Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Beginning Amateur Chemist

PrussianBlue - 3-3-2018 at 07:51

I'm a sophomore chemistry student with ambitions to continue on to graduate school, so naturally I've taken an interest in doing some chemistry at home. I will be purchasing my first set of organic glassware shortly and I'm looking for some interesting and useful reactions I can perform with my limited capabilities. Any suggestions?

After the order, my collection will consist of:
-A handful of RBFs (14/20)
-Liebig condenser with adaptors, thermometer, drying tube, etc.
-A dozen 50mL erlenmeyer flasks
-Two grad cylinders (10mL and 50mL)
-Corning PC-35 hot plate
-Random storage bottles

I know I'm missing some essentials, but I plan on accumulating more in the near future. Anything I should look for immediately?

[Edited on 3-3-2018 by PrussianBlue]

WouldSynthesizeForFood - 3-3-2018 at 08:12

Maybe some beakers, some multi-nekked RBFs, a separatory funnel, a stillhead.

Edit: What chemistry are you interested in? If you want to study organic chemistry, try something like Fischer esterification. It's simple, hard to mess up and doesn't require a lot of specialized glassware or hard-to-find reagents.

Also you'll need to gain experience in extractions, distillations and other routine procedures.

[Edited on 3-3-2018 by WouldSynthesizeForFood]

LearnedAmateur - 3-3-2018 at 08:20

I’ve heard that the oxidation of toluene (using KMnO4) to benzoic acid is a common undergraduate synthesis, I’m guessing that you may have already come across it? Easy enough to perform at home as well using the equipment you listed, and high purity work up is a simple task.

Ester synthesis/hydrolysis may also peak your interest due to the vast number available and the usefulness of the products which again should be easy to purify, but that depends on the specifics. Plus you’ll get to work with and make some pretty nice smelling compounds, which is satisfying in itself.

There’s also the possibility of reactions involving pharmaceuticals too, nothing illegal of course though. For example the hydrolysis of paracetamol to 4-aminophenol, hydrolysis of aspirin to salicylic acid which can then be decarboxylated to phenol, or you can use other household products as feedstock like making terephthalic acid from soda bottles. It’s all about what sort of areas in organic chemistry interest you most, and seeing where you can apply your knowledge really. I’d recommend looking at the ingredients in products to see what can be made use of, depending on how easy they are to extract they can be used as useful starting points for syntheses or find their way elsewhere into your lab.

NEMO-Chemistry - 3-3-2018 at 08:36

Personal protection equipment of high quality before all else. I know its a given but just making sure its spelled out.

Drug dealer cheap scales are real cheap and pretty good.
Spatulas!! Took me ages to get one and now its my fave kit.
Filter funnel with a glass frit you can now get cheap on ebay, i got a 250ml one for £10, its a bit course but does the biz.

Metacelsus - 3-3-2018 at 08:54

Honestly, if you're a sophomore chemistry student I would suggest trying to join a university research lab instead of trying to make your own lab at home. A university lab would be vastly better equipped, especially in analytical equipment (GCMS, IR, NMR, HPLC), than anything possible to set up at home.

Besides, if you wish to go to grad school you'll need a recommendation letter from a professor who is familiar with your lab skills. This is easiest to get if you work in a professor's lab.

Feel free to U2U me if you want more advice on getting started with research.

PrussianBlue - 3-3-2018 at 09:38

Thanks for all of the advice. I've actually done a bit of soil analysis research this year with a faculty member, but my organic lab experience has been rather slim. I have also been offered a summer research position at another university in which I would be synthesizing ionic fluids. My primary interest is organic synthesis, so that's what I've been looking at for stuff at home.

As for the equipment suggestions, some of the RBFs will be multi-necked and I will have all necessary stillheads and vacuum adaptors. A scale, sep funnel, and filter funnels will hopefully be scavenged on ebay in the near future.

Also, how would you all suggest dealing with chemical waste? I'm planning on working on semi-macro scale and avoiding anything that is very toxic to the environment and myself.

Texium - 3-3-2018 at 09:43

Quote: Originally posted by Metacelsus  
Honestly, if you're a sophomore chemistry student I would suggest trying to join a university research lab instead of trying to make your own lab at home. A university lab would be vastly better equipped, especially in analytical equipment (GCMS, IR, NMR, HPLC), than anything possible to set up at home.

Besides, if you wish to go to grad school you'll need a recommendation letter from a professor who is familiar with your lab skills. This is easiest to get if you work in a professor's lab.
If you have some extra cash and a decent space for a lab, why not both? I outlined my situation in this post: https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=80...

I think working in a research lab and having a lab at home is really the best of both worlds.

@PrussianBlue: You should look up the research interests of the professors at your university. They should have them posted on the university website. At least one of them is surely interested in organic synthesis, and they'd probably be happy to take on an interested student. It seems like many undergrads find the idea of organic synthesis cool, but also rather daunting. The organic labs at my university have a high turnover of undergrads.

[Edited on 3-3-2018 by Texium (zts16)]

PrussianBlue - 3-3-2018 at 10:01

Quote: Originally posted by Texium (zts16)  
Quote: Originally posted by Metacelsus  
Honestly, if you're a sophomore chemistry student I would suggest trying to join a university research lab instead of trying to make your own lab at home. A university lab would be vastly better equipped, especially in analytical equipment (GCMS, IR, NMR, HPLC), than anything possible to set up at home.

Besides, if you wish to go to grad school you'll need a recommendation letter from a professor who is familiar with your lab skills. This is easiest to get if you work in a professor's lab.
If you have some extra cash and a decent space for a lab, why not both? I outlined my situation in this post: https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=80...

I think working in a research lab and having a lab at home is really the best of both worlds.

@PrussianBlue: You should look up the research interests of the professors at your university. They should have them posted on the university website. At least one of them is surely interested in organic synthesis, and they'd probably be happy to take on an interested student. It seems like many undergrads find the idea of organic synthesis cool, but also rather daunting. The organic labs at my university have a high turnover of undergrads.

[Edited on 3-3-2018 by Texium (zts16)]


I've spoken with both the organic and inorganic professors (the latter of which is my advisor) about research, but the money flow for paid summer positions is not ideal at the time. However, now that I have an offer along with more pending applications, I will certainly be participating in research outside of my home institution.

Regarding the extra cash for starting a lab, this is where I've (as expected) have run into roadblocks. However, my desire to simply 'do more chemistry' has allowed me to rationalize spending an acceptable amount of money. This is likely futile, but any aid in the equipment acquisition department would be immensely welcomed:D

Texium - 3-3-2018 at 11:37

Quote: Originally posted by PrussianBlue  
I've spoken with both the organic and inorganic professors (the latter of which is my advisor) about research, but the money flow for paid summer positions is not ideal at the time. However, now that I have an offer along with more pending applications, I will certainly be participating in research outside of my home institution.
You might be able to start out on a volunteer basis for a while, and see about getting paid once you've learned the ropes. Professors are more likely to want to pay you if they see you as a valuable asset to their lab rather than another student who needs regular instruction and supervision. That's essentially what I did.

aga - 3-3-2018 at 11:40

If you wish to do any synthesis, it basically comes down to what equipment you actually need.

For example, it is perfectly reasonable to use an old jam jar rather than a borosilicate beaker to make Schweitzer's solution to dissolve cellulose.

It would be rather hard and unsafe to use just a jam jar to decarboxylate salicylic acid to produce phenol.

The main thing is to research the intended reaction and analyse the risks (and make preparations) before starting.

A great many things can be accomplished with basic equipment.

Welcome to ScienceMadness by the way :)