Buying reagents vs making reagents

[Elite Engineer]

If you have the means to produce reagents that you need, is it usually better to make them rather than purchase from a supplier? Im not talking ammonium nitrate or NaOH that you can buy at a drug/ hardware store. I'm talking about chemical like potassium nitrate, hexane, sulfuric acid, glacial acetic acid, ether, etc.

 

Advantages of Home Synthesis:

 

-potentially faster

 

-make as much as you need/ make bulk

 

-potentially cheaper

 

-available if needed last minute

 

Advantages of Buying from a supplier:

 

-higher purity (most likely)

 

-probably more expensive

 

-regulations

 

-takes longer (shipping)

 

 

 

 

What's your opinion?

 

~EE

[Charles Sansom]

Higher purity is certainly an advantage of buying from a supplier, but seems to me that more expensive, regulations and long shipping times are certainly disadvantages. I've not synthesized many things, mostly have done it just to explore the science. In a lot of cases, you can't get as good a product with home synthesis, though that's not always true. It often comes down to economics: it's just not as cost effective in many cases to synthesize when you can buy the stuff ready-made for cheaper. However, the returns in experience and understanding when performing syntheses at home are hard to put a price on. I say synthesize it! Even if it costs more, it's a great exercise, you get something you can use, and you've gained experienced an invaluable educational opportunity.

[Hexogen]

Some people may not accept what I will say but...

 

Making them:

 

-It's funnier.You can also get some experience...

-No regulations.You don't need to tell someone what you are doing and why.You are just doing something..for some reasons.Seriously,how many times you needed something to do something productive but couldn't get that something because there are some idiots who use that something to harm?Good examples can be KClO4,NaKClO4,HNO3,NH4NO3,KNO3,NaNO3 and many others which can be used to make explosives,poisons or drugs.Even a "stupid" solvent like Acetone or Toluene can be hard or imposible to get without autorization in some countries...

 

Buying them:

 

-Boring

-Regulations.

-Ok...it may be safer and better but i would chose the first option.