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Author: Subject: Whats the most dangerous chemical you've ever synthesized?
Sulaiman
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[*] posted on 5-10-2016 at 15:43


conc. nitric acid with almost any metal looks very calm ... for a few seconds
then a brown cloud of very nasty NO2 tries to choke or kill you ... take care




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[*] posted on 5-10-2016 at 16:18


I can't think of anything that I have done that is scarier than chlorine gas. Mind you, it was a bit uncontrolled. (cough!)


On second thoughts my accidental production of trichloramine was a bit memorable. But I think this question is very much relative to the quantity produced. A little bang in a test tube (ok, a fairly large bang then) really does not compare with evacuating the lab until the air becomes breathable again.




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[*] posted on 5-10-2016 at 16:51


Quote: Originally posted by TheNerdyFarmer  
Just started so probably nitric acid.

(Considering I forgot to delude the HCL and had a runaway reaction. :(OOPS! )
How exactly were you using HCl to make nitric acid?



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[*] posted on 5-10-2016 at 22:28


The nastiest I ever had, in terms of toxicity is the little accident I had with synthesizing mercury(I) arsenate and mercury(II) arsenate.

I prepared both salts, fortunately only in small quantitity (maybe 300 mg of each). I allowed them to dry, each on a piece of thick white teflon, which is very smooth and from which they can be easily scraped when dry.

I had these two little piles of these toxic chemicals drying on my workbench, on a dry and cold winter day. One day later, I decided that the material was nice and dry and I carefully took away both pieces of teflon. While doing so, I see two little fountains of dust, and both little piles spray around and all of the material is gone.

I immediately left the room, closed the door and the next day, I carefully mopped up everything in the workplace with a wet towel.

What happened was that the teflon built up a lot of static charge when moved away from the workbench and as a result, all solid fine material was expelled, all little particles were forced into the air by means of electrostatic forces. I learned that using smooth teflon as a container for dry powders is not good at all.




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[*] posted on 6-10-2016 at 03:12


As I was reading your post I thought

... mmm... teflon ... what a clever idea ... ????? ... oh, of course, what a dumb idea ...... wtf is mercury arsenate used for? .... mercury AND arsenic ... close call !







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[*] posted on 11-10-2016 at 02:32


Liquid Chlorine; 200ml in a glass bottle sitting on a bench has a very unnerving quality about it. Is the vapour pressure going to exceed the bottle's capabilities, theory says it will be ok? If theory is wrong, how far and fast can I run holding my breath? A close second is a bottle of liquid SO2; the runner up was the Sulfuryl Chloride made shortly afterwards, it has a smell that really means business and demands to be taken seriously. I was young and ballsy then.
Nitroglycerine gave me the fear of god while making it, but in hindsight wasn't all that bad. HMTD! I still have scars.
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[*] posted on 15-4-2018 at 13:21


Hg2(NO3)2, i thought it was Hg(II) as I dunno Hg has +1 state at that time
unknown blue liq formed while bubbling NO2 into test tube cooled w dry ice, during metal + HNO3 rxn
Ni nitrate, dissolving CuNi coins
unprocessed Na2S, S+NaOH
Pb(NO3)2, PbO+HNO3
Pb(OAc)2, PbO+AcOH
Cl2(l), bubbling Cl2 into dry ice cooled test tube from MnO2+HCl
unknown Cl-butanes, bubbling Cl2 into C4H10(l) in dry ice cooled test tube, along w a small explosion producing some black ash

probably all of them IIRC
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[*] posted on 15-4-2018 at 13:29


I’d have to go with either NO2 or Cl2, I suffered exposure symptoms once from the NO2 for a couple of weeks but luckily neither were made on large scale. I actually deal with NO2 somewhat frequently but it’s literally only in minute quantities as byproducts, nowhere near enough to cause harm from atmospheric exposure but it does leave that characteristic bleach like odour hanging around..

IMO, gases are the worst common poisons to be dealing with, of course there are explosives and toxic salts but these can actually be contained and dealt with easily. Breathing in poisons is by far the fastest and most efficient route to exposure and they’re quite difficult to contain, especially with continuous generation where pressure may build up and cause strong leaks.




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[*] posted on 15-4-2018 at 14:18


NO2 isn't anywhere near as unpleasant as the halogens imo. Also, spend the £35 or whatever on a proper respirator, it's well worth it.
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[*] posted on 15-4-2018 at 14:21


Depends on what it is, if you’re dealing with fluorine and chlorine then they’re quite bad, but with bromine it’s not overly hazardous unless you leave it sitting in an open container, and obviously iodine is always a solid unless heated and doesn’t readily sublime at standard conditions. I’ve even vapourised a small amount of iodine before creating a pale purple haze which filled a room but suffered no ill effects from it, whereas if that were enough NO2 or chlorine to do the same then you’d probably be dead within minutes!



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[*] posted on 15-4-2018 at 15:17


When I was in grad school, I made hydrocarbons that later would ligate to metal centers, forming catalysts. But they had to be made enantiomerically pure, so the later catalysis would be chiral. To do this, the synthetic substrate would first have to be bound to a natural product that would itself chirally direct the synthesis. One of these natural products was a very potent neurotoxin, similar structurally and in effect to ricin. Micrograms could kill if inhaled, ingested, or gotten into the eye. Most of the time I handled it in a dry box, so I was pretty safe.

I'd rather handle liquid phosgene than that, though. And I have.

