Hey, SM, I have come to you all in need of your ideas.
Today, I received a five pound bag(~two kilograms) of urea that I bought on impulse after hearing about the low prices that it was going for. Now,
after reading some information from various sources and obtaining a mild headache, I have come to find that most of uses of urea involve the infamous
cyanide—something I won't ever attempt to synthesize until I have the correct equipment, and at least a few years, if not, degrees in chemistry.
I ask of you, this: What can I do with this urea that doesn't involve me synthesizing illegal drugs or cyanides?
Ugh...I'm going to go rest now, as my headache seems to be getting worse
[Edited on 7/18/2016 by Velzee]Bert - 18-7-2016 at 11:38
Plant food? It's a good Nitrogen source. Probably won't kill yourself.
Some possibility of killing yourself, I admit. But more fun.
I probably should have clarified: I'm fine with any idea as long as it doesn't involve cyanides
Cryolite. - 18-7-2016 at 12:03
Urea is actually an extremely useful source of solid ammonia in the lab-- it can be used to synthesize amides from carboxylic acids, for example.
In addition, a Hoffman degradation of urea using hypochlorite bleach yields hydrazine in about 50% yield. There are videos of this on YouTube if you
are interested.
You could try preparing the urea-hydrogen peroxide adduct, a useful solid source of neutral-pH hydrogen peroxide.
Transamination of amines gives substituted ureas, which are always interesting.
Baribituric acid can be synthesized from malonic acid and urea in good yield. This is not a drug, but some of its derivatives are.
Urea nitrate and nitrourea are high explosives, but they are rather insensitive.
These were just some ideas off the top of my head. If all else fails, you could always use it as fertilizer.
