Chemical purity Puns

I want to make the Acid Queen's Vitamin CEF serum. I am able to find almost all chemicals required from a dedicated cosmetic ingredients supplier in my country except for Ferulic Acid and Ethoxydiglycol. I can find source for these chemicals from Sigma Aldrich. However the grade available is either reagent/ACS grade.

I have seen that lotioncrafter sells chemical ingredients of USP or NF grade. From what I have read, Reagent/ACS grade is the highest purity grade of chemicals. So finally my question is, is it safe to use ACS grade instead of USP/NF grade in skincare.

P.S. : I know I can possibly import these ingredients, but the shipping cost, customs is a huge detterent.

I'm trying to find bulk industrial grade lithium chloride for a personal project (solar dehumidifier), but everything I've been able to find online has astronomical prices and sells by the gram except Ali Baba. I'd prefer not to order from them but I will if I have to (and I think it's a good seller.

I'm looking at about $500 for this kind of quantity, I know. As an example, these people on amazon want $10 for 30 grams. Even grainger only has it under "lab supplies". Is there someplace that specializes in this kind of order? I work with UHP stuff all the time but I've never bought a chemical like this (I mostly deal with silica gel and protocol gases, like 5ppm of CO in nitrogen or some other contaminant in air) and none of my suppliers can help me.

Hello!

I saw a website like this, but now I can no longer find it and have searched online and still struggle.

I saw a website where you can pay ~$150 and send in some 'mystery drug' like Pressed Adderall, XTC, Meth or any other substance.

They will test it and give you the purity and ingredients.

I know I can buy a kit on BunkPolice.com, but im moreso interested in learning what else is in the pressed pills, and other subtances.

Thanks!

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EDIT: USA preferred please

I want high purity deuterium gas for some experiments. I'm not a large corporation or university, so places won't sell it to me and I have to make it myself. One way to do it is combining deuterium oxide (heavy water) with aluminum powder.

I would like to combine these two reactants inside of a compressed gas cylinder. I will place the reactants in the cylinder (separated somehow), pump down the cylinder to vacuum conditions to remove all the unwanted air, close the valve, and then combine the reactants.

Is this a typical chemistry scenario? My question is, are there common and best practices or techniques for keeping the reactants separate and then combining them in a gas cylinder? Options include:

1. Poor in the D2O, and place the powder in a thin walled glass vial in the bottom of the cylinder. Close cylinder, pump down, then give it some strong shakes to break the glass and mix the reactants. I would need a non-reactive stopper for the vial.
2. Use magnets to drag a small, open, magnetic container along the inner wall of the cylinder. When vacuum is established, rotate and/or remove the outer magnet to dump the powder into the D2O.

Are there better options available?

Here are some rather old and partial pictures of my collection: http://imgur.com/a/EVt2J

The bottom picture was taken when I was starting out, I was 17 years old or so (cute skull and crossbones!). I will take new and more complete pictures in the future, but at the moment I'm lending my collection to the local school. I hope it'll inspire at least some students.

I have some spare time right now, so I figured I could answer people's questions about element collecting as a hobby, buying samples, safety, interesting properties of elements etc. Ask away!

PS. In the picture uranium is represented by some pretty mundane uranium mineral sample. Purity being a priority, I have more recently acquired a chunk of pure (depleted) uranium metal. It's one of my favorites, alongside with a pellet of iridium and the pyrolytic carbon piece that levitates above strong magnets.

EDIT: After 5 hours and 200+ comments I think I'm calling it quits for the day. I'll probably answer some remaining questions in the morning.

EDIT2: Answered a couple more questions. Thanks for the Reddit gold! Now, if only we could have Reddit platinum and osmium too...

i've taken many different blotters over the years, and some have felt different that others. not a lot but there have been a few slight differences such as body load and the depth of the headspace. i know i am taking LSD because i will test a small corner of the blotter every time but sometimes it does feel very different. what could this be caused by? and if the LSD is not very pure, what else is in there with it? any links to other posts or websites would be very appreciated

Can anyone tell me of any labs that will do purity testing, chromatography etc, affordably for individuals/small companies?

