Low tech alkyl nitrite synthesis per youtube

Topic created by Nitritespecialist
on Sat, 6 Mar 2021 at 16:08

Nitritespecialist said on Sat, 6 Mar 2021 at 16:08...

A few years ago there was a video on Youtube called "low tech alkyl nitrite prep" by chemplayer I believe.

In this video, they used a huge excess of acid and sodium nitrite, which I questioned at the time. They didn't give an exact reason why except to say it made up for expected "inefficiencies". They also used minimal amount of water. They used 10mls water, 14 grams SN and 17 mls HCl and about 10-13 mls alcohol.

Long story short, I just tried this recipe and my product was much more potent and didn't smell like the base alcohol; whereas, two previous brews using standard formulas seemed weak and smelling a bit of the alcohol.

So the question arises.....does it require a huge excess of acid and SN to get the purity necessary for potency in a low tech home lab?

Nitritespecialist said on Sun, 7 Mar 2021 at 13:54...

I am still leaning strongly towards the reagent quality issue. I cannot think of a better reason that would account for such variation in product. There are periods when the finished product is pretty good, but it never remains so. Inevitably the product changes and gets worse. Often times, it's bad from the beginning of receiving new reagents, especially the sodium nitrite. I can't find anything specifically about the quality of the sodium nitrite effecting alkyl nitrite synthesis. I could only find chemistry journals describing the quality/purity of the alcohols as being imperative. I am going to receive some anhydrous sodium nitrite from a large chemical company for the first time. Previously, I have used food grade and other questionable sources. If there is a striking difference between my new product and the old, then I will have proved that the SN quality is critical.

Rob said on Tue, 9 Mar 2021 at 04:27...

Thanks for posting, your knowledge and detailed explanations and experimentation make great reading

Bruce said on Wed, 10 Mar 2021 at 00:50...

Eager to learn on your findings about whether fresh premium sodium nitrite impacts quality or yield on your side and also how much time it'd be possible to keep it after opening before its unusable.

If i understand well, both base alcohol and sodium nitrite purity freshness are important but neither are really easily available in small individual packaged quantities for the poppers enthusiast to brew a small quality batch of fresh poppers for its own use...

so basically the reagent and final product have a very limited shelf life, yikes !

Ted said on Thu, 26 May 2022 at 10:48...

Where do you get your sodium nitrite from?