[Edited on 4/15/18 by PirateDocBrown]




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[*] posted on 28-4-2018 at 21:48


Bromine (gnarly stuff)
Purified and concentrated sulfuric acid using the H2O2 method, boiling H2SO4 in an open vessel, super sketchy in my book.
H2S (I believe this was accidentally generated when I reacted NaHSO4 and NaBr in solid form at very high temps in an attempt to generate HBr, definitely a rotten egg smell)
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[*] posted on 3-5-2018 at 20:58


Quote: Originally posted by fusso  
unknown blue liq formed while bubbling NO2 into test tube cooled w dry ice, during metal + HNO3 rxn

Sounds like nitrous acid. It's more stable at lower temperatures, at room temperature and above it tends to disproportionate and form NO2 among other things. I've only ever seen it in cold solutions, and even then it doesn't last very long.

For me, the least pleasant was probably bromoacetophenone. It's a really irritating tear gas, but there's a delay between when you're exposed to it and when you start feeling the effects. The one time I made the stuff, I just had my face buried in a towel with my eyes and nose running directly into it for the better part of an hour.

Also, cyanide gas. Alkali cyanides really aren't as dangerous as people imagine they are, if you're just not stupid or careless about it. But trace amounts of cyanide gas are almost inevitable. Fortunately, it has a distinctive smell that you just have to immediately be on the alert for whenever you're using these salts. It also helps to know if you can smell it or not. Most people can, but if you're one of those that can't, it's really important that you're aware of that. It's lighter than air though, so it's a lot safer to use outdoors. In fact, they'd tried to use it as a chemical weapon in World War I, but couldn't because it wouldn't stay near the ground. So they mostly resorted to using chlorine and phosgene. :(

[Edited on 5/4/18 by Melgar]




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[*] posted on 3-5-2018 at 23:59


Liquid Bromine
Uranyl Nitrate
Chlorine
White Phosphorus
Piranha solution




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[*] posted on 4-5-2018 at 01:22


I was looking up nuclear related stuff yesterday and stumbled across uranyl nitrate, very cool compound indeed. It’s such a nice colour and has the neat effect of being triboluminescent too as I’m sure you’ve likely discovered.



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[*] posted on 4-5-2018 at 01:45


I was about 14 when I made, garbed in a military grade gas mask, full hazmat suit, and thick goves, by the reaction of UO2 with nitric acid. I observed the formation of a light yellow-green compound and then washed it down the utility sink. I only made a very small amount and once I was done I disposed of it. I never was able to observe the triboluminescence.



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[*] posted on 11-5-2018 at 13:57


flush that shit ese someone opened the pig pen

but various halogens


kinda suprized no one in this thread mentioned explosives though.... considering the sub forum and all :P guess swim does not post here

[Edited on 11-5-2018 by coppercone]
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[*] posted on 14-5-2018 at 06:38


Chloropicrin, TATP, Diiodoacetylene, Hydrazine, Hydrazoic acid, Chlorine Dioxide, etc etc



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[*] posted on 14-5-2018 at 07:26



The things I've made which have made me most nervous have been chromium chloride--(the fumes are incredibly volatile and toxic), potassium chromate/dichromate, roasting of chromium metal with sodium hydroxide and various other chromium and heavy metal compounds I've extracted from igneous rocks such as arsenic salts.
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[*] posted on 14-5-2018 at 11:48


phosgene, liquid HCN and dimethylsulfate in vapor phase
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[*] posted on 15-5-2018 at 01:30


Yesterday i tried to remove my pbr5 from pcl3, pbr3 mixture so i heated it up but nothing happened. I ended up with it boiling at 300C and filling almost all my condenser.
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[*] posted on 15-5-2018 at 07:33


Quote: Originally posted by coppercone  



kinda suprized no one in this thread mentioned explosives though.... considering the sub forum and all :P guess swim does not post here

[Edited on 11-5-2018 by coppercone]


Actually, I do post here, but never made anything more dangerous than dimethylsulfate.







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[*] posted on 17-5-2018 at 13:33


Actually, per a recent thread comment:

"Not sure if I mentioned the results of the reaction of NaOCl (chlorine bleach), NaCl and oxalic acid previously on SM, the advice is a warning, the reaction is exceptionally vigorous liberating Cl2 and CO2 per my experience!

Reactions:

H2C2O4 + 2 NaOCl --> Na2C2O4 (s) + 2 HOCl

2 NaCl + H2C2O4 --> Na2C2O4 (s) + 2 HCl

HCl + HOCl = Cl2 + H2O

Cl2 + H2C2O4 --Ferrous--> 2 HCl + 2 CO2

Reference on the action of chlorine with oxalic acid with a Fe(ll) or Mn(lll) impurity, see https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja01208a024 and https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja01198a052 , where a chain reaction mechanism has been proposed. "

where I may have dissolved the H2C2O4 in transition metal containing tap water. My point is that it is not just how problematic the substance is (like chlorine), but also how one mismanages its preparation!
--------------------------------------

I also recall a reported lab accident involving the creation of N2O that was exposed to a side reaction evolving hydrogen (another chain reaction event, see http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/1975/f1/f19757... ). The explosion/fire ball produced extreme high temperatures resulting in severe burns. One does not usually think of Laughing Gas as potentially dangerous.

[Edited on 17-5-2018 by AJKOER]
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[*] posted on 18-5-2018 at 10:07


I haven't handled anything super dangerous... the most dangerous is probably peroxymonosulfuric acid, mercuric nitrate, or perhaps chromium (VI) oxide peroxide... I have produced gaseous hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide but only in very tiny amounts, and I do remember doing some uranium chemistry on a very small scale in high school....



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[*] posted on 16-7-2018 at 18:39


TATP on accident. I put a couple videos up on YouTube. Here is the shorter one at around 1.5 minutes so it's easier to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2WSAgKFjrk
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