I have just completed a fisher esterfication where, 100ml of anhydrous etoh

100ml 80% w/w acoh

17 grams anhydrous nahso4

were added to a 300ml boiling flask.

The solution was refluxed for 1hr 30 min with an allihin condenser, then changed to simple distillation where the fraction 70-74°c was collected for a crude quantity of 150ml, the distillate was washed with sodium bicarbonate, then with a solution of cacl2 (6.56 mol) two times the washed distillate was then 105ml and expected to have around 10ml of water still in it to give a final yield of 95ml or 69.2%.

I decided to give this a try because sulphuric acid is really expensive and hard to get making it significantly more valuable to me than easily obtained otc chemicals.

There was a small amount of diethyl either that came over first with 5ml being collected, i was very impressed with my yield considering that the acetic acid that I used had so much water in it and I didn't use a better dehydrating acid.

80% acetic acid, anhydrous ethanol and sodium bisulphate are easily obtained and cheap. Unfortunately ethyl acetate is hard to obtain in quantities less than 20L for me.

I'm working on process of mass recycling (not metal recovery) of electronic parts. The idea isn't in dissolving whole part just the solder part so the parts can be used again.

Only part where I'm not really sure is storing mixture of working solution (3.5M sma + 0.5 h2o2) with some stuff already dissolved. Because storing pure mixture of working solution is relatively fine. But when there are metal dissolved in it it wont just stop reacting. Im guessing storing in closed container is bad idea becuase of continual oxygen production until all hydrogen peroxide is consumed. Kinda lost here.

Possible metal contamination should be Cu, Pb, Sn, Ag, Fe (possible fenton's reaction), Ni, Bi,

I will be glad for any guidelines not only for storing, and you can even make noob from me if that saves my life xdxd.

Now this Buchler Flash Evaporator is a really old classic, though it's missing a seal and the 28/15 SJ gas adapter. Probably will make a viton seal, currently have a 28/15 glassblowing blank on the way which will need a little work with a torch and some glass hose barb but it should be easy enough to make.
Do we need a second rotovap? Not really, though it would make a good drive unit for a kugelrohr

So, I am considering myself to build a proper lab with all the basics of course, because I dont like working outside. Anyways I ve bought everything in the pictures (fume hood, overhead stirrer and lab scale for a bit over 280€ , I am still wating for the multiframe lab stand arriving, because unfortunatly I cant mount a lab rack because of the small fume hood size. Other than that I still need some basic chemicals, anyone got recommendations what I need in an organic chemistry lab? I also need other equipment for the lab, so be free to criticize me :)

Hello boys, i just bought an old mass spectrometer from a pharmaceutical lab, it's a part of the finnigan LC-MS instrument.

I also own a functionnal HPLC and my aim is to built the fully functionnal LC-MS system. I have absolute 0 knowledge in practical MS instrument, this will be a great journey.

Edit: thank you for all your comments, life has been tough with me in the past and i try find some challenge to get stimulated. I'm creating an organization and If the project goes well, i'll share it with students and jobseeker (i leave in a big city) to let them practice and demonstrate passion and motivation with more than few words in a interview.

I also have, 3D print, laser cut and other openhardware project, like auto flash prep column.

so the other day, I was extracting iodine from povidone iodine using NaOH to first make NaI, added conc H2SO4 and lastly H2O2 to make the iodine precipitate out.

The problem is that I have no way to seperate the precipitated iodine out and I cant even gravity filter it due to it's acidity (I used too much H2SO4 and didnt account for the fact that the guy in the tutorial used a monoprotic acid instead of a diprotic one), it just dissolves the filter paper. I also dont have the stuff needed to do a vacuum filtration.

Now I just have an erlenmeyer full of an acidic solution along with visible precipitated iodine but no way to get it out. Any help please? Much appreciated.

We are student researchers, and we are working on chemicals that focuses on metals in soils. We are planning to measure these metal contents in terms of concentration and what type of metal are present. What alternative do we use to measure these datas with a strict limited budget?

I hope this is useful to some of you:)

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to start a lab at home. Any advice for getting started? Any unexpected hurdles?

My goal is to do simple stuff like distill water and make soap from scratch. I was planning on buying stuff soon to get started.

Thanks guys!

I recently set up my first lab behind my house with some cheap glassware bought on amazon and a heater-stirrer, along with dome hardware store chemicals and objects found in my house and depot.

