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your top 10 favorite chemicals


Comandante

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  • 1 year later...

i was to tired to make a new tread so i just found this one :P

 

1.sulfuric acid - great acid,makes almost every other acid i could want,and good at dissolving 100% cotton shirts

2.nitric acid - like YT put it "what every acid should be" but i wish it was easier to get...

3.protium hydroxide - my most common solvent

4.bromine - my first halogen i every synthesized

5.iodine - smells good until you get a foot near the stuff

6.chlorine - very reactive, combines with may elements in free state

7.picric acid - help me get a grip on lab safety and how hard the people at the hazardous waste disposal plants work(im getting rid of SOON(or at least most of))

8.ethanol - another great solvent

9.t-butyl methyl ether - if you want to have a good ether for a while, use this, and will want some soon(just heard all around praise about it)

10.sodium chloride - when you want flavor you got it, also when you need HCl quick

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1: Sulfuric Acid- undisputed king of acids in importance. Now if only I could get some that isn't brownish and sold as drain cleaner....

2: Mercury- *shakes it around it's little bottle. squee!!!* I have a very unhealthy love of toxic things and mercury is way up there. Plus it's so cool looking, makes good thermometers work, and is used for ever-useful amalgams.

3: TCCA- trichloroisocyanuric acid. The possibilities are endless with this close relative of N-chlorosuccinimide. Not the least of which are radical chlorination, chlorine generation, haloform reaction en-mass, oxidation of amines to nitriles, oxidative decarboxylation of alpha-amino acids, ether oxidation (to esters), etc. Plus you can buy it by the bucketfull in lots of stores.

4: Thiourea Dioxide- A very powerful over-the-counter available reducing agent. Not much has been done with it yet, but I believe it will be recognized as a must-have for amateur chemistry in due time due to it’s (claimed) versatility. In the meantime, some pretty blue shades can be had by using it to reduce indigo dye powder. The ability to go from ketones to alcohols (with no hydrides anywhere around) in high yields opens a ton of doors (and holds promise for lots of other transformations)

5: Chloroform- Something I made early on in my experimentation. Smells really good and sweet. So far, other chlorinated hyrocarbons are all disappointing smelling. Good solvent and who doesn’t love CDCl3 for NMR?

6: Nitric Acid- I’ve got none, but it’s got a list of uses a mile long. One I’ve been meaning to try is paracetamol  p-benzoquinone (or p-chloranil depending on how much HNO3 you use) via aqua regia oxidation. Can dissolve just about anything when paired with HCl. Aromatic nitro compounds are also integral building blocks for larger molecules, being precursors to aniline/azo/halide/cyano/phenol groups via reduction/diazotization/sandmeyer reactions. Plus picric acid is so incredibly yellow and I want a swatch of cloth dyed with it.

7: 6,6-dibromoindigo- easily the most expensive dye in the history of human civilization; tyrian purple. This is the one Alexander the great had a whole outfit dyed in just to show off how rich and powerful he was. One of the first chemicals I ever wanted to synthesize and I have plans for it lined up this summer.

8: Iodine- smells great except up close. Beautiful as gas. Excellent as a leaving group. Very pretty compounds like lead iodide. Lots of synthetic utility.

9: Platinum- ‘nuff said.

10: (E)-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzyl)-8-methylnon-6-enamide – mmmm. Spicy.

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Adrenaline - I am addicted to this molecule.

 

Noradrenaline, Dopamine, Serotonin - duh, I like them because you can get high on them.

 

Mercury - It is nice to look at.

 

Neon - it makes lovely colours.

 

White phosphorus - it glows in the dark.

 

Glucose, sucrose and fructose - they taste lovely, and give you energy. :D

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Neon only really makes one colour. The "neon" lights we talk about are often other gases entirely. Xenon, Argon, Krypton are common. also nitrogen and mixtures of gases

 

Not with very selective absorption filters neon doesn't ;) Take a peek at the spectra sometime (ask the physics dept. They probably have the right piece of equipment. the name escapes me) Granted, AFAIK, they are all red, yellow, and orange, but still :) Very cool stuff.

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1. Oxygen - keeps me alive and makes all our combustion processes work - pretty good for a waste product from agriculture.

2. Water - keeps me alive, but sometimes makes you wet, therefore no 1st place

3. Sugar - keeps me alive, and it's yummy, especially in combination with a mix of #2 and #4, also good for creating a bit of #2 and #10 upon combustion (digestion)

4. Caffeine - I love the smell of burnt coffee in the morning

5. Ethanol - keeps me alive in the weekends, also plays an important role in evolution and will be (one of the) fuels of the future

6. Steel - Hard, cold, useful, cheap, *bling* - engineers never have a wet dream, we have a hard, cold, shiny dream (I'll deny ever saying this).

7. Hydrogen - makes our sun, which makes life possible. Makes #2 when combined with #1 at elevated temperatures and/or pressures. Might therefore be a fuel of the future.

8. SiO2, glass - my favorite chemical to contain a bit of #2 and #5, quite inert, cheap, and also makes a fine wall that you can look through (also known as "window"). And almost the same thing, sand, is also pretty awesome if it's applied in large granular fields at the edge of the large basin of #2. In other words: I love the beach.

9. Plastics - even more than #8 not really 1 chemical, but more a group. Still, so useful, and one of the few products of oil that does not immediately turn into #2 and #10 when it's used.

10. CO2 - a gas that completes the carbon cycle, which we actively screw up now. Still, it's also a main component in burps and farts, and makes the beer foam.

 

I cannot believe the crap all you put in your lists. If I ever encounter a planet full of deadly toxic materials, acids and explosives, I'll tell you. In the meantime, I will be looking for the stuff in my list. They make me happy.

 

Sometimes I really believe that engineers and scientists differ more from each other than men and women. You're a crazy bunch :D

*goes into hiding*

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