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Once again thanks for the reply, I am willing to have tests done but I need a good lab, I have contacted many and most say they are not fit to do testing like this etc. Does someone have a recommendation? I will get the tests required done and posted up here. I wish I knew a lot more but this will sound odd to you guys, we are a company that deals in Incense, I am sure most are familiar with fragrance or natural Incense? Well that's what we manufacture and sell. There will be a couple of products we will stumble upon that are like the one above. A company brought into the market the incense above (I've had a similar experience before, someone else brought something similar to the product above before) what usually I find happens (may not be the case this time) is instead of it actually being some sort of incense (the usual with bamboo, resin, etc) it ends up being a cosmetic ingredient or a food/feed ingredient. Basically this product above is being packaged as "magic incense" for novelty use and being sold, it's a pretty popular product. So to stay in the game naturally, we would also need to produce it and get our share of the market. This is why, I don't have too much chem experience (I've done basic chem in school etc but nothing that would really get me far). I sent to one lab before, they did a PIXE and CHNO test, from what I understood, CHNO test shows the amount of carbon, hydro, nitro, oxygen in the substance? And PIXE test is I believe what it could be contaminated with or contain, sulfur, chlorine, etc. It's too long to post up here, so if you guys could message me your email I'd be glad to send that. As for the rest of the tests, willing to get it done, just need someone reliable that can do it. Being that it's being passed off as an Incense novelty item, they have no requirement to give me the real name, use, or ingredients etc. My guess is that it's something that's been some how worked, a substance that's been crystallized, or some substance washed with something, or even a powder/flake just bonded together using a non toxic liquid. The reason that at first I believed this was dl-methionine is because I had an optical rotation test performed on it, and they told me it was dl-m. Once I received dl-m, it's small flake type of substance when you touch it, and shimmers the same way, so I was pretty sure it was that. However, even after having recrystallized dl-m, the appearance was the same, dl-m also dissolves easily I find etc, but the problem is that dl-m with it's sulfuric odor, it defeats the purpose and I could figure out no method to modify it to have no odor. So from there I figured it probably isn't dl-m. Also a friend that looked at it for me, who's test info I have also posted above claims that it is for sure not dl-m. It could even be that it's just some sort of neutral filler, or that, it's being modified to not retain much and be a neutral filler. All that is important about it is that it's appearance and that it dissolves. Thanks again everyone. Just a side note, here's what PIXE test is "Proton Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE), provides a non-destructive, simultaneous analysis for the 72 inorganic elements from Sodium through Uranium on the Periodic Table for solid, liquid, and thin film (i.e. aerosol filter) samples."

Hey guys, thanks for the reply! I know I know, eating was a bad idea but I really need to find out what this is! That's not a good answer but I've been working on this for a while, I didn't really clarify that I'm not a chemist and I have no equipment, hence, why it's probably taken so long to get some where and well I still haven't really gotten anywhere, I just have research online. I really appreciate you looking out for me though, and next time I have an unknown substance, I won't eat it, I'll just bug you guys . "hypervalent_iodine"What do you mean that the crystals were very wet? Did I misunderstand something? Because they don't seem to be physically wet. They are very dry. I don't have many methods to test (hence why I can't even get the exact m.p) however, even if there was a cost, I would be willing to send some sample to whoever could help test this item and hopefully finally identify them. Really appreciate the help and I look forward to your replies.

Hey everyone, First off, thanks for taking a look even if it's just curiosity. I have a chemical or substance that I am trying to have identified, and I can't really seem to get much help or where to turn. I am not really good with chemistry so I was hoping for some good help on this forum. I will list pretty much everything valuable I know about the chemical, you can always msg for more details as I would be glad to discuss about it. Let's just say someone does help me solve this! It would mean a lot and I would be very happy to give some sort of reward on my own! $! At first I thought this chemical was methionine crystals, however, I was told that I am wrong. I have successfully managed to produce methionine crystals that look almost identical to this substance, the only problem is that methionine has a rotten odor that we cannot manage to remove so that did not work out. This substance is in cleavage like flakes, it could be that the flakes were hand pressed but I am not sure, it doesn't really seem to break down into fine powder, it always breaks into smaller and smaller flakes. If you feel the flakes between your fingers, they have a sort of oily and slippery feeling. You don't get a lot of shimmering powder stuck to your hands but yet small flakes. It is white/opaque lustrous and bright. I can't measure it's melting point but for sure it melts quite fast, meaning that it must be as low as 100-200 degrees. It melts into what I would almost say a brown and sticky substance almost like a sugar. Completely soluble in DMSO and methanol, not completely soluble in acetone, chloroform, or water. As far as I can tell it does completely dissolve in hot water. It's taste is salty at least this is what I find. It is odorless (if anything it smells like fresh water, slightly) I had a lab do a CHNO test and it has hydrogen only from water. Carbon (wt%) 0.22% Hydrogen (wt%) 4.45% Nitrogen (wt%) <0.05% Oxygen (wt%) 23.36% I also have PIXE test results you can message me for them as they are really long. I really hope to have all the help possible and solve this thing! Last photo "DSC09416" as you can see there is small flakes/powder stuck to the bag so it's sort of free flowing but yet at the same time contained. Maybe because it's been pressed or flaked together which makes it more contained and originally the substance is free flowing.

please delete topic. thank you.

Any ideas? Anyone? Thanks

Actually it doesn't matter. I just need methionine crystals, so as long as I can have this without the odor it will be fine. We don't care if methionine does not remain. I've tried with leucine as well but we did not have same result in appearance. So essentially if methionine does not remain all the better! Actually it doesn't matter. I just need methionine crystals, so as long as I can have this without the odor it will be fine. We don't care if methionine does not remain. I've tried with leucine as well but we did not have same result in appearance. So essentially if methionine does not remain all the better! Also, are you aware of another amino acid that naturally has no odor and almost identically resembles dl-methionine? I just need to crystals to look like dl-m crystals and have no odor. Thanks again.

Well the thing is, I don't believe there is an impurity in the product, dl-methionine just has a foul odor which I researched online, seems that it is sulfur caused, and it's probably the hydrogen sulfide that's causing the odor. Which is a normal characteristic of dl-m. I want to remove the hydrogen sulfide (if I am correct) this should remove the smell completely. Any idea on how I can target and remove/eliminate hydrogen sulfide from an amino acid? Thanks again.

Thanks for your reply, we sell it without smell, it's not used for food or feed, I order on a daily basis what is tested to be dl-methionine crystals with no odor, we've tried many tests with it and there is no odor from it at all! So instead of ordering all the time, we want to produce our own for more profit. There must be a way to remove the thiol? I don't have a strong background in chem. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Hello everyone, I am re-crystallizing dl-methionine and I am trying to remove it's smell. I would imagine that it's the sulfur that is causing the smell? Could anybody help me on how I can remove the sulfur from it? Or the odor some other way? Thank you!