I'm a science journalist and former research chemist interested in 'research chemicals'. When I used to buy raw materials for chemical synthesis they came with some kind of quality control data, maybe a picture of the results of an instrumental analysis to show they are what the seller said and perhaps an estimate of purity. Do the users of this subreddit ever get this with the kind of 'research chemicals' that they buy? Or do you have to take descriptions and purity assessments on trust?

Purity

Biography

• Real Name: Samara Yılmaz, Age: 32
• Occupation: Chemical Researcher
• Base of Operations: Istanbul, Turkey
• Affiliation: Overwatch (formerly)

"I will cleanse this planet."

> Samara Yılmaz was a prodigy in her field, dedicating her life to the betterment of mankind through chemical and molecular manipulation. It was not until she crossed paths with Dr. Angela "Mercy" Ziegler that she threw her lot in with Overwatch, believing the organization to be the true path to a better future for mankind.

> Time passed, Overwatch fell, and Samara quietly resumed commercial work with various research organizations. With the rise of Talon, many of her peers vanished under unknown circumstances, but she remained in the public eye, certain that she was not important enough to care about.

> Talon agents proved her wrong when, at gunpoint, they ordered her to aid them in producing a chemical that could ravage a human's immune system and all but sterilize their body. She complied, only for Talon to inject her with the toxin once she had completed it. Only a quick stagger to her home's sterile research lab saved her life from death by Common Cold.

> When the call for Overwatch to reform went out, Samara's despondence in isolation turned to frantic determination. Using parts from her lab and several not-quite-legal chemicals, she pieced together the Purity Cruiser, a hermetically-sealed combat vehicle designed specifically to "clean" Talon off the face of the Earth.

Abilities

• Role: Tank

The Purity Cruiser is a heavily-armored, compact machine of chemical death. Its thick plating can take a beating from enemy weapons, and its array of pyrocaustic offensive and defensive tools make it an excellent siege weapon.

• Passive: Grounded

The Purity Cruiser cannot jump, but its hydraulic system allows it adjusts its height to adjust fire trajectories. Ctrl lowers the chassis, reducing its silhouette and slightly increasing its speed, while Space raises it, lowering its speed but allowing its primary cannon to aim above some obstacles.

• M1: pH Bomb

The pH Bomb is a single shot mortar cannon. The shell deals minor damage on a direct hit, but releases a cloud of acidic gas that deals damage over time. The time to re-chamber the weapon is rather high, and constant fire can maintain at most four or five clouds on the battlefield at once. The damage from each shell stacks, allowing Purity to quickly melt down immobi

I am not a Drug Nerd, so apologies if there is an actual word for the process described in the title. Distillation possibly? It appears to be the correct term based on a quick search, but again, I am not an organic chemist.

Regardless, when purchasing from a source's new batch or from a new source entirely, up to today I have been employing the use of a professionally certified third party service to test for purity and/or dangerous impurities.

Having had a bit of extra time and a surplus of very obvious bad product on my hands, I decided to attempt the distillation (?) commonly known as an acetone wash on a small amount of something easily identifiable as highly impure even through a simple visual inspection.

Not being a highly trained organic chemist myself, I found it to be somewhat of a pain in the ass the first time gathering the necessary everything to perform the wash safely and accurately. However I found that, once I had everything on hand, it was actually a very safe and simple procedure, and by the third time doing it, almost second nature.

I understand that this procedure alone can never test for everything the third party services I use can test for, largely due to the fact that one solvent alone will not separate 2 chemicals both soluble within the same solvent. For example, a cold water extraction of Tylenol #3 powder will yield a codeine AND caffeine end product, only removing the paracetamol.

In situations where that type of concern has already been adequately addressed however, my question is this: is there any kind of database or similar information repository of appropriate solvents for the most common of legal chemicals used in research? For example, if I simply wished to purify a sub 90% pure purchase of Etizolam to 99%+, is there somewhere I can look to see what solvent is most appropriate for the job?

And equally as important: just because it is easy does that actually really mean this is a good idea? Again, I do NOT intend to replace the outsourcing of purity tests on batches of concern by any means, but for many people, the difference between Etizolam that is 95% pure and 99% pure goes a long way. Assuming I have taken all appropriate precautions and perform the distillation perfectly, is there any reason not to do this, or any reason why this would inherently be a bad idea? I feel like anything that is done to further purify a product would be inherently a good idea, but I want to know if there are any devil's advocates, o