Sodium Nitrite, the key to great poppers

Topic created by Madeplentypoppers
on Sat, 9 Nov 2019 at 17:42

Madeplentypoppers said on Sat, 9 Nov 2019 at 17:42...

Sodium nitrite needs to be of the highest purity for each and every popper making preparation or the product will have off or weak effects and a poor odor. SN degrades easily upon exposure to air/humidity. Can happen in a few days or weeks. Tried and true chemical formulas, like William Noyes, will no longer work. No doubt, this is a problem makers are having across the board and responsible for so much popper garbage. Also, amyl nitrite makes the single best popper because although it may be perceived as the "weakest", it is also the least toxic, having the most minor immediate side effects, which affords greater ability to keep using it nonstop.

PJ said on Mon, 11 Nov 2019 at 12:30...

And did you ever try for pentyl nitrite and see how it compares with what you get with your high grade sodium / amyl? I imagine the process is very similar. Would be an interesting comparison. Pentyl seems to degrade quickly, is it the same with yr amyl?

Madeplentypoppers said on Mon, 11 Nov 2019 at 15:52...

I prefer one pentyl or n-amyl nitrite because they are less toxic to my blood pressure. I can use them much longer.

But they do seem to get weak fairly quickly...

PJ said on Mon, 11 Nov 2019 at 17:07...

OK, well you might like to explain what 1-pentyl and n-amyl is please. Generally we talk about amyl nitrite, IPN, and IBN, it is confusing. There was a big debate about whether it was originally butyl nitrite before it became iso-b. Now amyl is basically pentyl.....not so easy for non chemists -didn't even get a high school cert in that subject :-)

Madeplentypoppers said on Tue, 12 Nov 2019 at 16:57...

ISO - in front of a chemical name....means it's the same chemical but has a different arrangement of the molecules - which nobody can see but it can give the same compound different properties. Also, most chemical compounds have multiple names for the same thing. So yes...it gets confusing. It's all available online....all the names for the same thing.

The first popper was amyl nitrite. Amyl alcohol is used to make amyl nitrite. There are 8 different ISO-mers or molecular variations of amyl alcohol. It does matter which is which because they have different properties. Each isomer has a number of different synonyms. So...normal amyl alcohol is the exact same as one pentanol, along with some other synonyms which you can look up. Isoamyl is the same as isopentyl and this alcohol is NOT a carbon copy of normal amyl/one pentanol and so it has different properties.
Usually amyl nitrite or amyl alcohol means Normal amyl nitrite. Isoamyl/isopentyl(both identical) are not identical to amyl/pentyl....notice there is no ISO prefix on those. Think of the Pentagon...has 5 sides....pentyl means it has 5 CARBONS. Since pentyl is the same as amyl....amyl also has 5 CARBONS. Since isoamyl/isopentyl are the same thing...just different names...they also have 5 CARBONS, but because of the ISO prefix....chemists know these will have different molecular arrangements and properties from amyl/pentyl. The slash I used means they are the same identical compound.

So....amyl is NOT the same exact compound as iso-amyl or iso-pentyl.
BUT amyl is the same compound as pentyl. They have different properties....so that's why it matters.

Guttrunks said on Thu, 14 Nov 2019 at 22:26...

Report on the Physiological Action of certain Compounds of Amyl and Ethyl. – 1866 by F.R.S. Benjamin W. Richardson, M.A., M.D. (Author) may interest you, sir.