 100% anhydrous 10.8g would be needed

i would however really want following
superfine magnesium powder with 0% oxides (is that even possible?)
anh. Cu(NO3)2
Azides of some sort
a big fat square wolfram plate or other solid wolfram object, dont know why i like wolfram that much.. its just a lovely metal

but as a collector of chemicals i have quite the variety of stuff, even my most wanted chemicals i have at my finger tips if i dare let postal services deliver me a package

Maya - 7-3-2014 at 10:01
Quote:

a person on this site can get HF within EU, supposing the person still have HF ''laying around'' and are willing to ship some to OP




I've plenty HF, no worries .

you are right,

HCLO4 is a FAV

SO3 in some of its forms should be added as well

[Edited on 7-3-2014 by Maya]

Zyklon-A - 7-3-2014 at 10:09

Quote: Originally posted by Antiswat  
....
superfine magnesium powder with 0% oxides (is that even possible?)


Theoretically? Yes. I practice? Definitely not. If you ball milled Mg in an oxygen-free atmosphere, you would have (almost) 0% oxide. However, it would be completely unusable for any practical applications. If you brought it into air, it would immediately burst into flames, and would likely be impossible to put out.

Metallus - 7-3-2014 at 10:42

My list

KMnO4 (definitely my favorite compound since ever, oxidises anything, it's purple, I simply love it. I bring a sample with me wherever I go, lol)
K2Cr2O7 (the oxidant I use most of the time in order not to waste my precious purple oxidant)
Cl2 (My favorite alogen, I like the smell of chlorine)
K2S2O8 (Being an oxidiser fanatic, I cannot miss this one :) )
HCl (The acid I use the most, my "lair" smells like HCl vapours most of the time. Also, it gives out Cl2 when reacted with oxidisers and I like chlorine)
H2SO4 (I just love how violent it is. If other common acids are swords, this is a warhammer. Also, I use it to get Mn and Cr anydrides)
CuCl2/CuSO4 (I find myself using copper salts often because of their colours and redox reactions)
Pb(NO3)2 (Cannot say :P)
CoCl2 (Love the colors and my thesis was based on cobalt/ruthenium catalysts)
NaOH (Most used base)

Oh jk, it's a wish list thread :/, thought it was a ''list your favorite compounds''


[Edited on 8-3-2014 by Metallus]

Brain&Force - 7-3-2014 at 20:49

Metallus: KMnO4 is probably the most versatile chemical you can get your hands are. It doesn't get better than a powerful oxidizer, excellent redox titration standard, quick firestarter, and a pretty strong dye, all in one package. I have some solution, but not actual crystals
Hydrogen peroxide is quite a useful reagent due to it being a "clean" oxidizer - no extra spectator ions in solution. I only have 3% though.
I'd like to burn a whole ribbon of magnesium someday, but I can't find an OTC source.
I'd also want either neodymium or holmium (due to the strong absorption band effects) as well as ytterbium (extremely green flame with a strong IR component. It's being considered for use in decoy flares).
Some strontium metal would be interesting, as would sodium or potassium. (I've never seen sodium potassium in water.)
Perchloric acid as hydronium perchlorate would be fun, as would the carborane superacid.
Thallium(I) hydroxide (heavy metal strong base, a very weird combination). But extremely toxic as well.
I like transition metal dioxides for some reason (VO2, ReO2, RuO2, MnO2, CrO2, OsO2, ZrO2, HfO2, CeO2, TbO2, PrO2, UO2, PuO2, TcO2, etc.)

OctanitroC - 16-3-2014 at 11:17

I'd say my favorite has to be acetic acid - readily available and acetates are fun! Love copper compounds (especially acetate and carbonate) for the colors. And potassium chlorate for oxidizing. Heck, I like all the showy compounds (ooh, pretty colors!) :)

chloric1 - 30-6-2024 at 17:16

For me it’s basically anything chlorine and chlorine oxide related: sodium and calcium hypochlorite, sodium dichloroisocyanurate, TCCA, Hydrochloric acid, chlorine gas, chlorine dioxide sodium, potassium, barium and strontium chlorates, and all perchlorates.

