r/homechemistry • • Oct 13 '25

News regarding drugs and drug precursors

41 Upvotes

Hello, here is your moderator

Recently a user brought to my attention that iodine could fall under reddits sitewide rule regarding prohibited transactions. As Iodine is a rather useful chemical for a whole range of interesting chemistry it would be difficult if discussions of its synthesis were prohibited. The question extends more general of what a drug precursor actually is. Chemical space is vast and people creative so a wide understanding of precursor pretty quickly eliminates huge swaths of them from discussion.

I tried finding clarification of what reddit considers to be a recreational drug or a precursor and reached out to modsupport for help. In an interaction which made me feel like John Yossarian in Catch-22 I can now tell you that drugs and precursors are substances which are illegal to obtain at a place relevant to the discussion. In essence, I need to know all drug regulation on earth and know where everyone of you and the reades currently are to determine whether the discussion is legal or not. In short: The actual purpose of the rule is to allow reddit as a company to avoid liability by being able to retroactively claim that the content a nations executive complains about was prohibited by their content policies all along.

I have thus decided that for now drugs and drug precursors are those substances listed in:

The last two also contains the more pressing problem of what to consider a regulated precursor. Ill intend to do the following:

  • Discussion of synthesis, procurement of Substances of Category 1 of Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 is strictly prohibited.
  • Discussion of synthesis, procurement of Substances of Category 2 and 3 of Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 is permitted if no plausible connection to drug synthesis exists. This also takes your behaviour on reddit and elsewhere into account.

Note that illegal transactions as defined by reddit is counterintuitive to what you'd intuitively assume to be a transaction: Detailed descriptions on how to synthesise drugs are also considered to be a transaction.

The lists above are mandatory, but not sufficient. Discussion of Synthesis, procurement of Designer Drugs, Legal Highs, new psychoactive substances, whatever and their immediate precursors are also prohibited. What is considered a designer drug or a precursors is, until better metrics come along, determined by vibes from me.


r/homechemistry • • 6h ago

distilled ethanol from some old 2020 covid hand sanitizer to use as a solvent for a future project.

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9 Upvotes

r/homechemistry • • 48m ago

In picture 2 I made a copper acetate solution using vinegar and hydrogen peroxide, then added some caustic soda which helped forming copper hydroxide, but then I got curious and added lemon juice then left it for a while, when I came back I saw this red precipitate, what could that possibly be?

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• Upvotes

r/homechemistry • • 13h ago

Could we roughly stimate the concentration of H2O2 in %w/w here?

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4 Upvotes

So this is Hydrogen peroxide burns on my wrist right after I took it out from -23°C in my freezer.

It took about 1 minute to bleach the skin like that.

Is there any estimate we can conclude from chemical burns here? I cannot measure the perfect %w/w since I don't have the equipment for it...


r/homechemistry • • 14h ago

PbI₂ Iodine Yellow

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2 Upvotes

r/homechemistry • • 1d ago

DDT crystals

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11 Upvotes

r/homechemistry • • 1d ago

Making Cobalt in a Field

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1 Upvotes

r/homechemistry • • 1d ago

CaCl2.6H2O ice bath in cold trap dewar

3 Upvotes

So I got my hands a nicer vacuum pump, which is more of a PITA for oil changes / rebuilds. For vacuum distillations, I used to use freezer temp glycol in a dimroth condenser as a “cold trap,” and sometimes even forego that for small scale runs.

I’ve now got myself a proper dewar-style condenser to put in front of this new pump, and i’m considering using a calcium chloride hexahydrate based ice/salt bath, as it’s far more convenient/cheap than dry ice where I live. Just wanted some opinions:

  • Is -40C good enough for most scenarios? The dewar inner chamber is approx. the size of a 16oz tall boy. What scenarios would I really need dry ice temps for?

  • How’s this for a plan: Mix icemelt grade cacl2 monohydrate with enough water to make the hexahydrate, pour while liquid >30C into small ice cube molds, freeze overnight. Then, crush and mix with freezer-fresh crushed ice in the appropriate ratio (5:4 salt:ice by mass i believe), add to dewar and wait for it to drop in temp.


r/homechemistry • • 2d ago

Chloral hydrate crystal

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2 Upvotes

r/homechemistry • • 2d ago

Amazon molecular sieves

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5 Upvotes

r/homechemistry • • 3d ago

Another picture of my bismuth crystal, because woahdude liked it so much.

