I'm planning to make hydrogen sulfide not to commit suicide, but to synthesize dimethyl sulfide so I can make dimethyl sulfoxide. However,
due to the lack of an actual lab, I wanted to check my procedure here before I go any further in this synthesis. I plan to have the hydrogen sulfide
generated in a large Erlenmeyer flask with a rubber stopper and rubber tube leading into another flask (no stopper this time) that is full of methanol
with a layer of aluminum oxide on the bottom. I'd do this outside with a fan pointing away from the recieving flask, and would also wear a
half-facepiece respirator with a organic vapor/acid gas cartridge. Now, I ask: are these precautions enough? Or should I just give up on this idea?neptunium - 16-2-2015 at 12:00
so you want to start from a highly toxic gas to get a higly flamable and irritant volatile liquid (not to mention the smell) to get a chemical as
cheap and readily availlable as DMSO???
And even if you manage not to kill yourself you will not obtain any useful quantities of clean DMSO.
PS: This kind of thread goes to "Beginnings".Dr.Bob - 16-2-2015 at 19:09
Even parts per million will have the neighbors calling 911 and the gas company to find the gas leak. (Yes, I know that they use t-butyl thiol, but
many people can't tell one sulfide from another.)
I have to agree that making DMSO from H2S seems like a bad idea, it is easy to find DMSO, and oxidizing DMS to DMSO is not a trivial reaction, it is
not fast or efficient except maybe with ozone, and even that stinks badly at -78C. The DMS is volatile and evaporates easily, so it is hard to trap
at RT.
I would buy some DMSO any day before trying this. I don't even like handling DMS in the hood, as it leaves a lingering odor. In ppm's, it is
manageable, larger amounts stick bad.