Nitric acid because it smells like diesel exhaust from olden days. Plus it’s a savage oxidizer and can find different uses based on how dilute or concentrated it is. Useful from 5% to 100%!!!! I’d like to add that nitrated aromatics smell wicked and are generally highly toxic! Para Chloro-Nitrobenzene forms nice crystals. I wish ai kept it and tried to reduce it. Maybe I would have got good at making dyes who knows.

Oxalic acid-rust remover, concrete etcher, and wood bleach! Also forms interesting oxalato complexes with transition metals!

Citric acid-Weak but very useful acid- use for descaling restrooms, coffee pot and water distiller. Mixed with 3-6% hydrogen peroxide for removing blood stains from fabrics, rust removal, ph buffer and adjuster, effective chelation of calcium and magnesium ions at pH 10-11, also forms useful metal chelates.

Sodium and potassium phosphates, pyrophosphates and polyphosphates. Superb cleaners,emulsifiers and chelation agents.

Nonionic surfactants-can be used for acid or alkaline cleansers


[Edited on 7/1/2024 by chloric1]

Sulaiman - 30-6-2024 at 23:29

I've been relocating a lot lately,
and had to dispose of chemicals frequently,
so I know what I value:

Au powder, some donated, mostly low-yield e-waste recovery,
I love the colours in solution and with chlorine,
Hg, liquid metal! And it's shiny-shiny. Inconveniently toxic chemistry, some physics uses.
RedP, I, not really useful but hard to replace.
Miscellaneous metals in various shapes.
AgNO3, it took several slow recrystalisations.
KI, just in case.
A few samples of m.p. references

[Edited on 1-7-2024 by Sulaiman]

paulll - 30-6-2024 at 23:45

Quote: Originally posted by chloric1  
For me it’s basically anything chlorine and chlorine oxide related: sodium and calcium hypochlorite, sodium dichloroisocyanurate, TCCA, Hydrochloric acid, chlorine gas, chlorine dioxide sodium, potassium, barium and strontium chlorates, and all perchlorates.


Wrong halogen! I mean, you've presented a strong argument for its endless utility, but, NI3, purple smoke.

For me it's
Iodine
Red P
A bottle of actual lab-supply conc. H2SO4 - I'll use drain cleaner unless there's some kind of, "company's coming over," situation involving sulphuric acid
Homebrew Et20

Precipitates - 1-7-2024 at 00:42

Do we have a Most Behated Chemical thread ;)

I like the smell of chlorine and iodine, but bromine is like a horrible marriage of the two.

But generally, as long as they are not actively trying to harm me, I love them!

Screenshot 2024-07-01 at 15.47.28.png - 179kB

From Horrible Science: Painful Poison

[Edited on 1-7-2024 by Precipitates]

Neal - 1-7-2024 at 08:08

This thread is 10 years old.

I'm a simp. But my favorite are going to be gold and platinum, wouldn't mind having those as a gift.

Hydrogen peroxide, especially at higher concentrations.

As well as things that do chemiluminescence, would need high concentrations of H2O2 and NaOCl for red chemiluminscence.

And phosphors too of course.

What would be a next-step for me? What would be a good category of chemicals for me because anti-bacterial/anti-viral and phosphorescence/chemiluminescence?

Mateo_swe - 7-7-2024 at 19:09

Sulfuric acid!

I don't know if this one is my most bellowed chemical but it´s the chemical that is mostly used in various procedures over all.
It´s a universal chemical with so many uses.
Really a shame it´s restricted in many parts of the world.

SnailsAttack - 30-7-2024 at 03:06

copper acetate is a gift from the lord above

Favorite Chemicals

MadHatter - 30-7-2024 at 08:40

Oxidizers.

charley1957 - 30-7-2024 at 10:07

Not too long ago I bought a keg (15.5 gallons) of 98% sulfuric acid for around $100. Cheapest way I could buy the stuff even though it was way more than I’d ever need. If it weren’t for having to ship Hazardous Materials expensive, I’d spread the wealth around. I store it in glass carboys, and it is beautifully clear. Bought it from an oilfield chemical supply outfit here in Texas. I think it was called Brenntag Southwest.