Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Ok to buy NaBH4?

nannah - 10-8-2014 at 03:21

Hi, i just wanted to ask if it is "ok" to buy NaBH4 and other reagents like it?

I mean, could i get into trouble if i order some from APC or other company?

Thanks in advance. :)

/Nannah.

gdflp - 10-8-2014 at 04:06

Where do you live? If you live in the US, then you should be fine. It's not on any DEA lists AFAIK, and it's not scheduled as a precursor to chemical weapons. We had a member,*FWOOSH* who dropped of the board a few months back, who was ordering 25kg sacks of NaBH4 from China and reselling them on here. Unfortunately, he hasn't logged on since April and no one knows what happened to him, he had great prices on the NaBH4 and I didn't order from him in time:(

Burner - 10-8-2014 at 11:43

Quote: Originally posted by gdflp  
We had a member,*FWOOSH* who dropped of the board a few months back, who was ordering 25kg sacks of NaBH4 from China and reselling them on here. Unfortunately, he hasn't logged on since April and no one knows what happened to him, he had great prices on the NaBH4 and I didn't order from him in time:(


Be thankful that you did not order from him the second time around. He scammed a bunch of us, myself included.

CrimpJiggler - 12-8-2014 at 14:31

Its used in hydrogen fuel cells so it wouldn't be a problem ordering it from a company like that would it? Its ridiculous how we have to go jump through hoops to get our hands on commonly used reagents like these. We don't have the DEA in my country, but no suppliers here sell to individuals. A shower of bastards the DEA, I wish they'd hurry up and end this war on drugs farce so they'll get out of the way of regular chemists.

MrHomeScientist - 13-8-2014 at 05:30

Burner, how were you scammed? He seemed like a legit guy. I was mildly interested in buying some but never pulled the trigger on it.

Praxichys - 13-8-2014 at 07:54

Quote: Originally posted by MrHomeScientist  
Burner, how were you scammed? He seemed like a legit guy. I was mildly interested in buying some but never pulled the trigger on it.


I second the question. I lived close enough to meet *FWOOSH* in person. We were setting something up but I lost contact while more LiAlH4 was being ordered from PRC.

JAVA - 13-8-2014 at 08:31

You can call our "Dear friend" or eat a meal in his very clean Chinese restaurant.

Back to the topic: it's legal to buy it in Europe and USA. I have it but I'm not really excited so far by the reductions with NaBH4, it need much time before the reduction take place.

JefferyH - 14-8-2014 at 11:51

I don't think *FWOOSH* scammed anyone. I think he got in trouble with the law.

He was shipping his borohydride internationally and attempting to avoid hazmat secured packaging. Importing borohydride is not illegal but exporting it to countries where it is regulated out of ignorance, or even exporting it without proper hazmat requirements is quite illegal. *FWOOSH* didn't entirely seem like he knew what he was doing. He was making far too much money for it to be worth his time to scam anyone.
Quote: Originally posted by JAVA  
You can call our "Dear friend" or eat a meal in his very clean Chinese restaurant.

Back to the topic: it's legal to buy it in Europe and USA. I have it but I'm not really excited so far by the reductions with NaBH4, it need much time before the reduction take place.


Are you sure you mean NaBH4 and not cyanoborohydride? NaBH4 reductions are extremely rapid in my experience. Cyanoborohydride on the other hand is more stable and takes much longer.

Borohydride reductions are easy peasy if you can avoid the usage of water or alcohol. There are many ways to do this that are quite simple. It's surprising to me that anyone ever bothers in the first place attempting to use borohydride with water or alcohol present.

Burner - 14-8-2014 at 12:00

Quote: Originally posted by MrHomeScientist  
Burner, how were you scammed? He seemed like a legit guy. I was mildly interested in buying some but never pulled the trigger on it.


I paid for my the material and never received it. Tried to contact him and received no reply.

Burner - 14-8-2014 at 12:02

Quote: Originally posted by Praxichys  
Quote: Originally posted by MrHomeScientist  
Burner, how were you scammed? He seemed like a legit guy. I was mildly interested in buying some but never pulled the trigger on it.


I second the question. I lived close enough to meet *FWOOSH* in person. We were setting something up but I lost contact while more LiAlH4 was being ordered from PRC.


If he did not plan to scam myself (and others here) why did he fail to answer all of my attempts to contact him? Perhaps I was mistaken, but it sure felt like a scam to me. :(

gdflp - 14-8-2014 at 12:49

Well, he hasn't logged on since April so something could have happened to him which prevented him from continuing such as a car accident, family member becoming ill, etc. I find it unlikely that he would have shipped out 50kg of borohydride, to stop and scam a couple of people.