Got some fresh new Aniline yesterday, and immediately went to go make Phenyl Isocyanide, for it's odor. I added 5 mLs of Denatured EtOH to a tube,
added 1 mL Chloroform and 1 mL warm Aniline. I dissolved enough NaOH in H2O to make a roughly 20% solution and added two drops. I mixed it up, and let
it sit in a cup of warm/hot water for 30 minutes. Uncapped it, and took a big ol' whiff. To be honest, it wasn't bad at all. I don't know what the
fuss is about. C2I2 or Diiodoacetylene is about twice as bad. The odor is very peculiar, not good, but not terrible either. It's earthy, and savory
with a minor sweet undertone, once you get past the EtOH smell. It's 'hella' pungent, and takes you by surprise. It reminds me of a certain cooking
spice, but I can't place it. Now here's the weird thing. I decided to 'ramp up' the level of reaction concentration. No EtOH this time. I added 2mLs
Aniline and 2mLs Chloroform to a separate tube which was previously dried. 0.5g NaOH was dissolved into 3mLs of fresh, cool EtOH and a few drops added
to to tube with the Aniline and Chloroform. Tube was capped, shaken and put in warm water, like before. 30 minutes pass, and I open it up to check for
any odor. No odor. Now, why would there be no odor? I increased the concentration, with the same exact reactants under the exact same conditions. The
only difference was in the second reaction, there was no water and a lot less EtOH than the first.
[Edited on 18-5-2017 by Tetra]Tsjerk - 18-5-2017 at 08:41
Don't you need water in the reaction mechanism? I recall this reation to be used to show one of the components in very low concentrations but in an
aquatic environment Rhodanide - 18-5-2017 at 09:16
Don't you need water in the reaction mechanism? I recall this reation to be used to show one of the components in very low concentrations but in an
aquatic environment
Alright, that might be the issue. I added two drops of water to it last night but haven't opened it up since due to time constraints. I don't recall
water being absolutely required, but it'd make sense. I also forgot to add that there was a white precipitate of likely NaCl on the bottom. Makes
sense. zero - 25-2-2024 at 09:44
I made a similar product and also found the odor not that bad.
Phenylethyl isocyanide
Added scoop tip of phenylethylamine HCl to 5ml ethanol. Does not dissolve. Phenylethylamine HCl smells amazing.
Added 2ml of 20% by mass NaOH solution. Phenylethylamine quickly dissolves into the single phase mixture. Phenylethylamine has mild amine odor,
somewhat pleasant.
Added 4 drops of chloroform. It dissolves with no change.
Heated over small flame. While heating a burning odor is noticed, thought it was from the flame.
After mix starts to bubble heating is stopped and allowed to cool for a few minutes. A white precipitate is noticed.
After cooling, odor is wafted carefully in case of strong odor.
The odor was not overwhelmingly bad. The main odor was burning plastic. After some more wafting and deeper smelling a garbage like odor was apparent.
Deeper in the odor was an interesting "alien" smell that was never experienced before.
This isocyanide is not particularly strong and could be a good choice for a first experiment with one because it does not odorize an entire room.
Is this how all isocyanides smell or is this one particularly weak?