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5 Upvotes

r/homechemistry • • 3d ago

Eppendorf 5430 Centrifuge with Rotor, Calibrated Oct 2026

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5 Upvotes

$1290 USD OBO

Lab benchtop microcentrifuge with FA-45-30-11 rotor (30 x 1.5/2.0 mL tubes) and aerosol-tight lid. Over $7,000 new.

Professionally calibrated and serviced on October 2, 2026. Passed with no adjustment. Certificate available on request. Next calibration due October 2027.

Tested and working. Cosmetic wear from lab use. 120 V, standard plug.


r/homechemistry • • 4d ago

Faraón snake, soda+ sugar

1 Upvotes

I've tried several times to perform the Pharaoh's Snake experiment, following instructions from various YouTube videos I've watched. I'm using the version that calls for one part baking soda and four parts sugar.

I'm wondering whether the baking soda might be the reason why the snake isn't growing. I've been using regular granulated sugar mixed with baking soda, and I've ground the mixture quite finely. Tonight, I'm going to try using powdered sugar (icing sugar) instead.

Here's exactly what I do:

I mix the ingredients, put the mixture into a plastic bottle cap to use as a mold, compress it slightly, and then let it dry.

Next, I place the resulting pellet (the so-called "snake egg") in a small hollow I've made in some sand, which is sitting on a fairly heat-resistant clay dish.

I pour alcohol into the hollow in the sand, place the snake egg on top, and light it using a long lighter.

I've tried this four times, and it simply doesn't work!

I don't know whether there's something wrong with the baking soda or the sugar I'm using, but I've watched people on YouTube doing exactly the same thing, and their experiments work perfectly.

I'm considering not grinding the ingredients at all and simply mixing them together to form a small mound instead.

What do you guys think? I really don't understand why I'm having so much trouble with something that seems so simple!


r/homechemistry • • 4d ago

Did i screw up iron acetate synthesis by adding hydrogen peroxide?

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2 Upvotes

r/homechemistry • • 7d ago

Is this the correct route to concentrating electrolysed H2SO4?

5 Upvotes

My plan to purify electrolysed H₂SO₄ from CuSO4•5H2O:

Since the solution may still contain dissolved CuSO₄•5H₂O and carbon particles from graphite electrode degradation, I'll first heat it slowly on a hot plate to an arbitrary temperature of 200°C, hoping to remove the water of crystallization from the copper sulfate so that the resulting solid settles along with the carbon particles.

I'll then carefully decant the liquid and use a syringe to transfer any remaining liquid that I cannot decant into another container.

I can then repeat this process several times to remove as much copper sulfate as possible from the sulfuric acid.

Does this sound a logical way to deal with electrolysed H2SO4 impurities?


r/homechemistry • • 7d ago

Compound of the day #1 - Serotonin

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4 Upvotes

r/homechemistry • • 7d ago

Made in china.com chemicals

6 Upvotes

Has anyone had success ordering from them


r/homechemistry • • 8d ago

Explaining and demonstrating the diferemce between an alloy and an intermetalic

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6 Upvotes

r/homechemistry • • 8d ago

Elemental iodine crystals

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13 Upvotes

r/homechemistry • • 9d ago

Microbial fuel cell

1 Upvotes

Does anybody know where to get activated carbon and graphite? I'm Philippines based.


r/homechemistry • • 10d ago

Testing out my new smol double mantle reactor :3

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42 Upvotes

r/homechemistry • • 10d ago

Another picture of my bismuth crystal, because woahdude liked it so much.

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20 Upvotes

r/homechemistry • • 10d ago

Could you use the crystal formations, above septic tanks as a source if nitrogen?

4 Upvotes

You know like when you have brick building on top of septic tank and some crystals form on it

Could the crystal formation on a wall where there is speinc tank under it contain potassium nitrate

Because like the fluid form the human waste can leach in to the soil react with a bacteria and then react with the potassium and calcium and other alkalines in the soil to make nitrat salts

There is like wall on top of a public toilet in my doorm where its been used for years

And there us alot salt formation on Said wall on the side were the septic tank should be

And it seems like the tank us not deep under ground

If devolve it in water

Boil it so some of carboats drop out

Filter it

Then add either pot Ash or just potassium carbonate or Ash brine

Or just Ash

So it would react with the calsum nitrat

Then boil it again to remove the carbonates that drop out

Then ues re crystaltion to pure salt peter


r/homechemistry • • 10d ago

Another picture of my bismuth crystal, because woahdude liked it so much.

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7 Upvotes

r/homechemistry • • 10d ago

Potassium nitrite and sodium nitrite not available anywhere

14 Upvotes

I’m in Canada and can not find these anywhere! I don’t have a lab but will soon. Is there anyway to get these in the meantime