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Sulaiman
International Hazard
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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
CAUTION : Hobby Chemist, not Professional or even Amateur
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j_sum1
Administrator
Posts: 6333
Registered: 4-10-2014
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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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Texium
Administrator
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Location: Salt Lake City
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Mood: PhD candidate!
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How exactly were you using HCl to make nitric acid?
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woelen
Super Administrator
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Mood: interested
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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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Sulaiman
International Hazard
Posts: 3721
Registered: 8-2-2015
Location: 3rd rock from the sun
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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 !
CAUTION : Hobby Chemist, not Professional or even Amateur
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Chemetix
Hazard to Others
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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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fusso
International Hazard
Posts: 1922
Registered: 23-6-2017
Location: 4 ∥ universes ahead of you
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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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LearnedAmateur
National Hazard
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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.
In chemistry, sometimes the solution is the problem.
It’s been a while, but I’m not dead! Updated 7/1/2020. Shout out to Aga, we got along well.
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DavidJR
National Hazard
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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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LearnedAmateur
National Hazard
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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!
In chemistry, sometimes the solution is the problem.
It’s been a while, but I’m not dead! Updated 7/1/2020. Shout out to Aga, we got along well.
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PirateDocBrown
National Hazard
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Location: Minnesota
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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]
Phlogiston manufacturer/supplier.
For all your phlogiston needs.
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Leafs
Harmless
Posts: 19
Registered: 30-7-2017
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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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Melgar
Anti-Spam Agent
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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]
The first step in the process of learning something is admitting that you don't know it already.
I'm givin' the spam shields max power at full warp, but they just dinna have the power! We're gonna have to evacuate to new forum software!
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VSEPR_VOID
National Hazard
Posts: 719
Registered: 1-9-2017
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Mood: Fullerenes
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Liquid Bromine
Uranyl Nitrate
Chlorine
White Phosphorus
Piranha solution
Within cells interlinked
Within cells interlinked
Within cells interlinked
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LearnedAmateur
National Hazard
Posts: 513
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Location: Somewhere in the UK
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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.
In chemistry, sometimes the solution is the problem.
It’s been a while, but I’m not dead! Updated 7/1/2020. Shout out to Aga, we got along well.
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VSEPR_VOID
National Hazard
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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.
Within cells interlinked
Within cells interlinked
Within cells interlinked
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coppercone
Hazard to Others
Posts: 133
Registered: 5-5-2018
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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  guess swim does not post here
[Edited on 11-5-2018 by coppercone]
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Rhodanide
Hazard to Others
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Chloropicrin, TATP, Diiodoacetylene, Hydrazine, Hydrazoic acid, Chlorine Dioxide, etc etc
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Doped-Al2O3-fusion
Hazard to Self
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Registered: 11-4-2018
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Mood: Maniacal
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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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Aqua-regia
Hazard to Others
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Registered: 18-12-2006
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phosgene, liquid HCN and dimethylsulfate in vapor phase
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mackolol
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Registered: 26-10-2017
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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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SWIM
National Hazard
Posts: 970
Registered: 3-9-2017
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| Quote: Originally posted by coppercone |
kinda suprized no one in this thread mentioned explosives though.... considering the sub forum and all 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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AJKOER
Radically Dubious
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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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JJay
International Hazard
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Registered: 15-10-2015
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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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Doped-Al2O3-fusion
Hazard to Self
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Registered: 11-4-2018
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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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