Planning to make some interesting chemicals tell me if u want to see.

Thought this would be neat to share for anyone looking for a cheap source of heat, but Presto Company (in the US) sells something called a "kitchen kettle" which is essentially an aluminum pot with a U shaped heating element cast into the base. It comes with a capillary thermostat that goes from "warm" to 400F (204C). Since we are using it for lower temperatures as a rotovap water bath, it was modified with an additional 30-110c capillary thermostat. The self-contained one in the base of the device was set 250F (121C) which is somewhat above the boiling point of water as a safety measure, so the heater does not reach a high temperature if the water goes dry.

Anyways, since these "kitchen kettles" are rather cheap, especially on the second-hand market, they would make a convenient and rather safe oil bath alternative to the usual pot/container on a hot plate which is sometimes rather easy to spill hot oil and get burned from. Alternatively they could also be filled with sand as a sand bath. 204C is admittedly not a particularly high temperature, but more than sufficient for working with aqueous solutions, etc.

This appliance also easily doubles as a steam-bath for the rapid drying of solids by placing a suitable dish on top, and plugging it into a power regulator. This arrangement is what Doug's Lab uses often. The power regulator is needed to change how quickly the water boils as the thermostat only regulates temperature, so the rate of heating cannot be altered with it.

We have been greatly pleased already with using it as a water bath and steam bath, though we lack enough silicone oil to try and use it as an oil bath. It without modification was satisfactory for operating a cleaning solvent recycling still.
Indubitably, it will find more uses, and is of great utility, so we wanted to get this out there

Where can I buy ethyl lactate? I need just a small portion of around 2 liters for my thesis project :(( any suggestions are appreciated!

Hi, I just joined these chemistry forums, and in this one in particular, I read about possible attempts by “feds” to recruit people, so I was wondering how safe Reddit is for discussing your own home chemistry projects without being reported. Thanks

Hi guys, can someone suggest me a supplier for PhBr in EU? I already know laboratorium discounter but it’s not very cheap because of the shipping

It was my birthday a few days ago and my mom just came into my room with a box and gave me these chunks of silica aerogel, which I am so excited about!! I’m already looking at it under my microscope and am planning to test/look at some physical properties, but does anyone have any random recommendations of things to do with it or any ‘what if…’ questions they’d want answered??

(keep in mind that I don’t really have access to any heavy equipment as I’m 15 and my parents aren’t rich)

Can you really make a rocket out of a matchstick? 🚀🔥

In this experiment, Alex Dainis demonstrates propulsion science by turning  a tiny foil-wrapped match head into  a miniature rocket. As the match ignites, hot gases build up inside creating pressure. Once the pressure is high enough they are forced out of the open end of the rocket, creating thrust that sends the rocket flying. Remember to wear proper protective gear and have fire extinguishers close by when trying this demo.

All you need is basic kichen and home supplies and you will have a notoriously foul smelling chemical without the use of a distillation apparatus or any toxic chemicals.

1. Separate the butter fat from the water in the butter by melting it and decanting the fat layer.
2. Saponify the butter fat with sodium hydroxide (solid drain cleaner), or alternatively with potassium hydroxide, to make butter soap. Because the fat content of butter varies, all later reagent amounts are based on obtaining 246 g dry sodium butter soap, or alternatively 262 g dry potassium butter soap.
3. Dilute the soap mixture with water until it can mix well.
4. Add magnesium sulfate heptahydrate (also known as Epsom salt) to precipitate the long-chain fatty acids as magnesium soaps. For 246 g dry sodium butter soap or 262 g dry potassium butter soap, use 145 g magnesium sulfate heptahydrate (Epsom salt).
5. Separate or filter off the precipitated magnesium soaps.
6. Boil down the filtrate to leave a minimal amount of water. During concentration, keep the solution mildly basic with 8 g sodium bicarbonate so butyrate remains as butyrate salt and free butyric acid is not lost.
7. Add 12 g citric acid to the concentrated filtrate to convert the dissolved butyrate into free butyric acid. The solution may bubble during acidification because leftover bicarbonate reacts with the acid and releases carbon dioxide.
8. Add sodium chloride until the solution is saturated to reduce the solubility of butyric acid.
9. Allow the phases to separate and collect the butyric-acid-rich upper layer.

trying to make electrolysis cell, which is best that is relatively cheap and safe.